Photo by Hunter Franklin ’19 | Christian Kroemer ’18 shows off his cross country gear after going for a run in front plaza of Brophy on Jan 12th, 2018. Christian Kroemer ’18 is a Varsity cross country athlete who has halved his 5k time since freshman year from thirty-eight minutes to twelve minutes.
By Victor Beck ’20
THE ROUNDUP
Christian Kroemer ’18 has been running since kindergarten, but until he entered high school, running was never a priority.
Kroemer said that his father’s running past laid the foundation to his inevitable overall interest in running.
“My dad was a huge influence on me, he’s gotten many world records for it, it’s sort of like following in his footsteps”, said Kroemer.
“I wasn’t really fast. My first 5k took, like, an hour to complete,” said Kroemer.
“In middle school I ran, but not competitively. I wasn’t out practicing everyday, I was just doing it when it was convenient,” he added.
Kroemer said that encouragement from coaches, friends and family was essential for making himself believe that he could accomplish something.
“I think if it was just me running my freshman year, I would have thought, ‘yeah I’ll would just run to stay healthy, I’m not actually doing to get good’, but I think a lot of their encouragement helped to push me forward.”
Brophy track coach Mr. Steve Smith ’96 said Kroemer has put in the work and effort to run a sub-five minute mile.
“He made a decision one day to work hard and get better, and he has to become a good runner means putting yourself through pain for about 15-20 minutes straight in our races. Christian has embraced this, and now he can run the mile in less than 5 minutes.”
Kroemer said he always wanted to be good at something.
“Running was just that thing that I saw I had the potential to be good at, it became something I aimed for,” he said.
“There’s a sort of friendly rivalry, I would say between everyone. It’s like we’re all in this together, but when push comes to shove I’m going to try to win.”
This past season Christian has accumulated three medals each at different country invitationals. For example, the Doug Conley Invitational that took place in Phoenix, he cut his time from 38:09 freshman year to 17:03 his senior year.
Mr. Smith said Kroemer has the potential to run in college next year.
“After his freshman year, he dedicated himself to becoming better, and he hasn’t looked back since, his father ran in college. I think he could too.”
Due to his immense growth as a runner, Kroemer was also awarded the Steve Manos Award which is only given to the “most inspirational” runner on the team.
