Eric Contreras

Year Inducted: 2025

 

 

 

 

​

​

Every once in a while, one of those rare individuals comes along who raises the bar in multiple ways for our local running community. Eric is one of those.

​

High School
During his time at Centerville High School (2000–2003), Eric showed he could run with the best of them. In cross country, he was part of the team that qualified for state (2000), and he followed that with qualifying for state as an individual (2002). In track, Eric was once again a state qualifier, this time in the 4×800 (2003). In addition to Eric being an outstanding runner, another one of his shining attributes—leadership—was already present, even as a teenager in high school. As a senior, he was named team captain of his cross country team (2002) and the track team (2003).

 

College
During his time at the University of Dayton (2003–2006), Eric continued to perform at a high level in his running as a member of the cross country team. He was regularly one of the top finishers on the team and a team leader. He was named team captain his senior year (2006). Eric was honored twice as the Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Year (2005, 2006). He accomplished this incredible feat as an academic triple major (marketing, economics, and Spanish).

 

Post College
Following college, Eric continued to run and race. He turned his focus to triathlon for a period, culminating in an IRONMAN Louisville triathlon finish time of 11:28:49 in 2017. PR’s: 800m (1:59); 1600m (4:25); 5k (15:30); 10k (34:07); half-marathon (1:24:27).

Contributor

 

As Eric continued to run and race, he made a move that would shape not only his future, but also in many ways, the future of running in Dayton and the local area. In February 2009, Eric began working at Runner’s Plus and became the General Manager later that same year. The Runner’s Plus Fairborn store opened in 2015, and the Runner’s Plus Brown Street store in 2022. Last year (2024), Eric purchased Runner’s Plus from Soccer Plus, creating a new, independent company with the goal of continuing the 20-year legacy of supporting the local running community.

 

Below are some of the highlights of what Eric accomplished in between the time he started as a salesperson to becoming the owner of Runner’s Plus.

Eric started, continued, and/or coordinated multiple Dayton-area races including the Memorial Day 5K, Ladies Rock Dayton 4-Miler, Two Mile Thunder, and the Historic Germantown 8K. Eric also introduced “Pub Runs” in 2013, bringing together over 70 people to run and socialize on the first and third Wednesday of each month.

 

Through Runner’s Plus, Eric also sponsors track and cross country races, road/trail races, and other events in the Dayton community. He works with local track and cross country teams (youth programs, junior high, high school, college) and supports fundraising efforts for local charitable organizations, as well as directly from Runner’s Plus.

 

In 2009, Eric formed the Runner’s Plus Elite team to support post-college runners. In 2020, he launched Dayton Track Club (DTC) to reconnect runners coming out of the COVID era, including re-branding Runner’s Plus Elite as DTC Elite to foster and develop distance running in the Dayton area. This group currently has 300 members, with 60 runners on the elite team.

 

In closing, Rich Davis (Eric’s coach at the University of Dayton) said this: “At first, I thought that it might be challenging to recruit a blue-chip prospect like Eric to Dayton Flyer cross country. It didn’t take long for Eric to demonstrate unassailable passion for his team, his home town, and his sport. Eric provided consistent leadership both in the classroom and on the race course throughout all four years of his collegiate athletic eligibility. His ongoing enthusiasm has resulted in Eric becoming a major advocate of today’s Dayton distance running community.”