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2023 Year in Review

2023 was a time for progress, personal bests, and prolific performances. Like 2022, this year featured over 300 race performances from team members, who won at least 45 times, in over 30 cities across California, 17 states, and a team record 14 countries around the world. The year concluded with an emphatic USATF Club Cross Country National Championship for our women’s team, scoring an incredible 18 points. During the preceding 12 months, 8 new club records were set, including multiple bests by both Susan Aneno (including a superlative 1:59 800m), and Kayla Knapp, who lowered our women’s road 5K mark to 15:53 on her way to a second straight Pacific Association USATF Short Course Road Grand Prix Championship.

Women’s squad earned the win at PAUSATF and USATF Club Nationals. Photo: Steven Anderson

Championship Contention Continues…
In our 17th year of competition, the headline remains our first USATF Club Cross Country Championship, featuring an outstanding result of all five scorers in the top 10 individual places. With unattached athletes withdrawn for the team score, Claire Green (2nd), Maya Weigel (3rd), Kayla Knapp (6th), Holly Clarke (8th), and Ayla Granados (9th) totaled 18 team points. Green and Weigel surpassed our previous best individual finish of 4th by Katy Trotter, way back in our first year of 2007, and the squad beat our previous best team result of 4th (2017, 2018).  However, our result in Tallahassee capped a year of top level action for the squad on many fronts.


Aneno hit 1:59 to cap an outstanding track season. Photo: Anderson

Internationally, Matt Leach competed in his 4th European 10,000m Cup for Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Pacé, France, finishing as third scorer as the team earned fifth overall.  Rafal Matuszczak notched 23rd place in the 40K race at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Austria, helping Team Poland to 4th place. While earning a world ranking of 54th over the summer, Susan Aneno very narrowly missed qualification for the World Athletics Outdoor Championships in Budapest, where Dena Evans served as Women’s Head Coach for Team USATF, her third straight appointment to a US staff for the World Athletics Outdoor Championships. After a long road of rehab from foot surgery, Joshua Sealand won the EliiptiGO World Championships this fall. 



Domestically, Ashley Lewis competed in her first USATF Indoor Championships, also at 800m, and Kayla Knapp finished 14th at the USATF 6K Road Championships, capping her undefeated PAUSATF spring road season as Short Course Grand Prix Champ. On February 3rd, we will look forward to cheering on Matt Lenehan, Holly Clarke, Maya Weigel, and brand newcomer Zach Hine at the US Olympic Marathon Team Trials in Orlando, Florida.

Lenehan heads to his 2nd US Olympic Marathon Trials in February. Photo: Anderson

Locally in the Pacific Association and Northern California, PDC athletes enjoyed another year of success at the front of the pack in a variety of championship and Grand Prix events. On the cross country course, the women’s team won our 11th association title in 16 years, scoring two full teams in the top 5 as Claire Green’s individual win led the squad.  The men again finished a very strong 2nd, earning a spot in the top two teams as they have done every year except for one since 2016. Chris Olley was the individual runner-up, in his third straight podium finish in as many tries, supported by Ben Rigby, Steven Grolle, Joshua Sealand, and Donald Taggart. Trevor Halstead also won the title at this year’s John Lawson Tamalpa Challenge, as did Knapp at the Matt Yeo Memorial Aggies Open, and Granados, Clarke, Izzi Gengaro, Sarah Gayer, and JJ Escalera won the Open race at the Bronco Invitational.



Regionally and beyond on the roads…
Running for the first time as the “Peninsula Disco Club”, the women won their first attempt at the historic centipede competition at the Bay to Breakers 12K, as the men took second, following their 2022 victory. Both men’s and women’s teams won the recent PA Grand Prix Christmas Relays, the women won the July 4th Freedom Fest in Morgan Hill, and the men were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the Mile of Truth, Great Race 4 Miler, and Stow Lake Stampede respectively.  Overall, Knapp, Faith Reynolds, and Sarah Johnson earned 1st, 3rd, and 4th in the overall short course standings, while Oliver Langford and Kirk Scheibelhut finished 4th and 5th among all Pacific Association Open short course men. PDC also won the co-ed team title at the Alameda 10 Miler in August.

PDC Men earned PA runner-up honors in cross country for the sixth time in seven attempts. Photo: Anderson

In addition to his Mile of Truth victory, Chris Olley also won the Kaiser 10K, as the women went 1-2-3-4-6-7 in the same race, and Matt Leach set the course record at the Chichester 10K a few hours earlier in the UK. In September, Faith Reynolds continued a strong tradition of PDC athletes by winning the San Francisco JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge event.  

PDC has 7 women marathoners with lifetime bests under 2:40.

Huge team depth at 13.1 and 26.2…
At the half marathon and marathon distances, PDC’ers had a very strong 2023. Beyond Weigel and Clarke, Jen Odenheimer (2:37), Mara Olson (2:38), Amy Schnittger (2:38), and Jeannette Mathieu (2:39) gave us a total of six women under 2:40 for 26.2, all personal bests over the last 4 year cycle, while Caitlin Chrisman (lifetime best of 2:38) returned to competitive postpartum form with a 2:48 at Chicago and Sarah Johnson ran a huge PR for 2:50 at CIM.  At the Eugene Half Marathon, Napa Half Marathon, Monterey Half Marathon, Kaiser Half Marathon, Bay Bridge Half Marathon, Oakland Marathon Half Marathon, Star City Half Marathon, Clarksburg Half, Phoenixville Blobfest, Philadelphia Distance Run, and Project 13.1 in New York state, Jason Intravaia, Matt Leach, Matt Lenehan, Ben Rigby, Liam Conway, Holly Clarke, Izzi Gengaro, Ayla Granados, Kayla Knapp, Jen Odenheimer, Yuzki Oey, Mara Olson, Amy Schnittger, and Maya Weigel all earned top 10 finishes at one of more of these events, with Lenehan placing in 3 of these as well as earning half marathon wins in both Mumbai, India and Seoul, Korea.  Rivaling Lenehan with long distance travel, Tom Tayeri ran the Tokyo, Boston, and Berlin Marathons with a best of 2:42 and earning an age group podium at Boston. He also took division wins at the Kaiser Half, Carlsbad and Surf City 5Ks, and was the fastest overall master (40+) at the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot. Melinda DiNapoli won age group crowns at the Kaiser Half, Kiwanis Resolution Run 10K, and qualified for the 2024 Abbott World Marathon Majors Championships with her run at the Boston Marathon.  Highlighting our multisport participation this year, Kevin Bishop won the Morro Bay Ironman 70.3 before going on to compete in the pro division of his first full Ironman in Switzerland.

Brianna Bourne dropped 10 seconds from her 1500m time in 2023.

PRs and progress on the track…
While Aneno lowered her 800m outdoor personal best multiple times to achieve her sub 2:00 goal, Miles Smith also chipped away at his indoor and outdoor mile times, dropping down to 4:01 for the indoor mile and 3:42 for the outdoor 1500, also running 1:48.9 to barely miss a lifetime best in the 800m.  Smith also finished 8th in the prestigious Sir Walter Miler race this summer. While Knapp and Green hit 15:56 and 15:59 for 5000m on the track and Gengaro chopped 30 seconds from her 10,000m PR, Brianna Bourne and Faith Reynolds dropped huge chunks of time at 1500m. Sarah Gayer earned lifetime bests at the 800, 1500, mile, 3000, 2 mile, and 5000m distances during a lengthy and strong 2023 track season, and Carmen Mejia set a new indoor club best for 1000m. Sarah Johnson also completed the full “Trevor Halsted” this year, competing in every distance from 1500 to the marathon, and finishing with a huge breakthrough at CIM.  Before injury curtailed her outdoor season, Ashley Lewis teamed with Aneno, Bourne, and Reynolds for a new 4x400m club best. With 2022 champ Donald Taggart pacing the first event, Jason Intravaia raced to 3rd and 1st in the two local Tracksmith Twilight  5000m events this summer, and Benedikt Bünz finished our 12 month track season with a 10,000m PR in Melbourne, Australia.

When not wearing running shoes, PDC raised over $6000 for Second Harvest Silicon Valley in our 4th annual Miles for Meals weeklong campaign.  Our Backyard Benefit 2.0 featured Strava co-founder Mark Gainey and raised valuable funds to support the activities of the team.  Mark your calendars for our 2024 event, scheduled for Thursday, May 2nd.  Our featured guest will be New York Times bestselling author, former Stanford and professional athlete, entrepreneur, and advocate, Lauren Fleshman.  We hope to see you there, and we hope you will be following PDC athletes in what promises to be a very exciting 2024!



















2022 Year in Review

After a couple of difficult years due to covid restrictions, 2022 represented a welcome return to a nearly normal competition schedule. By the numbers, PDC athletes competed over 300 times in 37 cities in California alone, along with 14 states, and 6 countries, notching more than 40 victories.

Success for the Team on the Roads and Cross Country Course as Women win 10th PA Crown
The PDC women’s team finished 2022 with a solid series of performances, earning sixth (two points from fifth) at the USATF Club Cross Country Championships, our fourth year in five with a team finish in the top six. Our top finisher in the weather-altered course in Golden Gate Park was Kayla Knapp in 22nd, followed closely by Ayla Granados in 29th and Maya Weigel in 31st as all seven competitors finished in the top 100 placers. Three weeks earlier, the women’s team put 10 athletes in the top 33 at the Pacific Association of USATF Cross Country Championships, where Granados (2nd), Knapp (3rd), and Chelsea Burns (4th) led the squad as we took the title for the 10th time in our 15 year history. On the roads, the women won PAUSATF Grand Prix events at the Oakland Running Festival 10K and the season ending Christmas Relays, along with a runner-up finish at the SACTown 10 Miler.

In May, the men enjoyed a sensational victory at the Bay to Breakers 12K in the world famous centipede competition (our first year entering that division), running as Eggs Benedikt. On the Pacific Association Grand Prix, the team swept the Stow Lake Stampede, led by a 1-2-3-5-7 result of Chris Olley, Trevor Halsted, Matt Leach, Fabio Fornarelli, and Steven Grolle. Strong second place results came for the third year in a row at the PAUSATF Cross Country Championships (paced by Olley’s 3rd place finish), and the Christmas Relays, as the men also earned 15th at the Club Nationals, among 45 total teams scored, again led by Miles Smith in 65th, followed by a hard charging Donald Taggart in 67th. .




Weigel hit 1:10 and 2:34:25 to bookend the year. PC: Marnie Kinnaird

Lenehan, Weigel Punch Tickets to 2024 Trials Among Individual Road and Cross Highlights
Individually on the roads, PDC athletes again made waves. Maya Weigel and Matt Lenehan started and ended the year on high notes, with a 1:10 half marathon and 2:18 full respectively at Houston to begin 2022, and 2:34:25 and 2:17:11 at CIM to conclude their road campaigns in December and qualify for the 2024 US Olympic Marathon Trials (both doubled back a week later to help the team at Club Nationals in cross country). Matt Leach was again our top performer at the half marathon distance, running 63:29 in Houston, before coming back to the TCS Consulting London Marathon and again placing well, this time in 14th, finishing 2022 in the top 20 for GB athletes in both events. Chris Olley topped the worldwide leaderboard in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge with his victory in San Francisco, and improved nearly two minutes over two races to drop his half marathon best to 64:53 at Monterey. Cody Goodwin, Jeannette Mathieu, Victoria O’Neil, Amy Schanz, and Jen Odenheimer all set personal bests over either the half marathon and marathon distances (or both), with Odenheimer narrowly missing her own Trials standard with a 2:37 performance at CIM. Kayla Knapp won the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 5K, the Great Race (and Matt Yeo Aggies Cross Country Open) on the PAUSATF Grand Prix, as well as the Stars and Stripes 5K, Jason Intravaia won the Great Race stop on the PA Grand Prix, Steven Grolle had two podium PA finishes at the John Frank Memorial 10 Miler and Great Race, Izzi Gengaro won the Open race at the Bronco Cross Country Invitational, while Trevor Halsted’s strong spring included a runner-up finish at the Kaiser Half and a sixth place finish at the Napa Marathon in a 4 minute improvement. Grolle and Zach Swenson were also top 30 finishers at the USATF Cross Country Championships, where Swenson earned third among active military participants and helped the Navy contingent to victory among the service branches.

Tayeri topped the charts at Carlsbad and beyond in 2022.

Tom Tayeri again enjoyed an outstanding competitive year, finishing second among 55+ athletes at the Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda Age Group World Championships in London, where he set a personal best of 2:39. Notching age group wins at the Ashland Half Marathon, Bay to Breakers, Carlsbad 5000, Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 10K, and CIM, Tayeri also took home the silver medal at the USATF Master’s 10 Mile Championships at the SACTown 10, while also finishing as runner up at the Kaiser Half Marathon, the Alameda 10 Miler, the Paris 20K, and finally at the 2022 Boston Marathon, where his mark of 2:42:39 represents the 4th fastest ever for his age group at this historic race. Melinda DiNapoli and Dena Evans also hit age group wins at multiple events in 2022, with DiNapoli winning the 50+ division at the BMO Vancouver Marathon, and Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 5K among others, while Evans won the 45+ at the Kaiser Half, the 40+ at the Kenwood Footrace 10K, and earned the bronze at the USATF Masters 10 Mile Championships.

In season-long PAUSATF recognition, Kayla Knapp won the short course Grand Prix (Caitlin Chrisman was 9th). Steven Grolle was 8th in the short and 9th in the long course on the men’s side, while Tom Tayeri was 10th in 50+ competition. In cross country, Trevor Halsted was 6th (with multiple podium finishes) and Sarah Gayer was 7th, and in track and field, Matt Leach (2nd), Miles Smith (4th), Fabio Fornarelli (5th), and Sarah Gayer (6th) earned spots on the Grand Prix list.

Aneno’s 2:02.16 at Bryan Clay set a new club record.

Taggart won twice at Kezar

Lifetime Bests Light Up the Track
From the first all-comers meet at Cal all the way through to the summer, Susan Aneno and Miles Smith made great strides in the middle distances, each achieving personal bests at 800m, with club records of 2:02:16 and 1:48.91 respectively, as Smith also lowered his 1500m time on multiple occasions. Matt Leach, again notched solid season bests of 13:47 and 28:34 in the 5000 and 10,000m. Maya Weigel ran 15:49 at the Stanford Invitational, Matt Lenehan had a lifetime best over 10,000m at the Portland Track Festival, and Chris Olley looks to build on a sub 13:50 5000m effort at the same event as we turn the corner to 2023. Tania Jarreau and Fabio Fornarelli also enjoyed multiple lifetime bests as they narrowly missed qualification for the French national championships, and Sarah Johnson, Benedikt Bünz, and Trevor Halsted competed well over varied distances this year, in Johnson and Bünz’s case from the 1500 to a half ironman triathlon, and for Halsted from the marathon down to the 1500.

During the summer months, Donald Taggart (two straight wins at the Tracksmith Twilight 5000 events in San Francisco), and Sarah Gayer both chopped huge chunks of time from their lifetime bests, with improvements of over 60 seconds and 30 seconds respectively. Finishing the 2022 track year on a strong note, newcomer Ashley Lewis won the 600m at the BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener.


Leaving Their Mark on the Trail and in the Tri
With many events returning in the multi-sport and trail disciplines, several PDC team members notched strong performances. Kevin Bishop won the Stanford Tree-athlon, Benedikt Bünz won the 30+ age group at the Santa Cruz Ironman 70.3, and Sarah Johnson had strong age group finishes at each. Chelsea Burns ran our longest race of the year, contesting the Chuckanut 50K, Matt Lenehan won the Lake Sonoma Trail Marathon, Carmen Mejia won the Broken Arrow Sky Race 11K, and Cody Goodwin romped to victory at the Rabid Raccoon and Still Hollow Trail Races in Tennessee.

Progress Outside the Oval

Dena Evans again represented the team as a member of the Team USATF Coaching Staff at the World Athletics Championships, serving as the men’s assistant coach for the distance events at Oregon22.

PDC supported the Second Harvest Food Bank with our 3rd Annual Miles For Meals campaign in October, hitting over 2400 miles and raising the 2022 target of $5000 to support our neighbors in need.

In May, the first annual PDC Backyard Benefit was a tremendous late spring success, featuring great food and company, a well-supported raffle, and a lively moderated conversation with special guest Sara Hall. We look forward to a second edition in 2023, this time with Strava co-founder Mark Gainey as our scheduled guest. Join us!