Samuel Gerstenbacher, a graduate of Schalick and Elizabethtown University, won the 3,000 Friday night at the Fastrack National Invitational at Ocean Breeze with a personal-best time.
Gerstenbacher, racing unattached, ran 8:19.36 and won by 40 meters over Matt Hynes of Vermont, who ran 8:26.03.
Gerstenbacher’s previous 3,000 PR was an 8:26.67 when he won his final indoor race for Elizabethtown at the AARTFC Championships in March of 2000 in Rochester.
Gerstenbacher and Hynes separated from the pack on the sixth lap and ran together until the 13th lap, when Gerstenbacher took off with a 32.59 lap. He then closed with 31.42 and 30.00 for a final 400 of 61.42. His final 800 was a 2:07.72.
This was Gerstenbacher’s first race on the track since last summer, when he ran a 9:23.53 steeplechase at Icahn Stadium in New York, but he’s been running outstanding on the roads, including a 1:06.18 for 25th place in the U.S. Half Marathon Championships in Hardeeville, S.C., in December; 23:54 for sixth in the Philadelphia Marathon 8K in November; 31:11 in a road 10K in Camden and Philly in November
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 