Gabe Toepel is the Gingerbread Man.
Seriously. It’s the name of his blog and his nickname in the Toepel household.
And the Brighton Collegiate senior has the speed, boundless energy and cheeky personality to make it a perfect fit.
A year after placing fifth in the Class 3A state championships, Toepel is on the shortlist of contenders when the postponed four-classification cross country finals return to Fossil Ridge High School on Saturday in southeast Fort Collins.
“I just had this passion,” Toepel said of distance running, which he picked up in eighth grade. “I didn’t want to be a blur for people to see for a short period of time. I wanted people to notice me. And I like the attention.”
While early projections had Toepel in the top two, a lingering Achilles strain and a bloom of talented competition from the likes of Ryan Poland (Denver Christian), Amos Bowen (Brush), Josh Noriega (Salida) and Dylan Donohoe (Lyons) has tempered that outlook.
Not that the Gingerbread Man, who also is an accomplished ballroom dancer, seems to care.
“I’m not quite up to par as last year, but I know what I can do,” Toepel said.
According to coach David Lange, Toepel taps into his full potential when he empties his head and just runs. Smaller and not as sinewy as some, Toepel picks a group or an individual to stay with and lets his legs and heart do the rest.
“When he just goes out and does it, he does his best,” said Lange, who co-coaches with Will Smith.
Running is the perfect medication for a rambunctious boy like Toepel, who is the youngest of five kids and one of three adopted by Ed and Denise Toepel, who were both in the military.
Gabe, 17, was adopted from an orphanage outside Tokyo. His Japanese mother got pregnant with him by a local man in Rwanda while doing engineering work for Toyota before the outbreak of genocidal civil war in 1994.
“That’s just not something that happens — a mixed child,” Denise Toepel said of her experience with Japanese culture. “He had absolutely no chance over there, and with us he had every chance. With us he can be anything he wants to be.
“And being the youngest of five, he had to be fast.”
Gabe Toepel, who wrote in his blog that he first ran to impress girls, attended and ran for Prairie View his freshman year. He switched to Brighton Collegiate before his sophomore year and said he loves the smaller enrollment and professionalism of Lange and Smith. Toepel fancies physics, and his 3.8 grade-point average last year has raised his overall GPA to 3.4.
“When he found running, it was wonderful because he had a focus point — something he could do that took moment to moment processing,” Denise Toepel said. “It made everything better. He went from a mediocre student to a top-notch student — an honor student.”
His oldest brother, Patrick, 28, got Gabe into West Coast Swing ballroom dancing. Gabe talks admirably about the body syncopation and eloquent lines created by the dancers.
On Saturday, the Gingerbread Man hopes no one can catch him. He’ll run as fast as he can. And he knows he’ll never quit.
“Mentally, I just can’t picture that,” he said.
