Manti cross-country runner takes state for second time

By Blake Gumprecht

MANTI—Paul Gardner keeps growing taller and getting faster.

The Manti 17-year-old, who lives about a half-mile west of town with his parents and five younger siblings, was 6 feet tall when he began high school. Now a senior, he stands 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 155 pounds. His long stride serves him well in distance running.

Gardner is home-schooled but competes in cross country and track for Manti High School. Since his freshman year, he has cut about 2.5 minutes off his cross-country time. On Oct. 27, he won his second consecutive Class 3A boys cross-country state championship.

“He’s the best runner I’ve ever had,” said Manti cross-country coach Brandon Norris, who has coached the team for 23 years.

Gardner’s father, Bryce Gardner, is a contractor who stands 6 feet, 6 inches tall. His mother, who is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, ran cross country in high school in Washington state. She now home-schools the family’s children.

Gardner said he has grown another inch this year. Has he stopped growing?

“I don’t think so,” he said.

Finding his stride

He played soccer and flag football in elementary school but began running in seventh grade at his mother’s suggestion. It also gave him an opportunity to run with his cousins Grace Gardner and Seth Gardner. Grace, a Manti High sophomore, and Seth, a freshman, compete in cross country and track for the Templars.

“I fell in love with it and kept going,” Gardner said. “I like having to have a work ethic to achieve, being able to set a goal and go reach it.”

Distance running often leaves competitors alone with their thoughts, even when they start in a crowd. Gardner enjoys that solitude, but cross country and track also give him time with friends and teammates outside his home-school routine.

“It’s not the same without friends and teammates,” he said.

Gardner typically runs about 4 miles alone in the morning, followed by another 5 or 6 miles with his team after school. On Saturdays, he often runs 10 to 13 miles, sometimes in one outing.

He averages 65 to 70 miles a week, occasionally running three or four times a day. He takes Sundays off for church and recovery, something Norris encourages his runners to do.

Gardner said he enjoys the quiet when he runs alone.

“It’s nice to have time to think,” he said. “I like looking at the mountains and seeing what other things I can find.”

His training mileage has increased steadily since he began high school, and his race times have improved. He entered seven races this fall and won five. His fastest three-mile time improved by nearly 18 seconds over last year. In 2025, he won just one race, but it was the state championship.

His two losses this fall came in meets where runners competed across school classifications, including against athletes from larger schools.

The state championship

The Utah High School Activities Association held the Class 3A championships Oct. 27 at Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City. Gardner likes the course’s hills. He began at a controlled pace, then separated from the field on the hills as the race progressed.

“I like going uphill because it’s one of the hardest parts,” he said. “Your legs feel like giving up. There’s a … feeling of accomplishment.”

Gardner completed the three-mile course in 15 minutes, 45.21 seconds, finishing 17.97 seconds ahead of runner-up Jarom Findlay of Canyon View High School in Cedar City. Findlay finished in 16:03.18.

Gardner’s winning time was just 0.14 seconds slower than his 15:45.07 performance at the 2025 state championship. Norris believed Manti had a chance to place among the top three Class 3A boys teams and earn a trophy. Gardner said he wanted to avoid pushing so hard that he risked his individual finish and the team’s score.

Manti finished fourth in the team standings with 102 points. Ogden won with 58, followed by Carbon with 71 and Grantsville with 96.

“I wanted to do my best for my team,” Gardner said.

What comes next

Gardner and several teammates plan to compete Nov. 21 at Nike Cross Regionals Southwest in Mesa, Ariz. He hopes to earn a spot in the boys championship race, which draws top runners from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Last year, he finished second in the small-schools event.

Gardner also runs track for Manti, competing in events ranging from 400 to 3,200 meters. He prefers cross country, where races are longer than the longest standard high school track event.

After high school, he hopes to run a marathon, a distance of 26 miles, 385 yards. He completed a half-marathon in Springville last year, finishing second in his age group and fifth overall.

Running is not his only activity. Gardner volunteers with the Manti Fire Department, along with his father, an uncle and a cousin.

He has been home-schooled since third grade. He said the arrangement gives him more time with family and flexibility to study subjects that interest him. It also allows him to run during the day and occasionally work with his father.

Gardner plans to study electrical and mechanical engineering in college and continue running. Norris expects he will receive an athletic scholarship. Gardner said coaches at several colleges, including Weber State University, Utah Valley University, Southern Utah University and the University of Redlands in California, have expressed interest.

Before attending college, Gardner plans to serve a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has friends who served missions in Indonesia and the Philippines and said he looks forward to the possibility of learning another language and serving overseas.

“Paul is an incredible young man,” Norris said. “He’s humble. He works hard. He’s a good leader. He’s good with the younger kids. He’s always looking for ways to help people.”