This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior runner Gabriel Schmid. The most accomplished cross country competitor at Orange High since the turn of the century, Schmid was honored at halftime of Orange’s football game against Montgomery Central on Friday night. Last November, Schmid won the 3A Cross Country State Championship at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville. He finished with a time of 15:44.28, more then 15 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. He became just the second Orange individual state champion in men’s cross country, and the first to win at 3A. Two weeks ago, Schmid started his senior season with a win in Orange’s first Central Carolina Conference meet of the year at Person High School in Roxboro. Schmid finished at 18:39, some 46 seconds ahead of the nearest finisher. Orange won the meet. Last week, the Orange men’s cross country team won a meet at Lake Macintosh in Burlington. Once again, Schmid finished first at 18:34.0. The Panthers had eight of the top ten finishers to win the meet. As a sophomore, Schmid was a top runner for the Orange team that won the Mideast Regional championship for the first time in school history. Schmid is aiming to become just the 27th multi-time state men’s cross country champion in state history this November. While he isn’t busy running, Schmid has been a volunteer for the Efland Fire Department. Regardless of where Schmid goes from here, he will go down as one of the greatest athletes in school history.