While serving as a member of the US Army from 1994 to 2004, Elizabeth Popielarcheck was accustomed to running long distances. Nineteen years later, she is bringing her love for long distance running to Carmichaels Area High School as the Head Coach for the new Carmichaels Cross Country team. It was a project that took over a year to complete, but the Mikes have hit the course and put together a strong showing during the 2023 season.
“It started this time last year,” Popielarcheck says. “I was pestering the gym teacher about how to start a program and he said if we could pique student interest, we can do it. I would talk to the kids during lunch, free time, any moment I could to explain to them the cross-country team. Eventually, we had 22 students interested, we were board approved by April, and I was board approved in May.”
Once the program was board approved, it was time to get to work. It began with summer training. The team would meet at 7:00 or 7:30am at the football field, with the initial 22 students interested. However, as training went on, Popielarcheck saw half of her students drop out as they experienced the pain that comes with long distance running. In the end, she had 11 students, two boys and nine girls, that entered the season.
“The beginning was trial by fire,” Popielarcheck says. “When you are starting out, running isn’t fun; there is a lot of pain involved. Our first scrimmage was on August 28 at Washington Park and we received such tremendous support. Even our competitors were so gracious, and everyone cheered for everyone. We had great parent support, and there was such comradery not only between our team but our competitors as well.”
After that initial scrimmage, the team had events every Thursday from August through October 3. Throughout that time, Popielarcheck saw a growth in her runners with every race. In the beginning she said that everyone was right around the same pace, but as the season went on there were a few runners who shined. On the women’s side, Aislinn Lindermann came into her own, while the men were led by Landon Brown.
“In the beginning, everyone was running at about the same pace. However, they continued to keep pushing themselves to keep going and I’m so proud of the whole team. The team is such a good group and to see where they are compared to where they began is incredible.”
With the inaugural season in the books, Popielarcheck and the Mikes are looking to add to the cross-country ranks. They have a series of recruiting techniques for kids in the Carmichaels Area School district as Popielarcheck hopes Carmichaels Cross Country stays strong now and in the future.
“The big thing right now is recruiting interest for our team. We have met with eighth graders in an assembly and had all of our runners talk about the team. We are also reaching out to our kids during our “Mike Period” and giving them a chance to experience running to see if it is something they would be interested in. We had two boys and nine girls this year and we are looking to continue to grow our team now and for the future.”