Meet coach Thompson, panorama’s cross country coach for the past 25 years. An experienced coach who has had success over the years such as, having 2 men teams qualify to the state meet and 12 women teams qualifying to the state meet with their best finishes in 2009 where they placed 3rd, and 2017 pacing 2nd. Also had one boy, Randy Keys, earn individual all-state honors and two girls, Ashley Keys and Ella Waddle, have earned all-state honors…Ella winning that honor 3 times in her high school career in 25 years he continues to love the sport year in and year out
The girls team this season looks to have some talented athletes added to the roster. Mia Waddle, a senior, will return to the team after not running for the past 2 seasons. In Mia’s freshman year she place 16th at the state qualifying meet in class 2A, barely missing qualifying individually to the state meet, but did run at the state meet as the girls team qualified that season. Mary Fett, a sophomore, qualified individually as a freshman. Another freshman on the women’s roster is Kylie Rochholz. Kylie spent her summer running in two local 5K’s, hitting around the 21:00 mark. Giving her the strong confidence as she heads into the season. Veteran runner Avery Bahrenfuss will make a return this year. She ran in junior high and for all of her 4 years at Panorma. Other newcomers that will provide depth for the womens team are sophomore Ella Carico, freshman Laicey Lutz and Jamie Fronapfel. .
The boys team is still looking to recruit as they only have 3 runners. Noah Poldberg, a junior, is entering his very first cross country season and is looking like a strong runner in pre-season practices. Zach Hayden, sophomore, and Gryffin Burchfield, senior, are both returning from last year. They look to improve from where they left off last season.
If interested to run for Panorma reach out to Coach Thompson as they are always looking to build their roster.
Courtesy pictures of Betty Cooper