At the George Fox Classic, we had a solid pack of panthers racing to a second place team finish throughout the race. It consisted of runners 3 through 6 all heading towards a time of around 18 minutes. A ways off of the pace was Tanner Coltrane. As his goal was to run 18 minutes, it looked like he was not going to be terribly close as he was more than 10 seconds back going into the last lap. He could of "Given Up" as our new t-shirt claims others do. Instead, he "GAVE MORE", catching the pack, running 5:41 for the third mile then kicking to move up to runner #5. By running a 19 second PR (18:01) on a sloppy course, Tanner made a statement that he plans to be around "for the long run" on this team.
For Bekah Shilling, that doesn't mean they are shutting down one of the stores where she shops for clothes. It means that she is giving the Panthers hopes of winning the District title having a solid 5th runner. Our first league meet, Bekah was 1:06 behind our consistent 4th runner, Annabelle Palmer. Our next league meet at Ridgefield, she closed the gap to one minute on the nose. Then the next week, it shrunk to 46 seconds. This week at Columbia River's home course at Vancouver Lake, she ran a huge PR and reduced it to a mere 23 seconds! She has not only caught the eye of our local college coach, but I am sure that the opponents around the league are starting to be concerned about her accomplishments.