By David Rogers. KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — What started as a “hard training run” morphed into a High Country sweep of the Kiawah Island Half Marathon on Dec. 10. Tristin Van Ord and Tyler Pennel of the Blowing Rock-based On/ZAP Endurance elite distance running team captured first place finishes in the women’s and men’s divisions, respectively, while ZAP training partner and Boone-based Caleb Masland won the Master’s (over 40) division.
All three High Country runners finished in the Top 10 overall, Pennell at No. 1, Van Ord at No. 5 and Masland No. 7. Pennell and Van Ord set course records for each of their divisions, ZAP head coach Peter Rea reported to High Country Sports at race’s end.
For the 13.1 mile course, the 34-year-old Pennel finished in one hour, five minutes, and 2.63 seconds (1:05:02.63), a blistering 4:58 mile pace. Second place in the men’s division went to 29-year-old Preston Newsome of Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1:09:34.38. In third place among the men was another 29-year-old, Roland Hakes or Irmo, S.C. (1:10:22.87), with fourth place going to Allston, Mass. runner John Baker, 26 (1:12:07.97).
With almost 400 athletes running, the odds for former App State distance star and now Blowing Rock-based Van Ord not only winning first place honors among the women AND 5th place overall may not have been in her favor, but that is what she accomplished. A former all-conference performer for App State in the Sun Belt Conference and 28-year-old pro athlete completed the course in 1:12:52.92, a 5:34 mile pace.
The 41-year-old Masland was not far behind, finishing as the No. 7 overall in 1:14:03.84, a 5:39 mile pace and the last of the seven runners finishing the course in under one hour and 15 minutes.
In the women’s division, the first runner behind Van Ord was almost nine full minutes in her rear view mirror. They included Shelby Jaramillo (30, Greenville, S.C., 1:21:40.37), Nicole Quilliam (29, Atlanta, Ga., 1:22:13.58), Hannah Moldenhauer (25, Charleston, S.C., 1:22:38.59) and Rives O’Connell (32, Folly Beach, S.C., 1:23.47.22).
For Pennel and Van Ord the race served as a “hard training effort,” just five weeks in advance of the Houston Marathon in which they hope to post qualifying times for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in the event, ZAP’s Rea said to High Country Sports.
Accompanying Van Ord and Pennel at the race was ZAP assistant coach Ryan Warrenburg, who explained what the duo had accomplished with the run.
“Tyler and Tristin both had excellent runs today,” said Warrenburg. “The intention for both was to start conservatively and close well over the final four miles — and both executed perfectly. After the opening nine miles in which she kept her mile pace between 5:33 and 5:40, Tristin closed the remaining four miles in the low to mid 5:20s. Tyler was around 4:57 to the 10-mile mark, with 4:45-4:50s to finish. These performances are a real confidence boost for both as we approach the Houston event in mid-January.”
Rea said that ZAP team members Van Ord, Pennell, Josh Izewski, and Joanna Thompson are all slated to compete in Houston and all are looking to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. The Marathon races are scheduled for Feb. 3, 2024, in Orlando, Fla.
Pennel is a native of Colorado, competing in cross country and track for Golden High School and later for Western State College, where he won an individual national title in the Men’s 10,000 meters at the 2012 NCAA Division II national meet, a team national title, and was an 11-time, NCAA Division II All-American. In 2016, while training with and competing for the ZAP Endurance team, Pennel finished fifth in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Los Angeles after leading the race from Mile 13 to Mile 19. He had planned to compete in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter trials but a stress fracture in April of that year sidelined him until his first race back from injury, the 2016 New York City Marathon, in which he finished 8th, the third American to cross the finish line. His personal best in the mile is 3:58.99, 13:32.06 in the 5,000 meters, 28:22.90 in the 10,000 meters, 1:01:44 in the half-marathon, and 2:13:32 in the marathon, according to his profile maintained by World Athletics (originally the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), the world governing body for track and field athletics.
Van Ord graduated Summa Cum Laude from App State in 2017, with a degree in sustainable development, while also competing all four year on the Mountaineers’ cross country and track teams. While at App State, she won nine individual championship events in track, ranging from 3,000 meters to 10,000 meters and was part of two Sun Belt Conference championship teams, the cross country title in 2016 and indoor track and field in 2017.
After moving to Raleigh post-graduation where she co-founded the Raleigh Distance Project, she got a taste of elite distance running and moved back to the High Country to join ZAP Endurance in 2019. In 2021, Van Ord shaved more than seven minutes off her previous marathon best in the Grandma’s Marathon, in Duluth, Minn. In 2022, she lowered her best marathon time even further, to 2:29:32 at the NN Marathon Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in April.
Athletes may qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials race automatically by winning certain championship races or, according to USA Track & Field, meeting the qualifying standards in marathon or half marathon races leading up to the Trials. The standards include:
Men’s Marathon — 2:18
Men’s Half Marathon — 1:03
Women’s Marathon — 2:37
Women’s Half Marathon — 1:12
