(by Don Meador)
A highly successful runner at Allen County-Scottsville High School will continue his cross country and track career at Kentucky Christian University (KCU), an NAIA university in Grayson. James Tyler Stanger recently inked with the school to run both sports.
“I’m extremely excited and blessed to have this opportunity,” Stranger said. “I feel like God led me here. It’s a great program and I feel it’s a great place to go. I’ve been working at it daily ever since I was in middle school. I started running for health benefits and realize I could be good at it and then went from there.”
AC-S coach Paul Spears was quick to note that his signing is just another expectation reached by the AC-S All-State runner.
“Tyler had big expectations this year and he has fulfilled them,” Spears said. “He loves this sport and he puts in many miles. I can’t wait to see what he does in his future endeavors.”
The AC-S senior has excelled in running endeavors starting while in middle school. As an eighth grader in the fall of 2019, Stanger qualified for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Class 2A state championships. The youngster surprised the field, placing 16th in the event in a time of 17:14.28. Stanger followed with strong regional meets and state qualifications in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. In 2020 and 2021, Stanger placed 64th in the championships with almost identical times---18:38.41 in 2020 and 18:33.59 in 2021. In 2022, Stanger posted a slightly faster time in 18:47.59 but still placed 86th in the large field. Last fall, Stanger placed 18th in the state championships with a time of 17:37.46.
Stanger also runs distance events during the spring track season and competes in various distance runs and marathons across the area and state. His wiliness to participate in all running endeavors will help him as he steps toward a bright future.
"James is a hidden gym of Kentucky with unlimited upside,” noted KCU coach Tim Veach. “His range from the 800 to marathon is a coach's dream. Instantly, I knew he would be a perfect fit in this recruiting class. James truly embraces an ‘all things thru God’ mentality and understands the significance of his God-given abilities. James will thrive in our program, on campus, and will grow to be a one of the most heralded runners to ever don a KCU singlet.”
Veach noted that Stanger’s collegiate opportunity came about based on his great work effort.
“We live in a society today where everybody wants to be good now but they miss the four or five years that goes into getting to where Tyler is today,” Veach said. “You have to put in the work to get to the places you want to be at in life. You have to gut through the workouts you do not want. You have to wake up in the summertime, wake up in the wintertime, run when it’s raining, when it’s snowing. Those workouts are not fun but to get to be an All-State level runner this year in 2S which was loaded, says a lot about his work ethic and determination and where he is at in life.”
Not only has Stanger found individual success, his efforts helped the Patriot team qualify for state this year as well as in 2021.