Tyler Pennel (born December 21, 1987) is an American distance runner. Having grown up in Colorado, he competed in cross country and track at

Golden High School Golden High School is a secondary school located in Golden, the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. It is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district. History Background South School was established in 187 ...

and subsequently at

Western State College Western Colorado University (WCU or Western) is a public university in Gunnison, Colorado. It enrolls approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 450 graduate students, with 25 percent coming from out of state. Western offers more than 100 undergradua ...

. He runs for ZAP Fitness and is known for a competitive range from the mile to the marathon.

Running career

High school

Pennel attended

Golden, Colorado Golden is a home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States census. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the base of the Front Range of the Rocky Moun ...

, where he recorded personal bests of 4:25 in the 1600 and 9:49 in the 3200.

Collegiate

Pennel stayed in Colorado and committed to Western State College where he won an individual national title, a team national title, and was an 11-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

. His individual title was his first place finish in the men's 10,000 meters at the 2012 NCAA DII Outdoor T&F Championships. At Western State, Pennel trained almost always at an altitude higher than 4,000 feet.

Post-collegiate

Pennel won the 2014

Twin Cities Marathon The Twin Cities Marathon is a marathon in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area which normally takes place the first weekend in October. The race is often called "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America" due to a course that winds through down ...

in his marathon debut. He then competed at the 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships where he finished 33rd. On June 4, 2015, Pennel ran his first sub-

four minute mile ''Four Minute Mile'' is the debut studio album by American emo band the Get Up Kids. Background The Get Up Kids evolved out of the breakup of Kingpin, which consisted of high school friends guitarist Jim Suptic, bassist Rob Pope and his brother ...

at the Festival of Miles in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, where he finished second in 3:58.99. In 2016, Pennel competed in the Olympic Marathon Trials which doubled as the USA Marathon Championships in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

where he finished 5th in 2:14:57. Pennel planned to compete in the 5000m and 10000m trials for the 2016 Olympics but a stress fracture in April ended his Olympic plans. In his first 2016 race back from injury, he finished 8th in the 2016 NYC Marathon, with a time of 2:15:09.
Top NYC Marathon Results He was the third American man across the finish line.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pennel, Tyler Living people American male long-distance runners American male marathon runners 1987 births Western Colorado University alumni Track and field athletes from Colorado People from Golden, Colorado Sportspeople from Jefferson County, Colorado