Half Marathon, 3k Races Loom

GRC will be competing on both the roads and on track this Saturday.  

In downtown Washington, several athletes will run the Rock and Roll National Half Marathon in DC.  The race will feature the long-anticipated return to action of Dave Burnham and Beth Young, both of whom cut short their 2011 seasons due to health concerns.  Dave and Beth are in excellent shape, and while they are using this race as a tune-up before Cherry Blossom, they both expect to run well.  Patrick Murphy, Brian Young and Lavar Curley are also running with a focus on big PRs in Boston in 5 weeks.
 
In Catonsville, Maryland, GRC is sending its best and brightest to the Forget Towson Track Invitational at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The 3k promises to be a 4-way battle for the club record between 5k and 10k club record holder Sam Luff, 5 mile club record holder Karl Dusen, 3k club record holder Ryan Hanson, and newly-minted indoor mile club record holder Ryan Witters (YOU CAN PREDICT THE WINNER ON THE POLL TO THE RIGHT).  Never one to shy away from bold predictions, GRC coach Jerry Alexander proclaimed, "It's going to be a dogfight in the last 400.  Sam is certainly the man-in-form right now, but Witty is sharp. This will be Hanson's first race of the season, so he lacks sharpness, but he has looked extremely fit in workouts the last two weeks. And of course it's never smart to count out Karl who, as the greatest distance runner in Columbia University history, is loathe to let a Cornell man beat him. It promises to be an entertaining race right from the gun." Also in the field are Jason Myers, who ran a huge PR of 8:54 earlier this spring, Luke Albertson, who ran 15:03 for 5k indoors, and Sam Boimov, who will be making his triumphant return to UMBC, his alma mater.  All of those athletes will also compete in the 4 x 800, along with GRC 800 ace Chuck Kacsur, who will run the opening leg against Witters.  Said Alexander, "it should be a great battle between two evenly matched GRC teams.  Chuck will have fresh legs, but Witty ran 1:57 shortly after his excellent mile two weeks ago, and could give Big City a run for his money."   
 
3200m relay lineups:
 
GRC - TEAM ERNST
Witters -  Alberston - Hanson - Myers
 
GRC - TEAM MARREN
Kacsur - Boimov- Luff - Dusen

UPDATE: Luff is "people's favorite" to win after overnight polling...