Both Blankenship and Mead have been with OTC Elite since 2012. Blankenship, a 1,500m specialist, placed eighth in that event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. More recently, he was fifth in the 1,500m at the 2018 World Indoor Championships. Blankenship owns a personal best (PB) of 3:34.26 in the 1,500m.

Mead finished 11th in the 5,000m at Rio. He earned his first U.S. title in 2017, winning the 10,000m in Sacramento before going on to finish 15that the 2017 IAAF World Championships. Mead has PBs of 13:02.80 and 27:32.49 in the 5,000m and 10,000m, respectively.