(NOTE: This is the fifth volume in our new series, Running Club Franklin County. If you have story ideas or know of any runners we should feature, send us an email to sports@recorder.com)
Here’s the list of past stories featured:
Brandon Palmer’s running career has come full circle.
What started as a dominant high school career at Mohawk Trail Regional, next blossomed into a standout collegiate tenure at Westfield State University, and eventually carried onto the national scene.
The Charlemont native, who lived all over West County during his younger years, realized early on however that his most far-reaching impact on the running community could very likely come through a different avenue.
“I was quoted in the Recorder, it must’ve been my senior year after winning Western Mass., and they asked me, ‘Do you see yourself coaching in the future?’ recalled Palmer. “I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
Fast forward more than a decade removed from his days at Mohawk (Class of 2005) and Westfield State (Class of 2010), and Palmer has indeed lived up to the answer he provided to this very newspaper as an 18-year-old. For the past nine years, he has been the track & field coach at Northampton High School, and also served as the school’s cross country coach for much of that tenure.
“The discipline that I had to develop as a young athlete, I can help give that back now as a coach on the other side of it,” Palmer said. “I can totally relate to a lot of these kids because it wasn’t too long ago that I was in their shoes, trying to navigate my way through a track career of my own in school.”
Palmer was a decorated track star at Mohawk, where he won the state title in the long jump and decathlon as a senior. He said he quickly took to the advice and wisdom provided by long-time head coach Joe Chadwick, who told Palmer early on in his high school career that he had the potential to be special.
“Once I met Joe Chadwick, that’s when I became really passionate in the sport,” Palmer said. “That was back in 2001 and really, he’s still got that golden glow about him in 2020. He wants all those athletes to be their best. Being close to him, he saw the potential I had as an athlete. He was able to converse that with me. He told me, ‘If I could go back and be an athlete like you, this is how I would need to train.’ It was a lot of accountability for someone I had never worked with before.”
The biggest selling point for Palmer came during his freshman year. His time in Buckland overlapped with distance stalwart Dave Burnham, who set the table in the 2-mile during his tenure at the school. Burnham went on to run at Division 1 Dartmouth College.
“I remember just watching him lap people,” recalled Palmer of Burnham. “So I was paying a lot of attention to his training regime, how was he working and getting better? I saw how attentive he was listening to Joe. You see that stuff, those results with people plugging away in the process, and you have no choice but to buy in.”
Palmer said he was recruited by several big time Division 1 programs out of high school, but grades prevented him from continuing down that path. He said a friendly conversation with the coach at Westfield State during the Western Mass. championship ultimately led to his decision to attend school there.
“Being a Division 1 prospect, you go through the process and start sharing transcripts and then schools are shy about returning that call,” he offered. “My biggest downfall was not being as much of a student as I should be. That’s my biggest influence now with my student-athletes. It’s about reminding them, you’re a student before you’re an athlete.”
After coaching stints at Williston Northampton School and Westfield High School, Palmer eventually landed at Northampton High School. He was a paid assistant coach his first year, then moved into the head coaching role for the outdoor program. In nine years, he’s taken a program that went 1-7 to a perennial powerhouse. The boys team won its third consecutive WMass Division 1 title last spring, and the girls program also won a WMass crown in 2019.
“We have a very invested group in Northampton,” Palmer said. “The kids jump in and they really commit. They’re dedicated to the sport.”
Palmer stays involved in the running community through his full-time job as well, where he works with and fits athletes at specialty retailed Marathon Sports in Northampton.
”I do have a very unique position with Marathon Sports to be able to work directly with a lot of athletes and teams,” said Palmer. “We do a lot of sponsorships of local races and events. I’ve made it a career. It’s a very unique career path that I’m on and I’m just really thankful.
“You don’t think about how encouraged you can be by the running community until you dive in and become a member of the running community,” he continued. “We get a lot of their fellowship through our store. I like to put myself in a position where I can help shape new experiences in the running realm, especially to youngsters.”
Last year, Palmer & Co. started a youth cross country program, and nearly 50 athletes from the ages of 4½ to 14½ attended.
Full circle to say the least, and now that he’s found himself on the other side of the sport as a coach and mentor, he’s even more appreciative of the efforts provided by Chadwick and others from his time in high school and college.
“It’s interesting because you really develop a whole new appreciation of those things when you become a coach yourself,” he offered. “I love it. I love talking with Joe and all those other coaches now because a lot of them are still involved in the sport. Now I show up to these meets with my team and we run across each other. That’s what it’s all about, that’s what the running community is all about. To see people and catch up, and just be connected because I think we’ve all been so blessed by what running has brought to our lives.”