Saturday: Nick Symmonds Headlines Elite Fields Set For Camel City Hilton Garden Invitational In Men’s And Women’s 800, Mile And 3k

Press Release
January 29, 2014 

WINSTON‐SALEM, N.C. – January 29, 2014 – Nick Symmonds will headline the Camel City Elite races to be held at JDL Fast Track on Saturday, February 1, 2014, as part of the Hilton Garden Innvitational.  With assistance from the Camel City Crowd Fund, JDL Fast Track will be awarding nearly $23,000 in prize money, time bonuses and rabbit fees in six races – men’s and women’s 800m, mile and 3,000m.

The Camel City Mile races are also a part of the Bring Back the Mile Grand Prix Tour.

Symmonds, the 2013 World Champs Silver Medalist at 800m, will be joined by many of his new Brooks Beast teammates, including Casimir Loxsom and Mark Wiezcorek in the 800m race.  Brooks will also be represented in the men’s mile by 2013 USATF 4^th place 1500m finisher Matt Elliott and Riley Masters, and in the women’s 3k by Angela Bizzarri, Addie Bracy, Jamie Cheever, Deb Maier and Jessica Tebo.

Other notable entries include Asics‐sponsored athletes Miles Batty (mile) and Heather Kampf (800) as well as Nike‐sponsored Phoebe Wright (800) and unattached Brie Felnagle (mile).  Maggie Vessey (800) and Oiselle sponsored athletes Lauren Wallace (800) and Amanda Mergaert (mile) are also competing.  Also, Furman Elite, a professional training group led by former Olympian Robert Gary, is sending a number of athletes to compete, including Nicole Bush (mile) and Michael Hammond (mile).

The Camel City Elite fields will also feature collegiate athletes looking to obtain qualifying marks for NCAA indoor nationals.  Colleges represented include Duke, North Carolina and Auburn.  The men’s mile features two‐time NCAA runner‐up at 5,000m outdoors, Paul Chelimo of UNC‐Greensboro.  The women’s 3k features 2011 NCAA 10,000m champion, Juliet Bottorff of Duke.

“What started last year as one race to inject some excitement into a college meet has quickly grown to 6 races that are now an opportunity to showcase our facility and our city,” said David Shannon of JDL Fast Track.  “We look forward to hosting these great athletes and showing them some Southern hospitality as a means to grow this meet via word of mouth in the elite athlete community.  We want to be a destination that elite athletes want to come run.”

“My training at altitude has been going quite well,” said Nick Symmonds.  “I am sharper than usual at this point in the season. I am very excited to test my speed alongside several of my Brooks Beasts teammates at the JDL Fast Track on Feb. 1st!”

The Camel City Elite races will begin at 2:45 PM with the women’s 3k, followed by the men’s 3k at 3 PM.  The finals of the 60m Dash will be next, followed by the women’s mile at 3:25, men’s mile at 3:35, women’s 800 at 3:45, and finally the men’s 800 featuring Nick Symmonds will run at 3:55 PM.

The full roster of entries in each race, as of today includes:

MEN’S 800m

Thomas Bojanowski – Wake Forest senior – 1:49.66 800m PR

Brendan Hazouri – Samford sophomore – SoCon 800m runner‐up in ’13 – 1:49.00 PR

Nathan Hendershot – Samford junior – indoor SoCon 800m champ in ’13 – 1:49.43 PR

Cas Loxsom – Penn State grad who was NCAA indoor and outdoor runner‐up in ’13 – 1:45.28 PR Logan Roberts – Baylor grad – 1:50 800 PR – will serve as rabbit

Eliud Rutto – Mid Tenn St sophomore – 1:48:07 PR

Nick Symmonds – 2‐time Olympian ‐ 2013 Moscow World Champs Silver Medalist – 1:42.95 PR Mark Wieczorek – 5‐time NAIA All‐American and indoor 800m champ – 1:45.36 PR

MEN’S MILE

Miles Batty – BYU grad – ‘11 NCAA indoor mile champ ‐ former NCAA indoor mile record holder – 3:54.54 PR Paul Chelimo – UNCG senior – 2x NCAA runner‐up at 5,000m outdoors – 3:40/4:02 PRs

Donnie Cowart – rabbitted inaugural Camel City Mile – 4^th place in ’12 Oly Trials steeplechase

Matt Elliott – 4^th place at ’13 USATF Outdoor Nationals – 2^nd at inaugural Camel City Mile – 3:36.61 1500 PR

Kane Grimster – Auburn junior – 3:45 1500m PR – 9^th place at SEC XC Champs Michael Hammond – former All‐American at Virginia Tech – 3:58 PR Simon Holden – Wake Forest freshman

Dylan Lafond – Division II runner at Mt Olive – mile PR of 4:12 Riley Masters – former All‐American at Oklahoma – 3:56 PR

Duncan Phillips – 7‐time All‐American at Arkansas – 3:56.27 PR

Isaac Presson – UNC senior – ’13 ACC runner‐up at 1500m outdoors – 3:40/3:58 PRs Chris Schulist – Campbell senior ‐ ran 3:45.92 for 1500m outdoors

MEN’S 3,000m

Niklas Buhner – Auburn senior – 3k PR of 8:02 – ran 4:02 mile on 1/18/14

Rob Finnerty – rabbit for Camel City 3k – All‐American at Wisconsin – 3:59 mile PR Craig Forys ‐ All‐American at Michigan – 13:41 5k PR

Bobby Mack – All‐American at NC State – ’12 USATF XC Champ – 27:53 10k PR

Ty McCormack – Auburn junior – ran 13:52 5k outdoors ‐ 6^th place at SEC XC Champs

Ryan Walling – UNC sophomore – finished 6^th at ACC XC Champs

Amon Terer – Campbell University

Brandon Hudgins ‐ Unattached

WOMEN’S 800m

Ericka Charles – will rabbit 800m race – PRs of 57/2:07

Heather Kampf – 2006 NCAA 800m champ – 2012 USATF road mile champ – 2:00.04 PR

Maggie Vessey – 6^th place at 2011 World Champs – 1:57.81 PR Lauren Wallace – ’13 UC‐Davis grad – 2:02.91 PR

Elizabeth Whelan – UNC sophomore – 2:05.13 PR

Layla White – junior at Cary HS – ran 54.66 indoor 400 as a sophomore – moving up to 800m Phoebe Wright – NCAA 800m indoor/outdoor champ – 1:58.22 PR T’Sheila Mungo & Rachel Miller – Charlotte 49ers

WOMEN’S MILE

Charlotte Browning – 2010 NCAA indoor mile and outdoor 1500m champ – 4:31 PR

Nicole Bush – Michigan State grad – member of ’13 World Champs team in steeple – 4:36 PR Brie Felnagle – UNC grad – NCAA champ at 1500m – 4:04 1500m PR

Stephanie Garcia – UVA grad – member of ’11 World Champs team in steeple – 4:45 PR Heidi Gregson – Iona grad – will serve as rabbit – has 2:05/4:36 PRs Amanda Mergaert – ’13 Utah grad – 4:13 1500m PR

Sara Vaughn – Colorado grad – member of ’12 World Indoor team at 1500m – 4:29 PR

WOMEN’S 3,000m

Angela Bizzarri – Illinois grad ‐ NCAA champ at 3k, 5k and XC – 8:57 3k PR Juliet Bottorff – Duke senior – ’11 NCAA champ at 10k – 15:49 5k PR Addie Bracy – UNC grad – 15:45 5k PR

Maggie Callahan – Arizona grad – 9:25 3k PR

Jamie Cheever – Minnesota grad – 9:29 3k steeple PR

Lauren D’Alessio – Samford senior – won SoCon indoor titles in mile, 3k, 5k – 9:35 PR

Wesley Frazier – redshirt freshman running unattached – HS nat’l champ at 1600, 3200 and 5k

Carmen Graves – 5‐time D3 All‐American at Roanoke College – JDL 3k facility record at 9:40 Samantha Jones – Wake Forest

Annie LeHardy – UNC junior – 6^th at ACC XC and 25^th at NCAA XC champs Deb Maier – All‐American at Cal – 15:29 5k PR

Jessica Tebo – All‐American at Seattle Pacific and Colorado – 15:19 5k PR

About JDL Fast Track (www.jdlfasttrack.com) 

JDL Fast Track, one of the premier indoor track and field facilities in the southeast, is the brainchild of two former Wake Forest University runners and current real estate developers, David Shannon and Craig

Longhurst, who identified and fulfilled a need for an area indoor track facility for use by colleges, high schools, local track clubs and youth track organizations.

JDL Fast Track will play host to multiple NCAA Division I and Division II conference meets in 2014, as well as serving as the host for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships.  In 2015, JDL Fast Track will host the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships and USATF Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships, and in 2016 will host the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The privately owned, dedicated indoor track and field facility, which opened in January 2012, houses a 200meter oval track with a Mondotrack FTX surface—the same surface that will be used at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Field event areas include two pole vault runways, two long/triple jump runways, one high jump apron and one throws area. The facility also includes a 100‐meter warm‐up track, office and meetingroom space, a training room, and hospitality suites for coaches’ or conference officials’ meetings at large events.  JDL Fast Track has current seating capacity of approximately 1,600, with future expansion possibilities over 3,000.