SHEPHERD
On a chilly Friday afternoon in Shepherd, the Gladwin boys and girls cross country teams were looking to set records and make history, as well as send runners to the state finals meet. Coming into the race, the Gladwin boys were pretty confident that two of their runners, Seth Mead and Caleb Palmreuter, would be able to qualify, and their goal was to move up in the standings, and even possibly sneak another runner into the state meet. On the girls side their goal was to move up from their pre-region ranking of seventh, as well as send at least one runner to state. Both teams were able to do just that, continuing an incredibly successful season that has put Gladwin’s name on the map in the cross country world.
The boys were the first to race on Friday, and on one of the faster courses in the state in Shepherd, came flying out of the gate, on their way to multiple PR’s. The first to finish for the G’s, as he has all season, was Seth Mead, who finished fifth overall, and broke Coach Jordan Strohkirch’s sophomore record by 0.2 of a second, running a 16:20.0, and easily qualifying for states for the second straight season.
Next for the G’s was Caleb Palmreuter, who also qualified for states for the second straight year, placing ninth with a new PR time of 16:38.3. The third finisher for Gladwin was Elijah Christensen, who ran an incredible race to place 14th, qualifying for states, and running a new PR of 16:55.5. The G’s had other impressive finishes as well, with John Whitman placing 36th with a PR of 17:54.6, Dakota Leddy in his last career race at 44th at 18:09.2, Ethan Edgar in 46th at 18:11.7 also in his last career race, and Ben Verellen rounding out the Gladwin finishers in 47th at 18:14.6, putting Gladwin in fifth overall in the meet, surpassing their previous rank of sixth, and only 17 points away from qualifying for states as a team.
Strohkirch was more than happy with his team’s performance, and is incredibly excited for the future of the Gladwin program, saying, “This meet allowed the team to see where we stack up against the best in the Division two field and I think we had a strong showing. However, we also know that we have more room for improvement and look forward to see how the three boys finish out the season at MIS for state finals, before turning their focus to next season.” As for the girls, they also came out fast, ending the team season strong with multiple PR’s, as well as outperforming expectations and improving to sixth place, ahead of their previous seventh place rank. Leading the way was Abby Robinson, who ran a blistering time of 19:59.0, 42 seconds better than her previous PR of 20:41, to finish in 11th, allowing her to qualify for states, becoming the first Gladwin girl to do so since Ashton Strohkirch did in the fall of 2003. Robinson’s time also moved her into the top ten runners in Gladwin girls history. Coach Lauren Reynolds mentioned that Robinson “knew she had to really dig deep if she wanted to make it to the state finals” and she did exactly that. Robinson wasn’t the only impressive performance of the evening either for the girls, as Lillian Binger and Alanis Povey both set PR’s, and jumped into the top 20 of Gladwin performances of all time, with Binger placing 23rd at 20:44.2, and Povey in 25th at 20:45.6. Rounding out the finishers for Gladwin were Tessa Cameron in 52nd at 22:53.8, Katie Seebeck in 58th with a PR of 23:12.0, Carmen Bragg in 63rd with a PR of 23:41.8, and Sara Bowman in 70th with a PR of 24:04.0. The impressive performances for both teams shed light on a bright future for the Flying G cross country program, as the girls will see every member of the team returning, including Robinson, Povey, and Binger, along with four eighth graders set to join the team next year as freshmen, while the boys see their top three, state qualifying, runners return in Mead, Palmreuter, and Christensen, along with impressive performers John Whitman and Ben Verellen.
Needless to say, exciting times are ahead for Gladwin Cross Country, including this Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, where Mead, Palmreuter, Christensen, and Robinson will look to see how they stack up against the best in the state, and even possibly medal. Coach Jordan Strohkirch also expects both Mead and Palmreuter to surpass his school record time of 16:07.3, saying “I think the boys are running with a lot of confidence and I hope to see that record fall and a new one up there for the next generation to chase after!”
Regardless of outcome, each of these runners are no doubt doing their part to revitalize the program, and set a tradition of excellence for years to come.