By Alex Castle
Growing up in a family that centered around the track, it seemed like a forgone conclusion that one day Allie Janke would end up on one too. But with an aunt, uncle and cousin who all won state championships as runners, and with a mother, father and brother competing on the track as well, she was the odd one out at first.
“I hated running when I was younger. I wanted nothing to do with it,” Janke said, laughing. “I was a lazy little 5 year old.”
Janke is now passionate about the sport, and her consistency and hard work is paying off.
For the second consecutive year, she set a new Portland Track Festival record in the girls elite high school mile, besting Sunday’s warm conditions and a competitive field in 4 minutes, 47.96 seconds at Lewis and Clark College’s Griswold Stadium.
“She’s so consistent and such a hard-worker,” North Central coach John Knight said. “It’s hard for me to imagine her ever not liking running.”
Janke, who will be a junior at North Central High in Spokane, Washington, in the fall, credited her win in part to the quality of the field.
“There was great competition here today,” Janke said. “It was hot. But I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to have a good race, so I just worked my way through it.”
After setting the meet record at 4:51.32 a year ago, Janke entered Sunday’s race looking to improve on her second half splits ahead of next week’s Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle. She did just that, finishing her last two laps at 1:08 a piece after running 1:15 in each of the first two. The negative splits separated her from the rest of the field in which four other runners clocked sub-5-minute times.
“Today was just a good opportunity to get my legs moving and gain some confidence,” Janke said.
Janke has had plenty of reasons to be confident. In May, she defended her 1,600-meter title at the Washington 3A State Track and Field Championships with a meet and school record of 4:43.6 Just two days later, she added a 3,200-meter state championship to her name with another meet and school record time of 10:10.83.
Last fall, Janke won Washington’s 3A State Cross Country Championship and led North Central to an all-time state record in team points and later qualified for the Foot Locker National Championships, where she finished 22nd.
While her list of accomplishments continues to grow, the track’s final selling point for Janke was her ability to find a community on it beyond her family.
“Once I was able to have teammates and other kids my age that love the feeling, it really drove me to the sport,” she said.
Janke was among teammates and peers on Sunday. The one mile featured five other North Central runners.
“It’s always fun,” Janke said. “We’re really competitive, but we love racing each other and we’re always there to support each other.”
After setting set her own personal best of 4:58.83 in a third-place finish at last year’s meet, Janke’s teammate Erinn Hill outdid herself again on Sunday with a fifth-place finish of 4:58.14.
Along with the North Central runners, Olivia Markezich of Bear Creek School, Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura Tigres Track Club and Natalia Quintero, who was running unattached, each finished below the 5-minute mark in second, third and fourth place, respectively.
Janke’s win marked another successful trip to the Portland Track Festival for the high schooler and her teammates, who, aside from gaining valuable race experience, also got to meet and see some of the best athletes the sport has to offer.
“We definitely fan-girl over a lot of them,” Janke said. “They’re big inspirations for us.”
In the boys elite mile, Parkrose High School’s Ahmed Ibrahim outkicked Sam Geiger to win by two seconds at 4:16.83.
