aGSTC Dominates the USATF-NJ 5k XC Champs After not participating in the USATF-NJ Grand Prix Spring Schedule, the adidas Garden State Track Club's Leadership Team voted, in early July, to resume participation in the fall schedule.
And, last weekend, at Monroe's Thompson Park, resume they did at the USATF-NJ 5k XC Championships.
Both the men and women put eight runners in the top ten finishers, enabling the men to finish 1-3-5-6-7 and women 1-2-4-6 in the open team standings.
| | | Mennitt and Ward lead with a mile to go |
Steve Mennitt lead the men's charge, finishing 2nd in 15:41 after leading much of the race. Youngster Evan Ward, making his club debut, was just a few steps behind in 15:45 for 3rd. Other top ten finishers included Kyle Price (16:38), Tyler Grimm (16:29), Matt Eder (16:30), Edsel Flores (16:36), Sean Donohue (16:37), and Ken Goglas (16:37).
| | | Chegwidden crosses the finish line |
On the women's side, Aimee Chegwidden was second in 18:58, averaging 6:06 pace over the grassy course that had a heartbreaking 800m incline in the final mile. A marathon-prepping Adrienne Viola was third in 19:08, and newcomer Corinne Manela was fourth in 19:13. Teammates Chelsea Callan (19:48) , Erika Meling (19:48), Nicola Hallenborg (20:18), Amy Williams (20:20), and Nicole Salge (20:38) all finished inside the top ten.
The club hosted a picnic afterward with fruit, bagels, and cookies. After burning over one thousand calories during the race, veteran Mark Parisen proceeded to undo all his efforts at the picnic, inhaling 2,000 calories worth of brownies and sweets. When asked for a quote about the picnic, he responded: "Wait, these are free, right?"
A Club First: Men's 40s Win Gold | | | aGSTC #1 man Chris Sallade rolls across the finish line
They've been second. Often. Almost every race for two years. But for the first time in club history, and perhaps a sign of a slow shift over the next few years, the aGSTC masters men won their first USATF-NJ team title--
by one point.
Chris Sallade was the team's top 40s finisher, and 2nd overall, finishing in 17:21, helping the club score just thirty points for the win. His former Princeton teammate Thom Knowles (above), recently turned 40 and a huge Strava advocate, was the team's #2 man at 17:43. Nick VanLangen was third at 18:17 while Rob Liberto (18:43) and Gary Leaman (18:50) rounded out the scoring five. John Montgomery and Matt Baker were the group's 6 and 7 finishers.
The 40's B Team finished 6th out of ten teams.
Leaman was the 50's top gun, and 2nd overall in the 50s race, helping the club finish 3rd with 73 points. Montgomery, Baker, Kenny Huryk, Peter Auteri, and Fran Beideman teamed up for the bronze medal.
The masters 40s women finished 5th overall, as Sandi Kaspszyk (21:45), Erin Varga (26:12), and Stephanie Edwards (29:05) finished with forty points.
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Email us if you're interested!
9/18 Half Marathon Championships (Jersey City) 10/2 Little Silver 5k (women only) 10/23 8k Cross Country Championships (Natirar)
Non-USATF-NJ Championships 11/6 USATF East Region XC Champs (Philly; GSTC hosts) 12/10 USATF Club National XC Championships (Tallahassee, FL)***
aGSTC Fall Training Plan We have a fantastic team training plan for the fall races.
If you've paid your 2016 dues, please click here and we'll approve your access to the plan.
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| | Team Results [please email us your results! we don't see everything posted on facebook!]
Williams Qualifies for Boston In her first career marathon, Amy Williams ran the Lehigh Valley Marathon in 3:33:42--good for 200th place, overall. Averaging 8:10 pace, she finished 11th in her age group, and well under the 3:35:00 time required to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
In relay action, the "Outlaws" relay comprised of GSTC members Aimee Chegwidden, Will Parker, John Montgomery, and Dave Dos Santos finished 6th overall and first co-ed relay team.
Four GSTC'ers Race 5th Ave Mile Ted Doyle was the top finisher for the club at the 5th Avenue Mile, running 4:28--which was good for 52nd place. Ryan Degregorio ran 4:44, and masters captain Matt Baker finished in 5:22. Kristina Petillo, running just a few seconds off her best from last year, finished in 6:19. We love this picture, as the gold uniform always belongs in front of the orange one!
Edwards Wins AG in 26:35 Masters runner Stephanie Edwards won her age group two weekends ago in the Verona Labor Day Classic 5k. Starting and finishing at Verona Park, she won her age group in a nifty 26:35.
PL5k: Petillo Runs 22:43, 2nd Overall! A trio of GSTC'ers ran in the Pompton Lakes 5k last weekend. Peter Auteri won his age group with a fine 22:16, as Kristina Petillo was second overall women in 22:43. Fran Beideman finished in 23:47. A close look at the picture above shows them all racing!
Huryk, Salge Medal in Spotswood Masters runner Kenny Huryk and open women co-captain Nicole Salge ran in their hometown race this weekend, the Spotswood 5k. Salge won the women's race in 19:45, and Huryk won his age group in 19:58.
Since no pictures were submitted for the result, we used the above picture of downtown Spotswood. Just imagine Kenny and Nicole frolicking through these buildings and water.
Masters Women Finish 2nd in Marathon Relay
The GSTC masters women finished 2nd in the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon Relay on Sunday, as members Sandi Kaspszyk, Erin Varga, Ellen Patterson, Prudence Jones, and Tracey Slavin teamed up for the win in 3:51:44. Way to go, ladies!
Leitz Duo Duels in Newark Aya Leitz was the 2nd woman overall in the United Way 10k in Newark this weekend, running 45:28 in the hot weather. Husband Karl was just a few strides behind, finishing in 46:42, good for 6th in his age group. They were 12th and 16th overall, respectively.
GSTC Goes 2-3 in Brielle In a repeat of last year, Chuck Schneekloth and John Jankowski went 2-3 in the Brielle Day 10k Challenge. In Saturday's blistering heat, the two ran 37:38 and 38:41, respectively, over the incredibly hilly course. Indeed, the event is called the "10k Challenge"
Triathlon Action: Groll, Redden Compete in Final Tri Races Charlie Groll finished the Lake George Triathlon two weeks ago in a personal best time of 2:47:08. Above, he is shown giving high fives to invisible fans, or possible ghosts. A week later, he finished 7th in the 9/11 Heroes Race with a time of 21:53. New member Tyler Grimm won the race.
Yesterday, Jessica Redden finished her first Ironman in Wisconsin. Finishing in 12:17:04, she was 19th in her age group and the 110th woman to finish.
Fonder Tours Europe in Outfit In case you weren't following, Mike Fonder spent most of August touring Europe. Crazy enough, he traveled with the above outfit on. Outside of a few moments where he was mistaken as a refugee, other countries seemed to be accepting of his unorthodox antics. At mile 7, Tahir Remembers He Left Milk on Kitchen Table Halfway through his race three weeks ago, Tahir Qadeer remembered that he accidentally left the milk out on the kitchen table. Upon arrival home, he dumped the spoiled bottle down the drain.
Facebook Action: Morgan Celebrates 100th Time Hearing Phrase "Run, Forrest, Run" When most men are catcalled by a lovely lady of New Brunswick on a dimly lit side street, they stop and chat. But not Tim Morgan.
Sadly, she picked the worst topic possible-- Tim's despise for the movie Forrest Gump--so her efforts were all in futility. Indeed, he estimates it was about the 100th time someone said this to him, and he consequently yelled back at her. See below post that describes the "terrible legacy" of Tom Hank's American classic. Alas, they were classic star-crossed lovers, just two passing ships in the night, quarreling over a movie from the 90's.
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SUNDAY TEAM RUNS
Start Time 8:00am | | Yes! the Sunday team runs are always this fun!!
Upcoming Sunday Team Runs
This Sunday: USATF-NJ Half Marathon! |
The Anis Angle Please meet Mike Anis, one of the original founding members of the GSTC. The only man who has competed at every club XC nationals over the past five years, he has a penchant for sharing, oversharing, pontificating, overpontificating, complaining, and overcomplaining. And he wears this from time to time, as well, which the ladies seem to love. "So the Olympics are cool, right? Well, I just sold XC spikes to an 80yr old man who is going to be competing as a 200m sprinter! He really seemed like he was at most 68, my opinion. Remarkable!"
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| | Kyle's Kubicle Returns! He may be the new kid on the block, but Evan Ward is taking his opening GSTC moments by storm! Popping up at many team runs, getting in the workouts, and an incredible inaugural team race performance, this guy has it all! A very accomplished runner through his career he seems to have made our club his new cozy home, but if you think he's settling down guess again. He had some big goals and he wont stop rolling till he gets them. (Foam roller joke) If you haven't met him yet then surely you've at least heard of him, and if you haven't heard of him yet, well here's your chance!
Evan Ward
Kyle: Hello Evan, thank you for joining us! Mr. Ward: Yeah of course Kyle: Let's start at the beginning! Where were you born? Wait no, my director is saying we don't have that much time. When did you start running? Mr. Ward: I ran my first season of track when I was in 7th grade after I didn't make the Lacrosse team Kyle: Love at first lap? Mr. Ward: At the time I was doing it more just for fun, I wasn't very good and really only did the 400m but the next year I did cross country and began liking it more Kyle: How'd highschool play out for you? Mr. Ward: My freshman year wasn't great, I got injured during cross country and was barely in the 5:50s for the 1600m in indoor track but I started noticing improvement in outdoor track when I ran a 5:04 1600m that year during outdoor track and since then I began steadily improving and noticed my biggest jumps my junior and senior year Kyle: Almost sub 5:00 as a freshman must have lit quite a fire in you Mr. Ward: Yeah that's when I started becoming more serious about it and getting more into running, it really helped having older guys on my team pull me along Kyle: What was one of your biggest accomplishments in highschool?  Mr. Ward: There's a tie between the two, I'd say making the NY State meet and the NY State Federation Championship in cross country my senior year, it was something I was working towards for the years leading up to it and being able to make it was great and also when I ran 9:30 in the 3200m my senior yearKyle: That must have made some colleges pretty interested in you Mr. Ward: Yeah there was some interest, I was mainly talking to the Binghamton University's Coach, the Lafayette College's Coach, and Lehigh University's Coach and decided to go with Lehigh Kyle: Great choice! Tell us about your college career. Mr. Ward: College went really well, I was able to steadily improve each year dropping my times and moving up on the team, my junior and senior year definitely showed the most improvement Kyle: Some college highlights? Mr. Ward: My junior year indoor track I dropped my 5k time from 15:12 to 14:53 and my 3k from 8:44 to 8:39 and my senior year cross country I dropped my 8k time from 25:39 to 25:03 and was also in the top 5 on my team every race (usually 3) and made my first regional team Kyle: Impressive resume! What brought you to GSTC? Mr. Ward: I majored in Environmental Engineering at Lehigh and I knew that I wanted to get into the field after college so I applied to a bunch of jobs and I had an interview with an Environmental engineering/ consulting firm in Hamilton, NJ and was offered the job and decided to take it and I knew I wanted to keep running competitively and I've heard of GSTC before since they were at some of my races in college and they had a bunch of good guys and the team seemed like it would be a really good fit and it's been going great so far Kyle: Just what we love to hear! And more of what we love is the new guy throwing down at a race! Take us through your 5k experience from Thompson Park.
Mr. Ward: I wasn't exactly sure how prepared I was for the race since I only had a few tempos in and a surge run because the season lasts until December so I figured I'd just run it hard and see what happens, I was glad that there were two other guys out there pushing the pace (one of them being Stiv Mennitt) which helped me out a lot, I was able to stick with them, the course was pretty fair, the hill at towards the end didn't feel great and that's where the gap between me and the other two guys formed but I was able to make some of it back up in my kick, but not quite enough, but I'm glad I got the race under my belt and was able to get the PLP (I think that's the correct acronym?) for Club Nationals. But I didn't feel like I was in too great of shape so I'm looking forward to getting more workouts in Kyle: Well if that performance was you in not great shape we can't wait to see what you produce when you're ready to go! How is the transition from college team running to club team running going for you? Mr. Ward: It's definitely different, not quite as much structure and you do more things on your own but that's not a bad thing, I love how there's a great network of runners on the club and you can usually find someone to run with or get a workout in with Kyle: If environmental engineering doesn't pan out you definitely have a spot on our marketing division. What are your personal goals for the season? Mr. Ward: Haha thanks, I would like to break 25 in the 8k and be in the 31's for the 10k Kyle: Hmm I know a certain interviewer that has that exact same 8k goal.. RANDOM QUESTION! What Evan Ward's perfect night out? Mr. Ward: Haha very nice, we'll do it together! I'd say hanging out with some friends either skateboarding or making a fire and chilling or going to a bar Or going to a concert Or why not all of them? Haha that might be too much in one night Kyle: ALL OR NOTHING!! Well that's all the time we have for this week. Thank you for joining us! Mr. Ward: Yeah of course man! Kyle: Tune in next time to see who we interview!
2015 aGSTC HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
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FROM OUR COACHING STAFF
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