Ten New York Members Set to Compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon in Florida

New York Entry/Results Scoreboard

The 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon will be held this Saturday (3-Feb) in Orlando, Florida.

Ten (10) members of USATF New York (7 men and 3 women) are entered in the event that will begin at 10:10 AM ET. The event will be broadcast live on Peacock TV beginning at 10 AM ET.  A total of 215 men and 165 women are entered. In the women's race, that will start 10 minutes after the men, Roberta Grover, 46, (Ledgewood, NY, Central Park Track Club is the top seeded New York athlete. Her qualifying time of 2:31:37 was run at 2023 Copenhagen Marathon. This will be Groner's second Olympic Trials. She holds a career best time of 2:29:09 from 2019. In 2019 she represented Team USA at the World Athletics Championships in Qatar; finishing sixth.

I stopped running my senior year of college and did not run again for 10 years. I resumed when my youngest son was 2. At that point, it was just to get some daily exercise. I ran my first marathon in 2011 at Chicago and qualified for Boston with a 3:11. From that point on I knew I loved the challenge of the marathon. Through years of consistent training I was able to qualify for the Olympic Trials in 2020 with a qualifying time of 2:29:06. For the 2024 Olympic Trials, I am one of the masters runners, at age 46, to race. I am excited to race amongst the best in our nation and demonstrate that age is just a number! - Robert Groner

 
Toeing the line with Groner will be Brooklyn Track Club teammates Erin Gregoire, 27, of New York and Lillian Anderson (pictured above), 26 of Brooklyn. This will be the first Olympic Trials for both.  Gregoire, a 2019 graduate of Columbia University, ran 2:36:21 at the 2022 Berlin Marathon for her qualifying performance while Anderson, a 2019 graduate of Dartmouth College, ran just 2 seconds slower at the Berlin Marathon this past September.

I thought that I was done racing after college, but joining Brooklyn Track Club reignited my love of the competitive side of the sport. Shortly after my first race back in March 2020, I had Covid with long-term symptoms, and could not return to working out and racing for over a year. The team was a huge factor in returning to racing once again. I credit any success I've had to the people around me! - Lillian Anderson

Seven New York members have qualified to compete in the men's race and are expected to toe the line. Edward Mulder, 31, of Boston, MA and Brendan Martin, 34, of Brooklyn have the two best seeds of the seven New York athletes.
  Mulder (Central Park TC - Tracksmith), whose wife Caroline Williams is also competing in Orlando, qualified for the trials running 2:15:25 at the 2023 Berlin Marathon. Mulder, who hales from Pompano Beach, FL, is a 2015 graduate of Emory University in Georgia.

I had a significant knee/tibia surgery, a high tibial osteotomy, on my left leg in 2020. The recovery process to return to racing took almost a year and a half. Prior to undergoing the procedure, I was unsure if I would be able to consistently run again. Yet since returning to the sport, I have set new personal bests across distances from the mile to the marathon. - Edward Mulder
 

Martin, who competes for the Empire Elite TC, will be competing in his third straight Olympic Trials. In 2020 he finished 135th and in 2016 he finished 20th. He qualified for this year's trials running 2:16:24 at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. The time was just 28 seconds off his career best that he ran in 2020. Martin is a 2011 graduate of Columbia University.

I paced the 2023 Cal International Marathon men's OTQ group, so I was excited to help quite a few men get the qualifying time on the last weekend of the qualifying window. I am proud of the four athletes I coach (men and women) who qualified for the Trials. - Brendan Martin

Alberto Mena, 25, of New York, Sam Geha, 28, of Brooklyn, Scott Nelson, 28, of New York, and  Ryan Cutter, 24, of Brooklyn are all competing in their first Olympic Trials.  
  Mena, a native New Yorker who graduated from Xavier High School and ran collegiately at Fordham University, ran a six-minute career best running 2:17:03 at the 2023 Bakline's McKirdy Micro Marathon to qualify for the trials.

My senior year of college, I decided to quit my team to pursue training on my own. I was frustrated with my performances and took it upon myself to make the necessary changes. In doing so, I began to make remarkable progress by adapting training to my individual needs and strengths. While I have had support from a handful of close friends, I am self-coached and mainly train solo. Looking back on it all, I couldn't be more proud of myself for refusing to be discouraged by disappointments and for having the self-belief and drive to make things happen for myself. - Alberto Mena

Geha, who competes for the Dashing Whippets Running Team, ran 2:17:25 at the 2022 Grandma's Marathon to secure his spot on the line in Orlando. The time was a career best by nearly two minutes. He is a 2018 graduate of Elon University in North Carolina.

Qualifying for the Trials came after the toughest marathon training cycle I'd ever experienced. I was working full-time in a new demanding job, studying to complete an MS in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University, battling recurring injuries and working with shorter mileage and fewer workouts over fewer weeks than I was used to. But I trusted the training nevertheless and it all paid off in the race of my life. My coach, Tomilyn Thornberry, and I worked harder than ever to yield nearly a 2-minute PR and qualify comfortably under the standard. - Sam Geha

Nelson, a member of Front Runners New York, made his marathon debut this past October at the Chicago Marathon running 2:19:43. One month later he ran 2:24:19 at the New York Marathon and then at the California International Marathon in December he qualified for the trials running 2:17:26. Nelson is a 2018 graduate of Amherst College.

I ran my first marathon in October 2023 at the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. I hadn't expected to be near the OTQ standard, but was thrilled to run sub-2:20 as a debut. My first real attempt at sub-2:18 was at CIM (right after running the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon), where I was lucky to run with a strong pack that helped me get under the standard. - Scott Nelson

Cutter (Brooklyn Track Club) earned his qualifier (2:17:27) in his marathon debut at the 2023 California International Marathon two months ago.  He is a 2021 graduate of Chicago University where he finished 9th at the 2020 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships to earn all-American honors.

The full list of New York entries with links to their bios can be found here.