Coach reflects on time with Palmer cross-country running program

PALMER — The Palmer High School cross-country running program had a surprise for its head coach during the team’s annual postseason banquet earlier this month.

Michael Janecek, a man whose name is synonymous with Palmer cross-country running, presented John Bishop and his family with a commemorative plaque, during Bishop’s final event with the team as head coach. After 11 years with the program, nine as head coach, Bishop has decided to hang up the stopwatch and take a step back from his coaching duties. Janecek, a former longtime running coach and activities director at Palmer High, praised Bishop for his time with the team.

“I had no idea he was coming,” Bishop said recently. “He said a lot of nice things, about the way we ran the program and the fact my wife was able to be an assistant coach the last four or five years. For him to recognize that, talk about that, was a really cool deal.”

The cross-country team had become a big part of Bishop’s family, especially in the fall. Bishop’s wife, Brandy, was his assistant. Their 9-year-old daughter Emily has grown up around the team. Bishop said having his family with him is a reason why he was able to serve as head coach for so long. With Brandy also involved with the program, Bishop said it made it easier for his family to deal with the demands of a high school sports schedule. Rather than Bishop being away every weekend, his wife and daughter were right there with him.

It even helped create a new tradition for his family. Bishop said when Emily was 5 or 6, he started running the community races with her. Now, Emily is a regular in many of the community races that have become part of the average regular season high school running meet.

And a Bishop family tradition became a Moose tradition.

Bishop said he has always a had a rule for his runners. Nobody hangs back in the team tent while a teammate is competing. If a member of the team is not running, Bishop said, they’re out on trail somewhere cheering for their teammates.

Bishop said, now, as Emily runs in the community races, his Palmer athletes are out along the trail cheering for Emily. Bishop said he’s happy his daughter has had the opportunity to interact with the older athletes.

“She grew up seeing the kids, they way the kids take care of themselves,” Bishop said of his daughter. “It’s really good for her to see that growing up.”

Bishop didn’t follow the typically trail to coaching cross-country. The 1997 graduate of Palmer High School competed in both cross-country running and skiing for the Moose.

“I wasn’t very good. I made the varsity team my senior year as the seventh man,” Bishop said. “It ended there, and picked back up when I became a teacher.”

While most coaches start as active runners, Bishop took advantage of an opportunity to coach, and then became an active runner. After Bishop landed a teaching job, he said former Moose head coach Tim Lundt asked him to help out. Since he started coaching, Bishop said he’s competed in three marathons and his family often competes in local community races.

“Credit to Tim for asking me to help him out that year,” Bishop said. “I was quite out of shape. I started running with the team, and it was a lifestyle change. I stuck with it.”

Bishop, who led the Palmer girls to a runner-up finish in the Region III Championships in 2017, said he doesn’t plan to stop running.

“I hope to keep sticking with it,” Bishop said.

He said he plans to be available to help his successor, and will be involved, in some way, with the annual Palmer Invitational. Bishop said family plans outside of running led to the decision to step down as head coach.

Overall, Bishop said he’s happy with his tenure with Moose running. He noted former athletes such as Chris Osiensky, who has gone from competing with the Moose to winning marathons. He also mentioned Samantha Contreras, who had the chance to run at UAA after high school. Bishop said Contreras wrote him a long letter following her senior year, thanking him for all of his help during her high school career.

Bishop said being there for the athletes is what stands out.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.