November 23, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Cross Country sibling duo from GFS raise the bar for their sport
by DEVON GRIEB

Max and Jasia Kaulbach (Photo by Devon Grieb)

Starting out as a simple sports requirement that each student needed to fulfill in order to attend Germantown Friends School, Max and Jasia Kaulbach have found their new home atop the cross-country pedestal. After they both took the individual titles at the Pennsylvania Independent Schools cross-country championships, Saturday, Oct. 28, it’s easy to say that these two relatively young runners, Max, 17, and Jasia, 14, have an exciting future ahead of them in the world of cross-country.

Max ran the 3.1 mile long course in 16 minutes, and 16 seconds, which was closely followed by teammate Jake McKenze who finished only 11 seconds shy of Max’s time. Jasia came in first place, with a time of 20:32, four seconds ahead of second place winner Mandi McConnell. Max helped his team win the overall boys title, beating out La Salle by 37 points.

“Cross-country is more of a team sport than track, and the atmosphere is a lot better,” Max said. He explained why he prefers cross-country to track, because it focuses more on the team as a whole, whereas track and field is mainly about individual accomplishments.

Max started running because in order to attend Germantown Friends you have to participate in a sport due to the small number of students enrolled in the school. His running times have drastically improved since his middle school days, and as a junior this year, he received the honor of being named to the 2006 all state first team. Max plans on continuing his running in college where he wants to also study in Mathematics or Physics.

Jasia, a freshman, has taken the cross-country scene by surprise. Deciding to follow in her brother’s footsteps, this is only her second year running and she has already accomplished what most high school runners dream of. Jasia also plans on continuing her cross-country career past high school and has taken an academic interest in English and history.

The two runners train all year round and have recorded personal best times of 15:46 for Max and 19:28 for Jasia. Max, in the off-season usually runs 67 miles a week. Jasia, since she is younger and still a little new to the sport runs around 30 miles a week.

Watching the two interact, one can see they are defiantly brother and sister. Even with something as simple as trying to figure out the date of when indoor track starts, the two argued back and forth, contesting each other’s answers and not willing to offer a white flag. Eventually they came to an agreement, as most siblings must do and decided on Dec. 2 for the start date.

Even though their parents didn’t focus on running in their own high school years, they are very supportive and proud of Max and Jasia and their father has even taken an active part in running, participating in the Philadelphia marathon.

Max will be running in the regional race on Saturday, Nov. 25, for a chance to qualify for the National championships. Jasia’s cross-country season will end with the freshman race. The two will also be running in indoor track as well as outdoor track.