Steagall Stumbles in Raleigh Relays

It was a tough trip for ASICS Greenville Track Club-ELITE's Austin Steagall as he returned to the Raleigh Relays. He and his coach, Mike Caldwell, were involved in a  traffic accident on their way from Greenville, SC to the North Carolina city on Thursday. They were hit from behind by a Dodge truck on I-85 when traffic slowed due to congestion. Although their automobile was heavily damaged both were fortunate not to be harmed.

Then in Friday night's 5,000-meter event, Steagall had his heel clipped from behind and stumbled into the infield before recovering and rejoining the race. However, what appears to be an abdominal strain and a tightened back slowed him considerably over the final 2 kilometers. After passing 3,000 in a respectable 8:30, he slowed to finish in 14:40, which was well off his 13:58 clocking at the same event in 2017. 

"High level track competition is not just about running fast, but also involves staying out of trouble as the runners are running very close together sometimes," stated Caldwell. "Austin has a long back kick and that lends him to be susceptible to getting clipped. Hopefully, we can determine the extent of his injury and resume his training soon." 

GTC-ELITE was established in 2012 and produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program is sponsored by ASICS, the 45-year-old Greenville Track Club, Greenville Health System, ScanSource, Joy Real Estate, the Bare Minimum Track Club,  generous individual contributors and partnerships with Performance Therapy, Carolina Spine and Rehab, Boston Bill Sunglasses, Roll Recovery products, FinalSurge (on-line training log), The ATI Running Academy, ElliptiGO, NormaTec Recovery Boots and Cocoa Elite recovery products.