Pellissippi State Community College student-athlete Casey Pribish finished in the top five at the 2026 Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon.
The event on April 12 was Pribish’s first-ever marathon. A second-year student on Pellissippi State’s men’s cross-country team, Pribish finished in fourth place in under three hours and with a pace of about six-and-a-half minutes.
“I had a mentality that I was going to do it,” said Pribish, who is studying Mechanical Engineering Technology. “I’ve trained for it; I’m going to do it.”
Pribish, who ran track and cross country at Farragut High School, was recruited by Pellissippi Cross Country/Half Marathon Head Coach Emily Roy. Roy provided Pribish’s marathon training plan, which included running laps around the college on Tuesdays and tempo runs of up to 10 miles at marathon pace on Thursdays.
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were what Pribish called “easy days,” with about eight miles of running.
“I’m very proud of him,” Roy said. “With a marathon, you don’t just run the day of the race. You commit to that training months ahead of time. I’m extremely proud of all the hard work Casey put in – setting a goal for himself and sticking with it. It really paid off.”
For Pribish, who had previously participated in the 2025 Covenant Health Half Marathon, completing a full marathon was a “big jump.” A top-five finish was totally unexpected, he said.
“It was definitely fun,” he said. “It was a fun race.”
Unseasonably warm weather on the day of the marathon, with temperatures in the 80s, didn’t sway Pribish. The biggest challenge to any race, he said, is just getting out there and starting to run.
Pribish, who finished several minutes ahead of the men’s standard time needed to qualify for the 2027 Boston Marathon, will find out in September if he is able to compete in the prestigious race.
Though Pribish beat the qualifying time, the field size is still limited, and he will have to go through an application and registration process.
“This race was not about saying I’ve done a marathon or qualified for Boston, but more to just prove to myself that I can do something,” Pribish said. “I can be disciplined in my training. And I wasn’t even expecting to be able to qualify at all.”
Pellissippi State Community College is a public community college based in Knox and Blount counties in Tennessee and operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents. The college operates four campuses: Hardin Valley, Blount County, Strawberry Plains and Magnolia Avenue.
Follow KnoxTNToday on Facebook and Instagram. Get all KnoxTNToday articles in one place with our Free Newsletter. Comments may be sent to news@knoxtntoday.com.
