Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Texas Has Roots In 14 Men for 2020 US Olympic Trials Marathon


Fourteen men who either live in Texas, lived here previously or have other significant ties to the Lone Star state are set to be in the field of this month's United States Olympic Team Trials - Marathon in Atlanta.

The six who are listed as Texans on the marathonguide.com listing (the USATF site doesn't list home states) are as follows:

David Fuentes
Wilkerson Given
Ryan Miller
Will Nation
Austin Roth
Rory Tunningley

The eight who have significant ties to the Lone Star state by the virtue of working and training here (five) for a significant length of time or having run in high school in Texas include:

Abinet Adraro
Kiya Dandena
Andrew Epperson
Stewart Harrell
Frank Lara
Jarrett LeBlanc
Enoch Nadler
Parker Stinson

The fourteen runners had a total of 33 efforts that met the marathon or half marathon qualifying standards.  Parker Stinson and Wilkerson Given combined for 11 of them.  The complete list by number of qualifying performances are below:

6 - Parker Stinson
5 - Wilkerson Given
4 - Andrew Epperson
3 - Enoch Nadler, Will Nation
2 - Kiya Dandena, Ryan Miller, Austin Roth
1 - Abinet Adraro, David Fuentes, Stewart Harwell, Frank Lara, Jarrett LeBlanc, Rory Tunningley

Here's a bit of a bio and the qualifying times of each of the 14 Lone Star-influenced qualifiers:

Abinet Adraro
Qualifying Performances:  1
Lone Star influence:  An Ethopian immigrant, Adraro lived and trained in the greater Houston area before marrying two-time Houston Marathon winner Biruktayit Degefa and relocating to Albuquerque, New Mexico
01/20/19 - 1:02:09 - Aramco Houston Half Marathon

Andrew Epperson
Qualifying Performances:  4
Lone Star influence:  Ran in high school for Cypress Springs HS in the greater Houston area before competing collegiately for Colorado School of Mines and is now the assistant coach of cross country and distance for Colorado State.
10/07/18 - 2:17:01 - Chicago Marathon
01/20/19 - 1:03:17 - Aramco Houston Half Marathon
02/03/19 - 2:13:11 - Beppu-Oita Manichi (Japan) Marathon
01/19/20 - 1:03:22 - Aramco Houston Half Marathon

Austin Roth
Qualifying Performances:  2
Lone Star influence:  Ran in high school for Richardson Lake Highlands and collegiately for the University of Texas.  Roth currently lives in London, England.
11/19/17 - 2:18:05 - Valencia (Spain) Marathon
06/22/19 - 2:17:04 - Grandma's Marathon (Duluth, MN)

David Fuentes
Qualifying Performances:  1
Lone Star influence:  Ran in high school for Boerne HS before competing collegiately for St. Edward's University in Austin.
06/22/19 - 1:03:37 - Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon (Duluth, MN)

Enoch Nadler
Qualifying Performances:  3
Lone Star influence:  The former University of Florida runner lived and trained in the Dallas area from February 2012 to June 2014 before departing on a year-long around the world adventure.  He currently leads Team Florida Track Club, which is based in Gainesville, Florida.
12/03/17 - 2:18:17 - California International Marathon (Sacramento)
04/15/19 - 2:17:07 - Boston Marathon
10/20/19 - 2:13:04 - Toronto Waterfront Marathon

Frank Lara
Qualifying Performances:  1
Lone Star influence:  Ran in high school for the Houston Strake Jesuit Crusaders before running in college for Furman University.  He is currently based in Denver, Colorado where he's employed by Strava.
01/19/20 - 1:01:47 - Aramco Houston Half Marathon

Jarrett LeBlanc
Qualifying Performances:  1
Lone Star influence:  After a successful collegiate career for McNeese State University, LeBlanc lived and trained for a number of years in The Woodlands.
12/02/18 - 2:13:52 - California International Marathon (Sacramento)

Kiya Dandena
Qualifying Performances:  2
Lone Star influence:  Ran in high school for the Bellaire Cardinals before competing collegiately for Texas A&M-Kingsville.  He currently lives and trains in Flagstaff, Arizona.
12/03/17 - 2:12:56 - California International Marathon (Sacramento)
01/19/20 - 1:02:55 - Humana Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Half Marathon (Phoenix)

Parker Stinson
Qualifying Performances:  6
Lone Star influence:  Ran in high school at Cedar Park High School before running for the Oregon Ducks.  He currently lives in Boulder, Colorado and is the American 25K record holder.
12/03/17 - 2:18:07 - California International Marathon (Sacramento)
05/06/18 - 1:02:38 - UPMC Health Plan Pittsburgh Half Marathon
10/07/18 - 2:14:29 - Chicago Marathon
01/20/19 - 1:02:11 - Aramco Houston Half Marathon
03/17/19 - 1:02:55 - United Airlines NYC Half Marathon
10/13/19 - 2:10:53 - Chicago Marathon

Rory Tunningley
Qualifying Performances:  1
Lone Star influence:  Ran in high school for Lockhart before heading to run for the University of Texas.
06/22/19 - 2:16:25 - Grandma's Marathon (Duluth)

Ryan Miller
Qualifying Performances:  2
Lone Star influence:  Ran in high school for Boerne Champion and then collegiately at Texas A&M University.  A San Antonio native who works for USAA, Ryan recently won the Rock 'N' Roll San Antonio Marathon in December in 2:20:43.
12/02/18 - 2:14:27 - California International Marathon (Sacramento)
01/19/20 - 1:03:45 - Aramco Houston Half Marathon

Stewart Harwell
Qualifying Performances:  1
Lone Star influence:  Lived and trained in Houston from June 2010 to April 2014 while working for Chevron.  He ran collegiately for the University of California-Santa Barbara.
01/19/20 - 2:18:30 - Chevron Houston Marathon

Wilkerson Given
Qualifying Performances:  5
Lone Star influence:  Lived and trained for three years (after the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon in February until March 2019, when he moved back to Atlanta) in The Woodlands.  Ran for Team Green Running and coach Dan Green.
01/14/18 - 2:15:52 - Chevron Houston Marathon
05/06/18 - 1:03:45 - UPMC Health Plan Pittsburgh Half Marathon
11/11/18 - 1:02:48 - Toyota Rock 'N' Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon
09/15/19 - 1:03:29 - Humana Rock 'N' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon
10/13/19 - 2:11:14 - Chicago Marathon

Will Nation
Qualifying Performances:  3
Lone Star influence:  Ran in high school for Klein Oak in the greater Houston area before competing collegiately at the University of Texas.  Nation still resides in the Austin area.
12/03/17 - 2:16:59 - California International Marathon (Sacramento)
09/29/18 - 2:15:12 - Berlin Marathon
12/02/18 - 2:15:43 - California International Marathon (Sacramento)

No comments: