Thomas Morgan joined his teammates in a successful evening of racing in Boston 1/30. After finishing 4th in his first mile race of 2010 (4:04.94), the 5th year resident athlete came back 4 hours later to finish 2nd in the 5,000m in a time of 13:53.33, an indoor personal best. "Thomas has really pulled himself together after a rough 2009," said ZAP coach Pete Rea. "He is slowly but surely rounding into form and gaining confidence along the way."

Thanksgiving also saw ZAP in action on the West Coast as resident athlete Thomas Morgan performed well in finishing 8th at the Silicon Valley 5k (San Jose, CA) in a time of 14:01. "It is really great to see Thomas rounding back into form after a tough spring," said ZAP Coach Pete Rea. "He has stayed with it and is looking better each cycle."

Campers of all age and ability took part in this past week's "crazy racing week" at the ZAP Fitness Center. Runners from across the country took part in a variety of lectures and informative training sessions from drill work to weight training and nutrition. Additionally more than a dozen campers took part in either "The Bear" 8 kilometer ascent of Grandfather Mountain or the Crazy 8's 8k in Kingsport, TN. Thank you for your support and see you next year.

Five current and one future ZAP resident athletes took part in this past weekend's (6/25-6/28) USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Kicking things off for ZAP Elite was 3rd year resident athlete Allison Grace who grabbed a 10th place finish and a new personal best in the 10,000m with a time of 33:12. She concluded her stellar weekend of racing by doubling back in the 5,000m the following evening with another personal best time of 15:47, good for 8th. The performance is Grace's 4th personal best in the 5,000m event in 2009 alone. "Alli came together nicely at the end of her season," said Elite Athlete Coach Pete Rea. "She also had the 3rd fastest final 1000m of any women in the 5k which tells me she has good racing left in her legs."

In the men's 3,000m steeplechase 3rd year resident Ryan Warrenburg ran a gutsy preliminary race on Thursday to qualify for the Saturday final. In the final, Warenburg's 2:41 final kilometer secured him a 7th place finish, his highest finish ever at a USATF Track Nationals. Also competing for ZAP was Jessica Minty in the women's 5,000m, Dave Nightingale and Thomas Morgan in the men's 5,000m and future ZAP athlete Alissa McKaig in the women's 10,000m. For Minty and Nightingale this was their first time qualifying for a USATF Outdoor Championship and for Morgan 2009 marked his 6th consecutive year at the US Championship.

3rd year resident athlete Ryan Warrenburg continued his return to prime form on Saturday 6/6 with both a 2nd place finish and a USATF Qualifier in the men's 3,000m steeplechase at the Jim Bush Classic in Walnut, CA (MT San Antonio College). Leading for more than 2/3 of the race Warrenburg closed well over the final 500 meters to finish in a time of 8:45.16, good for a spot at the USATF Championship in Eugene in 2 weeks.

Also racing on the West Coast on Saturday 6/6 was first year ZAP athlete David Nightingale and Nate Peck, both racing the 1,500m at the Oregon Track Club High Performance Series Meet in Eugene. After a fast evenly paced first 1200 both came away with excellent performances - Nightingale a personal best in a time of 3:43.20 and Peck 10th in a time of 3:48.78. Nightingale has now run 2 personal bests in 2009 at the 1,500m to go along with his 3,000m and 5,000m bests as well.