What's next for Utica's Hermin Garic after placing 8th as elite athlete at Boston Marathon

Utica’s Hermin Garic competed in the Boston Marathon earlier this week and finished in eighth place overall in the wheelchair division. Garic finished with an official time of one hour, 35 minutes and 38 seconds.

This was the fourth time Garic has participated in the Boston Marathon, but the first time he was invited as an elite athlete.

"(Being an elite athlete) entails you getting there on Thursday – or whenever actually you want prior to the marathon – you get the hotel included, travel paid for, entry (paid for)," Garic said. "Basically the whole thing is covered."

Prior to the Boston Marathon, Garic competed at the Cooper River Bridge Run in South Carolina, where he broke the course record – which he set back in September – with a time of 22 minutes and 34 seconds and finished in first place.

The Cooper River Bridge Run and the Boston Marathon are only a continuation of what has been a very successful past 12 months for Garic. In that time span, he has two top-10 finishes in the Boston Marathon, two wins at the Cooper River Bridge Run, a win at the Falmouth Road Race and his first-ever Boilermaker Road Race win.

Boilermaker 2021:Utica's Hermin Garic earns first win

"Everything that I'm doing as far as training goes and working with my coach, it's paying off," Garic said. "I've noticed obviously my pushing and things improving since last year, and even early 2020 things started to improve and my times were just kind of getting faster and faster. So it feels amazing because like I said, you put in the time and you hope for results and they're showing up."

The winner of the wheelchair division at the Boston Marathon was Daniel Romanchuk with a time of one hour, 26 minutes and 58 seconds.

Romanchuk is a familiar name to the Utica area, as he is a four-time winner of the Boilermaker Road Race.

"Hats off to Daniel," Garic said on Romanchuk's success in the wheelchair division. "I still have a ton of work to do to catch up to Daniel, but it's good seeing him in some of my sites in some of these races for a longer time because he's usually the leader in the pack."

Westmoreland High School graduate Jason Robinson also competed at the Boston Marathon. The 19-year old finished 16th with a time of one hour, 44 minutes and three seconds.

More: Jason Robinson continues to make his mark as a wheelchair track athlete

What’s next?

On the racing side of things, Garic is preparing for the Lilac Bloomsday Run set to take place in Spokane, Washington on May 1.

"We haven't done that race ever since COVID happened," Garic said. "So I'm looking really forward to it, it's a really fun race."

There are plenty of events beforehand, but Garic also is set to defend his crown as the winner of the wheelchair division at the Boilermaker this summer.

“I haven't missed one yet – knock on wood – since 2005," Garic said of the Boilermaker. "It's the hometown race, I wouldn't miss that for anything."

Off the roadway, Garic is preparing for the 18th annual Sitrin Celebrity Wheelchair Basketball Game set to take place at Utica University 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28.

Sitrin STARS: Sitrin hosts annual Celebrity Classic Wheelchair Basketball game

This year’s game will feature Syracuse University basketball stars Jimmy and Buddy Boeheim as part of the celebrity team who will take on Garic and the rest of the Sitrin STARS.

"I'll be trying to take it easy as much as I could," said Garic, who will be leaving for the Lilac Bloomsday Run the day after the basketball game. "Hopefully the celebrities don't beat up on me too much. I'll kind of talk to them on the side and tell them, 'Hey, listen, everybody else is fair game, but I have to jet the next day to Washington.'"

Garic says this night provides a lot of fun for all involved.

"It's literally just a fun night of basketball and laughs," Garic said. "Getting some of these athletes like a Buddy (Boeheim) out there and playing you just to kind of notice, 'wow he's used to playing, obviously standing up and the hoop being so much closer to his head than ours and being able to shoot buckets like no tomorrow,' but once you sit down, it humbles them."

Tickets for the Sitrin Celebrity Wheelchair Basketball Game can be purchased at sitrin.com/celebrityclassic.

Kenny Lacy is a sports reporter for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Kenny Lacy at klacy@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Utica's Hermin Garic finishes in eighth place at the Boston Marathon