Palmer runners sign letters of intent to compete in college

PALMER — A pair of Palmer runners signed their National Letters of Intent to run at the college level at the Palmer High School library on May 5.

Tucker Christiansen signed his NLI to run track at NAIA Montana Tech for their inaugural track season next year and Mike Reem signed to run both cross country and track at Lewis and Clark College, competing at the NAIA Division level in Portland, Oregon.

“Tucker has been one of my best friends for as long as I can remember. There’s pictures of us in Sherrod Elementary fourth and fith grade running the four-by-400 together so it’s just been as regular as running is for me, Tucker has been there just as regular too and I’ve got countless memories with him and it was kind of fitting for me that he’s been someone chasing that running dream along with me, it was just fitting that we move on together,” said Reem.

Promptly after signing his NLI to run at Montana Tech in Butte, Montana, Christiansen went out and won both the 200 and 400 meter dash at the Palmer Invite over the weekend. Christiansen won the 200 with a time of 23.65, but ran the fastest time of the meet in prelims at 23.55. Christiansen won the 400 with a time of 52.80.

“The 400 and the 200 is really what I’m focusing on and the Nationals entry level times for those are crazy, like below 50 seconds and right now I run a 53 second and so I’m almost there and I really want to get there and that’s what I want to see happen is to break that 50 mark on that 400 meter dash would probably be the end goal,” said Christiansen.

Christiansen narrowed it down to Montana State in Bozeman, Montana and Montana Tech in Butte, but was impressed by the campus in Butte and will study software engineering while running for the Diggers.

“I think it’s going to be a job field that is going to have a very large presence in the future especially with a lot of technology entering our lives and we are already seeing it around us, so I think I’m going to have no problem getting a job and creating a future for myself and my family with it and getting the necessary skills that I need to do that,” said Christiansen.

Both runners competed in track and cross country running while at Palmer. Reem competed in the Palmer Invite as a runner and in the high jump where he took fourth with a jump of 5-foot-6. Brynn Miller of Palmer won the event with a jump of 6-2. Reem took eight place in the mile with a time of 4:51.22 and 4th in the 3200 at 10:30.

“I got the opportunity to go and run a the next level and I just had to take it so I’m just excited to be able to do something not only to go out and compete, but to be able to better myself,” said Reem. “I’m going to be starting 70, 80 mile weeks and running 8k, 10k races so it’s just going to be a lot of getting used to and it’s that same thing coming in freshman year. You’re the slowest guy on the team, got to work for your spot and so just got to go out and see what I can do, see what I can do to help the team and get myself in the position to be one of the top guys on the team.”

Reem will train year-round competing for the Pioneers in both cross-country, indoor and outdoor track seasons in Portland. While at Lewis and Clark College, Reem will study marine biology.

“I really credit Ms. Williams the biology teacher here because I never thought I would go into biology but she just made me fall in love with it,” said Reem. “The chance to go out and discover new things and work hard, same thing with being an athlete being a student, go out and work hard and try and do as much as you can.”

During the four years that Reem and Christiansen competed at Palmer, the Moose had four different cross-country running coaches. Reem took a leadership role during the last two years, mentoring young runners on the team and pushing his teammates to train harder. Reem said that he convinced most of his friends to join the track team this year and that they have gained an appreciation for the dedication it takes to be an elite runner. For his admissions letter to Lewis and Clark College, Reem wrote about the region track meet held in Soldotna in 2019.

“Ever since then it just clicked for me that you can run as hard as you want, but it’s always going to hurt and so it when you can start living with that hurt when you’re running is when you make your jumps and so ever since that race I ran hurt every single race. Run until you can’t any more and I think ever since that race it was just go time, go out and take names and do as much as you can and so I really think back to that race that sophomore year that really started my running career,” said Reem. “Know that you know, no matter where I go I’m always running for Palmer. As much as the little town drives me crazy, I’ll always bleed blue and you know there will always be a part of me that’s always here no matter where I’m at. So you’ve got a good Palmer athlete going to Portland, Oregon trying to make a name for his town.”

Both runners credited their teammates, parents, teachers and coaches with encouragement to reach their goals in the classroom and on the track. During the 2020 state cross-country meet held at Kincaid Park in Anchorage, Reem finished in 24th with a time of 17:24.

“This year we were probably one of the luckiest sports because we got to actually have races and stuff and everybody just worked so hard,” said Palmer cross-country coach Staci Stigar. “They’re in it to win it and they work hard. They showed up for practice every single day they did the routines. They really worked hard.”

The nephew of all-time winningest high school football coach in Alaska history Rod Christiansen, Tucker said that he tried his hand at football but that turning left repeatedly interested him more. Tucker compared the atmosphere of a high school football game to that of a track meet.

“Definitely get out there and watch your local track meets, they’re really fun actually,” said Christiansen. “If it’s a nice day and you hear there’s a track meet going on around you at a high school or at any track around you I’d say definitely get out and go to it. It’s a great community feel, it’s a great family feel, there’s lots of people there, you’ll definitely make friends too you know and it’s just fun to see people really pushing themselves around that track and it almost sometimes feels like a big football game.”