Rodenfels Breaks 5000m PB by 14 seconds with 15:35.18 at Five and Dime Athletics Meeting

Pacer Wilson, Hutchins and Rodenfels.

ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Annie Rodenfels completed her 2020 competitive season with a huge personal best in the Five and Dime Athletics Meeting at Columbia International University near South Carolina's state capital city. Rodenfels had run 15:49.53 at the Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville back in August. She knocked a whopping 14 seconds from that performance with her 15:35.18 as she placed a close second to Jenna Hutchins, who won in 15:34.37. 

Hutchins entered the event with her sights set on besting the US High School Outdoor record for 5,000 meters. The Atlanta Track Club's Allie Wilson was brought in to set the pace and led Hutchins and Rodenfels through a quick first 1600 in 4:57. After passing 2,000 meters in 6:12, Hutchins opened a small gap on Rodenfels. They passed 3K in 9:21.18 and 9:24.08, respectively. The junior from Johnson City, TN's Science Hill High School maintained her lead passing the bell-lap mark in 14:23.84 with Rodenfels still over three seconds back at 14:26.93.
Annie ran a quick 1:08.25 final 400, closing on Hutchins' also quick 1:10.83, to finish only .71 seconds behind. 

Hutchins15:34.47 broke Katelyn Tuohy's  US high school girls record of 15:37.12 and is one of the top high school performances in history.

This was Annie's tenth competitive effort in 2020 and remarkably her tenth personal best and eleventh going back to December 2019. 
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Rodenfels newest teammate, Emily Forner, ran her first race since joining the program in early November and ran 17:06.47. Forner passed 3,000 meters in 10:05 before slowing over the final 1600, due to just beginning formal workouts last month.  Both Rodenfels and Forner were NCAA DIII champions. 

Much thanks to the valiant efforts of race director Dave Milner, of Nashville, TN, who organized and produced this event under extreme difficulty due to COVID-19. Each competitor produced negative COVID-19 test results during the week before the meet. 

Coach Laura Caldwell, Emily Forner and Annie Rodenfels post race.

GTC-ELITE was established in 2012. The program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, one qualifier/participant for the 2019 Pam American Games Marathon in. Lima, Peru and three qualifiers/two participants for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, GA.  The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 48-year-old Greenville Track Club, Joy Real Estate, the Borch Foundation, generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots, Cocoa Elite recovery products, Stryd Running, Coach Bob Williams Pace Calculator, the DorsiFlex (stretching device) and the MOBO board.  The club is a proud and active member of both the Road Runners Club of America and  USATF.​