When Tom Hainisch served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi, he often would rally a group of locals to go on long runs with him.



When Tom Hainisch served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi, he often would rally a group of locals to go on long runs with him.

Parkrose gets stoked on cross country
Thursday, September 16, 2004
JEFF SMITH

Caption: Deb and Tom Hainisch with Spiriano Khunguni. photo by Jim Cornelius

When Tom Hainisch served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, he often would rally a group of locals to go on long runs with him.

"They weren't used to running for fun," Hainisch said. "But they were in such good shape. I just had to introduce the idea to them."

He now is doing the same thing at Parkrose High School, where he is the new cross country coach for a team that's too small to compete in the Mt. Hood Conference.

Instead, Hainisch's upstart group of seven runners competes in road races and invitationals. This weekend, Hainisch has arranged for the team to participate in Saturday's Mt. Angel Oktoberfest 5-kilometer run.

"I'm trying to take them to different areas every week to get them excited about running," said Hainisch, who includes ultimate Frisbee and basketball as part of the team's workout regimen. "I really have a passion for the sport, so this has been a lot of fun."

When Hainisch arrived at Parkrose last fall for his first job, he noticed the Broncos didn't have a cross country team.

So, after assisting with the track and field team in the spring, he and new athletic director Sanjay Bedi decided to form the Broncos' first cross country team since 2001.

"I felt the school really needed one," said Hainisch, a 1991 Wilson High School graduate who has competed in marathons and many other road races. "The sport goes beyond high school. It's a lifelong thing."

The challenge has been to get students aware the team exists. Hainisch has help from fellow Parkrose teacher and cross country assistant Karmin Williams, who coaches the team's only girl.

Hainisch would like to have a complete team of 15 to 20 runners ready to compete in the Mt. Hood Conference regular season by next fall but knows he first must build a strong foundation with this group.

"I want students out there to see that this could be a sport for them," Hainisch said. "I think we're headed in the right direction."

When this story was posted in October 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview PCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before. Plus the debate continues over Safety and Security.

Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention Governor Schwarzenegger praised the Peace Corps at the Republican National Convention: "We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children." Schwarzenegger has previously acknowledged his debt to his father-in-law, Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver, for teaching him "the joy of public service" and Arnold is encouraging volunteerism by creating California Service Corps and tapping his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead it. Leave your comments and who can come up with the best Current Events Funny?

Peace Corps: One of the Best Faces of America Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrates the Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best faces America has ever projected in a speech to the Democratic Convention. The National Review disagreed and said that Heinz's celebration of the PCV was "truly offensive." What's your opinion and can you come up with a Political Funny?

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