Junior High XC Record Breaking Season
Junior High Cross-country runners. Photo by Leah Hetterber
Coach Kelly Gerlach
Junior High Cross-country season ended with Championships at Palmer High School. All runners ran continually faster times with each race.
This was my 13th year coaching for the Glennallen Panthers and the first year we fielded a boys’ junior high team. They placed 7th as a team at Championships in a field of 219 boys and mostly 4A teams. Two of the five team members were first year runners and all placed in the top 40% at this last race.
Among our season highlights were epic capture the flag games on non-speed days, thanks to Coach Mickey’s equipment and expertise in the game.
Some of the junior high team also traveled to Kodiak, where two runners won first place awards and they also experienced multiple bear viewings, explored bunkers along the beach and at Fort Abercrombie, swam in the ocean and enjoyed Russian and WWII museums, canoe races and rope swings at Camp Mueller.
Zane Gerlach ended the season undefeated, with wins at ACS, Kodiak, Palmer and again at Championships at Palmer High. He set a junior high course record in Kodiak with a time of 9:26 on their 1.5 mile woodland, hilly course at Fort Abercrombie. He finished the season with a personal record at Palmer with a time of 11:49 for their 2.1 mile course.
Caleb Grandlinard improved his time during the season by 35 seconds and consistently ran at the beginning of the pack in his races. The junior high boys ran with the 4A high school teams in Kodiak for the mile relay and Caleb’s 6:27 mile helped his team win first prize! His season personal record on Palmer’s 2.1 course was 13:51, earning top 10% status in a field of 238 runners.
Seventh grade runner Sheperd Korth began the season with a 2nd place finish at the Glennallen home dual with New Halen. He greatly improved his time over the course of the season, running 1 minute, 23 seconds faster at Championships than at the beginning of the season. His rank at Championships was in the top 20% of runners. Shepherd showed a lot of growth as a runner and as a leader this season!
First year runner Will McMahan also ran a strong season, beginning by winning the 5K junior high boys’ race at Glennallen. He ran his last race 24 seconds stronger than his first and placed in the top 25% at Championships.
Caden Schwanke rounded out the team this year, always keeping up or out-sprinting his team during practice even though it was his first year running. Schwanke always ran with a great attitude and placed in the top 40% of the pack at the highly competitive Championship race at Palmer, assisting in Glennallen placing as a team.
For the Panther Junior High Girls’ team, sixth graders Olivia Grandlinard and Mariah Abbott joined eighth graders Matilda Carlton and Nia Stone.
Nia kicked off the season with her 2nd place finish at the Glennallen 5K dual with New Halen with a time of 28:11. Olivia led the team with a time of 18:00 at Championships at Palmer, besting her beginning of the season record by 18 seconds. One of their season highlights was attending the Monet exhibit in downtown Anchorage after ACS!
Both Glennallen teams also served the community by singing and visiting with residents at the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home in Palmer.
Will McMahan and Caleb Grandlinard added piano pieces and Zane Gerlach joined in with banjo while residents listened, sang and added harmonica accompaniment to Coach Gerlach’s guitar. We all greatly enjoyed hearing stories and playing music with these ladies and gentlemen who served our country and State for many decades.
I will greatly miss this team of dedicated and adventurous runners! Congratulations on your epically fun season of hard work, community service and record-breaking races!
