Palmer cross country coach Rob Gilliam first heard about Awet Beraki like this: There’s a kid that ran up the Manitou Incline three times before many of the Terrors’ football players reached the peak once.

It was a slight exaggeration. Beraki, a native of Eritrea, Africa, confirmed it was actually just twice. But it was no matter to Gilliam, who knew he’d found something special.

Beraki led the Coronado Cougar Classic for nearly two miles on Thursday at Monument Valley Park before he wavered in the final mile. The Palmer junior settled for a seventh-place finish in 16 minutes and 47 seconds and the Terrors took second with 72 points.

“I got my stomach cramped,” said Beraki, who grimaced in pain as he lost the lead up a steep hill around the two-mile mark. “I was (like), ‘I just want to finish.'”

Air Academy’s Ethan Powell, meanwhile, made another strong case as a 4A state title contender with his a win in 16:05 to lead the Kadets to a meet title (49). Teammates Cal Banta (16:27) and Dillon Powell (16:30) took second and third, respectively.

Powell and Air Academy have won the past two meets in town handily with 4A favorite Palmer Ridge’s No. 1 team not in attendance.

“We know (Palmer Ridge) is up there, so it is a question of how far ahead of us are they,” Powell said. “I think from their point of view it’s a great strategy. I mean I’d love to be able to race them, it’d be great, but right now they hold most of the cards. If they are playing it close to the chest I can’t blame them for that.”

The bigger surprise on Thursday was how strong 5A Palmer and its breakout star looked.

Beraki – who split time between football and cross country last fall, and baseball and track in the spring – narrowed his focus to running over the summer and upped his training to 90-mile weeks. His potential – the same potential the Terrors’ football coaches saw in him on the Manitou Incline a year ago – became all the more clear as he collected wins at the Joe Davis Classic and the American Discovery Trail Marathon earlier this month.

“I think I’m good at doing long distance,” said Beraki, who grew up hiking the terrains of Eritrea. “I was watching the Olympics. Someday I might be in (the) Olympics. That’s my goal, to do long distance.”

Palmer had five runners finish top 20 in sub-18 minutes on a notably difficult course at Monument Valley. The Terrors are hoping to reach their first state meet since 2014.

“We have a group of guys that have decided to train together and make running a part of their full-time regimen,” Gilliam said. “They’ve gotten good.”