They are only sophomores, still pretty much entering their formative running years. But the way Taylor Biggambler and Alex Bland talk – and, more important, run – belie their years and show a maturity in training and handling pressure that usually comes only with upperclassman experience.
The two Flagstaff High School distance runners, who will be competing in a combined seven events on Friday and Saturday at the AIA Division III Track and Field championships at Deer Valley High, already have achieved much in their two years running for the Eagles’ cross country and track teams.
Bland was the unexpected individual state champion this past cross country season, while Biggambler was the girls’ top runner in cross country and, in track last season, qualified and ran in the state meet, dubbed the “Super State,” encompassing the top competitors from all five divisions.
How much better can these two get?
“There is no ceiling,” Flagstaff High distance coach Trina Painter said. “That’s the beautiful part. We don’t want to put a ceiling on them. We want to be able to increase their training at a certain rate, year over year, and hopefully they’ll continue to improve and get faster and stronger and smarter, more mature as athletes and gain race savviness as they move forward.”
That’s heady talk, indeed, given that Biggambler and Bland already have achieved times that rank among the best in the state in their division.
Bland, just recently, broke the school record for the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:18, eclipsing the 4:22.20 of Brian Hudgens set in 1988, the waning days of the Reagan Administration. And Biggambler ran 5:16 in the 1,600 last season and, despite missing a about a month with a lower leg injury this spring, seems primed to equal, or even better, that mark, as well as post a quick time in the 3,200 meters, her favorite event.
The two are not looking past the divisional meet this weekend, of course. Only the top 18 times spread over all divisions advance to the “Super State” in two weeks and, though difficult, seems within their grasps.
“It’s super exciting,” Biggambler said, “because we’ll all get to go against each other in different divisions and gives us a chance to see who is the best of the best.”
Their expectations are high, yet realistic. They said they realize competition will be fierce with larger schools from the Valley. But, as Biggambler said, “Coming into this, you’ve got to be confident and have a strong mind mentally.”
Bland nodded vigorously when listening to his teammate before an afternoon practice earlier this week. And he said, with maturity beyond his years, that success can be measured in many ways.
“Even if you think, ‘Well, I may not be winning it all this year,’” Bland added, “you go into it for the experience and maybe you set a personal best.”
Both are accustomed to the pressure of championship-level racing and seemed to handle it well.
“Coming into this, you’ve got to be confident and have a strong mind mentally.”
Taylor Biggambler
Biggambler first burst into prominence in the fall of 2022 as a freshman, elevating herself almost immediately to Flagstaff’s No. 2 runner behind state champion Mia Hall. Her track times as a freshman showed promising progression, and she pretty much dominated every meet during her sophomore cross country season in 2023.
The exception was last November’s state meet. Biggambler was sick the week of the race and was weakened. Still, she ran and ran well, maybe not with her usual dominance, but it helped the Eagles earn second place.
“I felt so awful,” she said of the state meet. “It gave me relief afterward that I was able to run it.”
This spring, adversity struck Biggambler once more, this time an injury that kept her out of many of the Eagles’ meets. She injured her lower left leg. Originally, Painter said, it was thought to be Biggambler’s Achilles tendon, but it was later diagnosed as posterior tibialis, soreness deep in her calf.
“I wasn’t running for three weeks, and I was missing races,” she said. “It was hard. Once it stopped hurting, I’d put in races here and there. A couple of weeks ago, I started running again.”
Asked if she feels back to form, Biggambler shrugged and said, “I’m getting there.”
Painter said she has been impressed by Biggambler’s attitude and hard work during rehab.
“We were cautious with it,” Painter said. “She took some time off, did cross-training and rehab. She came back just where she left off. We didn’t make any gains during that time off, but she also didn’t lose a lot of fitness.
“These kids are motivated, and she trained a lot on the bike and with her physical therapist, so she was able to maintain. It’s not probably the progression she was hoping for this season but we’re grateful that she is where she is and she’s healthy. Hopefully, she’ll get another little boost at the end here.”
The path to the divisional meet has been smoother for Bland, but he, too, has had to deal with heightened expectations.
“The pressure for me is flipped from what Taylor had,” Bland said. “I had an average freshman year, so there wasn’t a ton of pressure in (sophomore) cross. That was good.”
In fact, last fall, Bland emerged as a pleasant surprise for the Eagles’ cross country team. As a freshman, he was only an alternate on the state team, failing to make the top seven, but the experience spurred him to take running seriously.
“My freshman year of cross country, I was sort of just doing it for fun,” he said. “I wasn’t taking it super-serious. I had a pretty good freshman year for track. I liked being fast, so I went into sophomore year of cross with the expectation that I’d go to all the practices and work hard in that.”
Painter took notice as early as last spring but really saw a change in Bland going into the 2023 cross country season.
“The jump from freshman to sophomore was huge,” Painter said of Bland. “From cross country to track in his freshman year, he improved so much. I think he got a spark, or got a fire lit under him in track, because he was like, ‘I think I could be good at this.’ It became more of a primary focus for him. He plays soccer and does different things, so he started to zero in on his running.”
It’s not that both Bland and Biggambler aren’t experienced. Both started organized running in middle school, with modest success. Well, in Biggambler’s case, it started in fourth grade. But …
“I really didn’t like it then,” she said, laughing. “It was so awful, and I said, ‘I’m not doing this ever again.’ I just stopped running for a whole year. My sixth-grade year (at Sinagua Middle School), I had to decide between volleyball and cross country, since they were at the same time. I was like, I don’t know. Just to stay in shape for basketball, (she chose cross country). … I won my first race in the sixth-grade category and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is so fun.’ I started liking it more and more. I was on the varsity team as a sixth grader with the eighth graders.”
Bland also started running at Sinagua Middle School and found partial success.
“I got a later start than most people,” Bland said. “I wanted to do it in seventh grade, but then Covid happened. So, eighth grade was my first year. All through Covid, I’d go on runs to get out of the house and get some exercise in. That’s where I learned to love it.”
In eighth grade, Bland battled with teammate Elijah Talkalai in races. The two continue the friendly rivalry in high school. What motivates Bland is comparing times, not just with teammates but with runners throughout the state.
“I’m a stat nerd,” he said. “In track, you can compare (times) with other runners better.”
One statistic on Bland’s radar was the school record in the 1,600 meters, which had stood for 36 years. He said he likes running the metric mile the best because “it’s fast running but still enough distance that there’s endurance in it.”
About finally taking down Hudgens’ record, Bland said, “It actually was my big season goal, to set a school record.”
Biggambler, for her part, said she prefers the 3,200, the longer distance playing well to her predilection for cross country.
Both are not looking much past this weekend and, perhaps, the Super State meet two weeks hence in Mesa. But, when prompted, they already feel confident that their cross country teams will continue the dynastic tradition.
“All the top cross-country girls (except Biggambler herself) will be seniors next year, so they’ll have the mindset of winning it all for their last year,” Biggambler said.
Bland, too, pointed out that the boys’ cross country team will be stocked with returners and that last year’s champion, Millennium High, will lose some top talent to graduation.
“I feel like we’ll be in a really good spot,” he said.
But first, the track divisionals.
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