PANORA, IOWA — Veteran Panorama cross country head coach Greg Thompson will received the IGHSAU Golden Plaque of Distinction Award before Saturday’s Class 1A race at the state meet in Fort Dodge.
The award honors the Iowa coach who “has demonstrated a successful career while making notable contributions toward school, community and the coaching profession.”
A native of Madrid who graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 1993, Thompson said he “models my coaching after my high school track coach, Ron Hamel, and former athletic director/assistant coach Shane Arp.”
Among his coaching duties at Panorama were his hiring, and current status, as the girls head track coach in 1998 and his becoming boys and girls head cross country coach in 1999. From 2011-2018 he was also the boys track coach for the Panthers.
His girls’ cross country teams have captured 10 West Central Activities Conference team championships and has had 51 harriers earn all-conference honors while 29 girls have qualified for the state meet. Twelve of his girls’ teams have been state qualifiers, with his 2017 team placing second while the 2009 team finished third.
Thompson has been named the Iowa Association of Track Coaches at-large Coach of the Year six times and was the IATC 1A Coach of the Year in 2017.
Though the award is from the governing body of girls prep sports, Thompson also has a sparkling resume on the boys side. His Panther boys have won 10 WCAC team titles, has sent 11 individuals to the state meet and in 2010 and 2016 qualified for the state meet as a team.
Thompson serves on the IATC Board of Directors and served a term on the IGHSAU/IHSAA joint cross country advisory committee.
In addition to a wide array of academic honors, the Panther harriers have, since 2015, held a Rally Run for Homecoming, carrying the game ball from the visiting high school to Panorama.
Groups of two or three run from 2-1/2 to six miles, depending on the total distance involved. Twice the run had to be split over two days due to distance, with one year the route used being over 100 total miles. The Panthers have run over 400 miles on their Rally Runs to date.
The team collects donations for each Rally, using half to pay for team camps, such as the visits to Colorado made each year since 2016 save 2020 (due to COVID). The other half is given to charitable causes, including local families battling cancer and the local Tori’s Angels organization, which supports families who have children with life-threatening medical conditions.
Those charities have received over $4,000 from the Panther cross country teams since 2015.
