Jonesville grad Alan Knowles looks to continue running career at Northwood

JONESVILLE — With orientation right around the corner for many new college freshmen across the country, many student-athletes are preparing for their first days with their new teams and schools. One of those student-athletes is 2023 Jonesville graduate Alan Knowles, who looks to join the former GLIAC (now G-MAC) Northwood Timberwolves.

Alan Knowles signed his national letter of intent this spring to join the Northwood University Timberwolves for running. Knowles, a former track and field standout for Jonesville High School, will look to compete for the Timberwolves in both track events and potential long-distance events starting in the 2022-23 school year.

Knowles joins the Timberwolves at a time when the school closes its chapter with the GLIAC conference and transitions to its first season in the G-MAC. Alan Knowles was joined by his coaches and his parents for the signing day. His signing would be a close to his academic and athletic career for Jonesville and the start of his time with Northwood.

Alan’s athletic career began in eighth grade when he started running track for the Comets. Alan saw early success on the track and that helped motivate him to continue to give the sport a try.

“I had a successful season and I decided to stick with it,” said Knowles. “I had a couple of upperclassmen teammates who were great people to look up to. After freshman year, it was clicking, and I decided to stick with it.”

Alan ventured into cross country his sophomore year, where he was a part of the state qualifying team for Jonesville. That early success, and the state finals atmosphere, was another motivating factor that drove Knowles to work towards an eventual collegiate career the following season.

“It wasn’t really until the start of my junior year that I wanted to continue running after high school,” said Knowles. “That’s when I kind of started to look at options for college as well.”

In the beginning of his recruiting and college search, he looked at schools close to home. Some of those potential options included Siena Heights University, Wayne State University and Jackson College. Northwood didn’t jump into the picture until his senior year, where a former Comet and future college teammate helped him get connected with the programs at the University.

“It wasn’t until my senior year when I started talking to Northwood,” said Knowles. “Carson Laney (former Comet, now running for Northwood) helped me get into contact with the coaching staff there and helped sold me on the program. Midland is a small-town area and we used to have a cabin nearby. It felt cool to have the same feel at the university.”

Alan’s father – Mark Knowles – said that the connections to Northwood helped Alan adjust to the idea of attending a University that was farther away from home. Both Mark and Alan’s mother Amy Knapp said that the coaching staff was outstanding at Northwood, which helped seal the deal for Alan.

During the 2022 LP D3 track state finals in Kent City, one of Knowles’ recruiting coaches attended the finals to watch him run. Soon after, Alan found a potential study path at Northwood and committed to the University.

Alan Knowles said he was initially interested in sports management, but his experience growing up working on cars swayed his interests towards a career in the automotive industry. Knowles is the first one in his family to attend Northwood and the first one to continue their athletic career at the collegiate level.

Knowles believes his head coaches at Jonesville – Joshua Perrin and Pete Konieczki –were pivotal in helping him develop his passion for running and for pushing him to get better with each season. Unfortunately, like many student-athletes across the country, Knowles lost one of those seasons due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Knowles credited the lifelong support from both of his parents for helping him get through that time period and continue to push himself to run.

“My parents were huge along the journey, especially during our Covid year,” said Knowles. “When I didn’t want to go run, they were huge motivators for getting me out the door and practice.”

That drive helped push Alan Knowles to great athletic success while with the Comets. During his junior year, he ran with the Comet 4x400-meter relay team and won a D3 state championship in that event. He also placed eighth overall (All-State: eighth or higher) in the 400-meter dash.

Knowles continued to have similar success during his senior year, where he ended the season as an Academic All-Conference athlete in the Big 8. He tied the school record in the 400-meter dash; 50.3 seconds. He won the regional championship in the 400-meter dash and helped the 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams win regional championships. Knowles improved on his 400-meter finish the previous season with a sixth overall finish at the state finals. He also ran on the 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams at the state finals, helping the 4x400 relay team take sixth place.

In addition to his state finals accolades, Knowles also received the Athlete of the Meet award at the Hillsdale Area Best Meet his senior year. He received coaches' accolades for being a great teammate, leader and for leaving a legacy at Jonesville.

Alan’s career was highlighted by both of his parents and Amy Knapp also said that many people in the Jonesville community also enjoyed watching Alan run during his time with the Comets.

“There are a lot of people, me included, who loved to watch Alan run,” said Amy Knapp. “Alan doesn’t fail at things he tries at. I was really excited to hear that he wanted to go to college and run. We are really proud of him, and we are ready to help him do whatever it takes to be successful in both his athletic and academic career at Northwood.”

Amy Knapp highlighted Northwood’s small atmosphere and class sizes as key aspects that sold them on Alan’s future career with the Timberwolves. His family is excited for the opportunities Alan will have to connect with the community of Midland and the volunteer opportunities he will have to give back to that community. Amy Knapp said that while Alan faced challenges at Jonesville, his motivation to not give up on his goals will help drive him to similar success for Northwood.

“Alans success has not come without challenges though and even in the face of adversity he didn’t quit, he didn’t give up, he took his punishment, learned his lessons and moved on and became a better person for it,” said Amy Knapp. “I will forever be thankful to the school, the coaches, teachers and community for that. At the state meet, I was thinking to myself that this was the last time I get to see him run in orange and black,” said Amy Knapp. “I am really looking forward to the first time I get to see him run in blue.”

Alan Knowles and his family want to thank his coaches, the teachers at Jonesville and the entire community for all their support over the past few years.

Alan will begin his journey at Northwood this August with cross country camp. Knowles doesn’t believe he will run cross country, but he is open to the opportunity while he is training for track and field. He will look to run in the 800 and 400-meter events for Northwood.

Northwood University is a private institution in Midland, Mich. The university hosts more than 3,000 students on its 90-acre campus that is centralized in a heavily wooded area. The university offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, management, automotive and financial fields.

The university plays in the NCAA division II level of competition. They offer 16 varsity sports. Jeremy Wilk runs the men’s track and field program for the Timberwolves.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Jonesville's Alan Knowles looks to start running career for Northwood