By Tom Kloos

David settled into the middle of the pack from the start of the race, which was off to a quick pace. “I wasn’t getting splits. I was just racing.” A gap opened up midway through the race, separating David from the leaders. With the pace already fast, and somewhat cautious with a sore hamstring, David waited until the last 600 meters to start giving chase, but managed to close with a final lap of 55 seconds to move up to seventh.

On Saturday, May 22, four Bay Area Track Club athletes will toe the line at the USATF High Performance Meet at Occidental College. Set just outside of Los Angeles in Eagle Rock, California, the meet is gearing up to be one of the highlights of the spring track season. Middle distance events, the 800m and 1500m, will be the focus of the meet with heats consisting of Olympians, National Champions, All-Americans, and other world-class runners. 

On the men's side, the BATC's David Torrence is entered in the 800m, and Garrett Heath and Bolota Asmerom are entered 1500m. Torrence will go up against US 800m Olympian Christian Smith as well as a slew of other top-notch middle distance athletes. Fresh off of an 800m personal best at the May 1 Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford, Torrence has an opportunity to establish himself as a one of the best middle distance competitors in the country. 

In the 1500m, Heath and Asmerom will have the chance to test themselves against some world-class athletes. Olympians Ian Dobson and Leo Manzano are entered, as well as a gang of Oregon Track Club members and other professional runners. The race is shaping up to be one of the best 1500m heats of the year. 

On the women's side, Olympian and BATC member Shannon Rowbury will toe the line in the 800m. She faces an extremely competitive field consisting of Olympians Jenny Barringer, Erin Donahue, and Anna Pierce, as well as professionals Treniere Clement Moser, Geena Gall, Morgan Uceny, and Alice Schmidt. Expect to see some fast times out of this heat of women. 

Check here for live results on the day of the meet.  The order of events is as follows: 

On Saturday, February 6, four Bay Area Track Club athletes will compete in the Reebok Boston Indoor Games. The races will be held at the Reggie Lewis Center on the campus of Roxbury Community College. 

David Torrence, Garrett Heath, and Tim Bayley will be running the men's mile, and Shannon Rowbury will be running the 3000m. 

Their performances will be televised on ESPN2 from 2-4pm EST the day after the event. Learn more about the meet here. 

Good luck to the athletes!

Peter Gambaccini of Runner's World sat down with the BATC's Shannon Rowbury for a short but informative interview about the club and her upcoming training and racing plans. Read the interview here.

On a wet and rainy Sunday morning in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, Tom Kloos of the Bay Area Track Club placed 2nd overall in the Pacific Association Cross Country Championships, covering the hilly 6.09 mile race in 30:31.

Kloos, competing for Adidas Transports, placed 2nd in last year's PA Championship and aimed to better that at this year's event. However, after getting out to a big, early lead, Kloos was eventually caught and overtaken by Phil Reid of the ASICS Aggies.

Alysia Johnson and Shannon Rowbury were spotted on the course cheering on the runners, as were David Torrence and Bolota Asmerom.

Additional coverage of the race can be found here.