In true Covid year style, last week’s meet preparation was chaotic. We originally planned to compete at Hamline, but decided to host another home meet instead on Friday since Hamline would require all runners to compete in masks. On Wednesday, we moved the meet to Saturday to avoid the forecasted rain. Lots of adjustments to change plans, but we stayed dry on Saturday.

Once the rain was done last week, we scrambled to repaint the throwing sector lines, moved the javelin area to avoid mud, and set up the indoor shot put circles on the football field to throw under the lights. Despite the extra work and cold weather, we still had some good performances.

April 3rd Highlights

• Jack Young (Sophomore, Rocori) broke 11 seconds in the 100. The third Johnnie this year under 11.

• The 1500 battle between sophomores Lloyd Young (Bloomington Kennedy), Alexei Hensel (Buffalo), and Mitchell Grand (Hutchinson). They finished in that order with times of 4:03.26, 4:05.96, and 4:07.62.

• A big vault from Shawn Schindler (Jr, Maple Grove) as he cleared 4.65 meters. Or 15-3 for all of you who don’t use the metric system regularly.

• Our freshmen javelin throwers had a good meet as well as Maguire Petersen (Fr, Hutchinson) threw 172-4 and Brett Hague (Fr, Brainerd) threw 161-0

This week’s meet is the 4th Weekly SJU Invite. One more home meet before we hit the road next week. For this week’s meet, we get started on the track at 11:00am on Saturday and will add in the first day of the decathlon as well. The second day of the decathlon will start at noon on Sunday. If you can’t attend in person, check out the live stream to answer all of your T&F performance questions:

• How many Johnnies will be under 11 seconds in the 100?

• Who wins the battle of the decathlon debuts: Maguire Petersen, Logan Hennen (Fr, Prior Lake), or Mason DeGross (Fr, New Prague)

• Alexei Hensel makes his 400 meter debut. Is there any distance he can’t run?

• Will the 4x100 break 42.00 seconds with the return of Brady Labine?

We have had a good spectator turnout during our meets and hope to see some of you here this weekend. This will likely be our last home meet of the season.

Jeremy

A heads up to all of our South Dakota fans, we will be competing at Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota next Saturday. For everyone else, this sounds like a great opportunity for a road trip!

The 2021 season has been a blur of activity. We hosted four of our five indoor meets at home and have been in a state of constant preparation for home outdoor meets. This weekend will be our third consecutive outdoor meet at home and we will follow that up next week with another home meet in conjunction with the decathlon. Thankfully Saint John’s is a great place for a track meet!

Our Easter Friday meet was a perfect spring day for track and field. Great weather, good competition through all events, and we even welcomed spectators. I don’t know how many phone calls and emails I received last week from concerned parents from all teams about the new spectator policy limiting our stadium to 400 spectators. I’m not sure if we have ever had 400 spectators, but the 250 spectators added some needed energy that the indoor season lacked.

A few highlights from the first two meets:

• Kevin Aurther (SO, Champlin Park) broke 11 seconds in the 100 for the first time with a 10.94.

• Alexei Hensel (SO, Buffalo) ran a solid 1:56.30 in the 800.

• Lloyd Young (SO, Bloomington Kennedy) and Andy Goldsmith (SO, Tulsa, OK) made their 10k debuts with 31:47.32 and 31:56.84 respectively.

• Maguire Petersen (SO, Hutchinson) made a big return in the high jump with a jump of 2.05 (6-8.75)

• Brett Hague (SO, Brainerd) is quickly learning the javelin with a best of 47.42 so far.

While being at home is nice for the athletes, I think everyone is antsy for a change of scenery. Hopefully we will be on the road at the end of the month. Schools have been adjusting their masking policies and it is difficult to confirm our meet schedule as some schools are deciding to require athletes race in masks. I will try to keep you all updated on our schedule.

In the meantime, we have two upcoming home meets and would love to see some of you there:

The SJU Last Minute Invite on Saturday, April 10th at 4:00pm (3:30 for throws)

The 4th Weekly SJU Invite and Multi on Saturday, April 17th at 11:00am (multi finishes on Sunday)

Our spectator policy limits the stadium to 400 people. You will need to check in at the Clemens Stadium entrance and masks are required for all spectators. As always, gojohnnies.com will have the latest meet schedule updates.

Hope to see you here!

Jeremy

Before I get to the good stuff, SJU Track and Field has an online store open until this Wednesday at 11:59pm. This is not a fundraiser for us, but we wanted to pass it along to all of you in case you’re running low. Several of the athletes are particularly jazzed about the last item.

Apparel Order: enter passcode: SJUTF21

https://impactgroup.us/bigteamstore/

I have put off writing an update due to the trying nature of indoor season, the uncertainty of outdoor, and in all honesty it’s been difficult to get everything done lately. I didn’t want to write a list of complaints when so many people are struggling.

Now that the indoor season has wrapped up and we are preparing for our first outdoor meet this weekend, I will provide a quick update and some things to look forward to during the outdoor season.

Despite the MIAC Indoor Championships being canceled, we still managed to put together some good performances. We had two vaulters over 15 feet and our group of weight throwers finished the season ranked third in the nation (the coaches’ association ranks the top-four athletes from each team per event). I’m not sure if you all saw the results or the livestream from our last meet, but Lloyd Young’s 14:49 indoor 5k was quite impressive.

We still have some uncertainty in the outdoor season as administrators are debating whether to follow the Minnesota Department of Health guidelines of two Covid tests per week and compete unmasked (worked great indoors) or the MIAC proposal of no covid tests and wear masks for competition. The uncertainty in policy has made it difficult to develop an outdoor meet schedule.

The outdoor schedule is still changing, but we have three home meets scheduled so far:

Saturday, March 27th

Friday, April 2nd

Saturday, April 17th

I’m not sure what events I’m most excited to see outdoors: the return of the decathletes, the hammer throwers, the 400 hurdles, or Tim’s group of sophomore runners in any event. We have something fun to watch in every event and it should be an exciting outdoor season.

Keep an eye on gojohnnies.com for updates on our spectator policy. I would love to see you at our home meets.

Writing a blog post after a long break is like seeing an old friend. We could spend time discussing what we’ve been doing for the past six months, but we most likely just gloss over the past and focus on what’s happening now.

We made some plans, we changed some plans, the state got shut down, everyone went home for break, and now we’re back. That should do it!

The important news is that the team is back to training and we have meets on the calendar. In fact, we have a home meet on Sunday. The track season will look different this year, but everyone is just happy to be back with the team and training with purpose.

SJU is hosting four of our five indoor meets this season. The meets will be duals or triangulars and single-gender. It will make for some short meets! Our first meet is with Hamline and Southwest Minnesota State. The season will build to a Johnnie/Tommie dual in March (there will not be an indoor conference championship meet this year). Unfortunately, spectators are not allowed, although we are working toward streaming the meets. The Go Johnnies webpage will update with streaming information and Wayzata Results will have live results for our meets.

Besides the changes to meets and the season, the guys have some extra chores during the week. Track athletes are Covid testing two times each week. Testing two times a week allows the athletes to take off their masks while practicing. Additionally, to maintain more distance and avoid any unnecessary quarantining, practice sessions are split into smaller groups. Despite the changes, everyone truly seems happy to be back practicing.

Look for more regular updates as we get going with the season!

Jeremy

You did it! 109 donors and over $11,000 donated to the SJU CC/T&F Teams. Thank you to everyone who donated and helped spread the word. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

More importantly, Joe and I will be competing in all ten events of the decathlon. Our agents are negotiating the terms and competition dates. There has been some squabbling over when this will take place. Joe wants it done last week and I was hoping to train a little longer. My run streak is great, but having to pole vault is another challenge that I am excited to attempt. I had my first practice with John Pollack, our vault coach, last week and have not experienced that level of muscle soreness for quite some time. John may need a raise after trying to teach the two of us to vault.

Our tentative plan is to complete Day One in a couple weeks. We will do the Day One events: 100m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400m run all in one day. Depending on our hamstrings, we reserve the option to add in some rest days before we hit Day Two. The second day’s events will be the 110m hurdles (hurdle height is also being negotiated), discus, the Damlo Family Pole Vault (every member of the family donated to ensure pole vault was on the event list), javelin, and the 1500m run. Because you all made this happen, I will make sure to provide some updates and video highlights along the way.

Thanks again to everyone who donated, shared information on the challenge, and most importantly, those of you who follow the team. It is wonderful to have your support.

Jeremy

PS: A special thank-you to a couple of my former Minnesota-Morris athletes and some of my Hamline Piper teammates for donating this Go Johnnies Challenge ensuring that I do the full decathlon. I’ve now got some tough choices on which uniform to don for competition.

This year has undoubtedly been a struggle for everyone. Whether it is the true hardship of lost loved ones, lost employment or the daily struggle of COVID-19 regulations and physical distancing, I know we all want a return to the community and friendships we miss. For athletes, that means a return to practice and time spent with teammates.

There will be many changes this year. The season will look different with mask covered faces, physical distancing, and small groups. However, one thing will remain the same: the team community. The athletes will tell the same type of jokes. The distance guys will still eat at the same table. Somebody will bury the plastic knife in the peanut butter jar. We will still hear some outstanding stories from Tim. That is why it is extremely important to give the current team the best experience we can; to set them up for a great season, to make up for lost time, and to foster the community within the team.

I hope you consider donating to the Cross Country/Track and Field teams this week. The Go Johnnies Challenge is important to maintain the quality of team experience for our athletes. Matching donors are available and I hope that encourages you to donate. If you need more incentive, Dan Murphy helped with the idea to create a coach competition.

The 2020 Jeremy vs. Joe Decathlon Challenge

• Coach Jeremy vs. Coach Joe (maybe our vault coach John Pollack, but he might not meet the age requirement.)

• For every 10 donors, we will compete in 1 event of the decathlon.

• Reach 100 donors and we will do the full decathlon with necessary concessions. For example, extra rest and lower hurdles are allowed. We currently have 15 donors, therefore will be guaranteed to compete in the 100 meter dash.

• If we go past 100 donors, we will add extra events: hammer throw, triple jump, steeplechase?

• We will create a highlight (or lowlight) reel of the competition to share for your amusement. I’m sure it will be more exciting than the famed Dan vs. Dave 1992 Olympic Trials.

So, check out the Johnnie Strong – Go Johnnies Challenge and help support the Cross Country/ Track & Field teams. The Challenge ends on Thursday, September 3rd at 11:59pm. Regardless of whether you donate or not, please help spread the word. I’m sure someone would like to see two dashing and fit-ish guys make fools of themselves attempting a decathlon.

Thanks for your help,

Jeremy KG

There are a number of ways you can support:

1. Support the cross country & track and field program through a simple donation. Make sure to set Cross Country & Track and Field as the designation. DONATE

2. Become an advocate and encourage and promote the event on any social media outlets. ADVOCATE

3. If so inclined, set up a matching gift that will encourage others to donate. Make sure to set Cross Country & Track and Field as the matching designation. MATCHING GIFT

1. Enter dollar amount and decide if you will make the full gift regardless If the match is not complete met (check box)

2. Select “Other” and enter a dollar amount to give and check the “Per donor” box

3. Select the Match a designation box and select the designation you want to match

4. Fill out the rest of the form.

As mentioned last week, the next Go Johnnies Challenge is quickly approaching. Thursday, September 3rd, to be exact. While I know these are uncertain times for everyone, I want to ensure that we continue to provide the high quality experience in cross country and track and field at St. John’s University. We have such a strong history due to the work of previous coaches and outstanding alumni and I want that tradition to continue.

Many of you reading this know the importance of being on a team and have fond memories of your time with teammates. Our current team experienced a significant loss and I want to make sure they feel supported throughout this upcoming year. Smaller training groups will afford more frequent contacts with their event coach and will give athletes a chance to make a family within their training groups. However, to follow all the new safety guidelines this year, we anticipate some challenges: drastically limited access to the weight room and need to limit widespread sharing of equipment.

This year’s Johnnie Strong – Go Johnnies Challenge will help provide necessary equipment to maintain the high quality of training athletes deserve. Gifts will be used primarily to purchase strength training equipment to be used at the track as well as more med balls, sleds, and throwing equipment. Additionally, I want to provide current athletes with a connection to the history of the program. I am still working on a top-10 performances record board to highlight the outstanding history of SJU Track and Field.

With that all said, I am asking for your support on September 3rd. Last year we raised over $20,000 with 129 donors. That buys a lot of juice! The details of how you can help are below. Next week I will provide more information on incentives to donate.

With appreciation,

Jeremy KG

There are a number of ways you can support:

1. Support the cross country & track and field program through a simple donation. Make sure to set Cross Country & Track and Field as the designation. DONATE

2. Become an advocate and encourage and promote the event on any social media outlets. ADVOCATE

3. If so inclined, set up a matching gift that will encourage others to donate. Make sure to set Cross Country & Track and Field as the matching designation. MATCHING GIFT

1. Enter dollar amount and decide if you will make the full gift regardless If the match is not complete met (check box)

2. Select “Other” and enter a dollar amount to give and check the “Per donor” box

3. Select the Match a designation box and select the designation you want to match

4. Fill out the rest of the form.

The usual excitement I feel about the start of the school year has been amplified by the amount of time spent away from the team. I miss being around the athletes and can’t wait to get back to training.

While I have had plenty of time to prepare for the upcoming season, school administrators have been working their tails off in seemingly nonstop meetings anticipating the school year. Saint John’s has taken the necessary precautions and has a thoughtful plan in place to welcome students back.

This fall, St. John’s moved entirely to a block class schedule. Students will only take one class at a time. The new schedule limits the amount of interactions faculty and students need to have on a daily basis, decreases reliance on the inter-campus bus, and there will be less movement around campus throughout the day. Plans for testing, quarantining, and cleaning have been created. As for athletics, some fall sports are delayed to the spring, including cross country. We have been instructed that the spring cross country season will be sandwiched between indoor and outdoor track seasons.

Our coaching staff continually revises plans based on the available information. So as we’ve gotten guidance from the conference and the NCAA, we quickly set about making a plan to capitalize on our circumstances. There are two big changes that impact track practice, but we’re seeing a lot of ways it can benefit our athletes. First, there is an expectation of initially implementing smaller practice groups. While that might be an inconvenience for some sports, we already have practices broken up by event. Further dividing event groups into smaller training pods allows us to pay more attention to everyone. The small groups will also impact use of the weight room, as the number of athletes allowed in the space at any time will be limited. The second change relates to how the NCAA calculates our season. The NCAA has added flexibility to how we use our practice time and season. Traditionally the season is counted in consecutive weeks, but now we are allowed to count by days spread throughout the year. Beginning in September, we will start formal practice two days each week.

While we don’t have much on the schedule for a while, we have rescheduled the Go Johnnies Challenge from last spring. The online fundraising event is Thursday, September 3rd. Mark it on your calendar and I will provide more details in next week’s blog.

Go Johnnies Challenge

I started the Stay at Home with good intentions of writing consistently. I had many witty stories lined up to wow the Johnnie Track and Field fans along with insights into the finer points of coaching. Unfortunately, I found it hard to sit down to write. Maybe I stopped writing because I didn’t want to think about the season or the uncertainty of the summer and fall.

Instead of writing, I found myself surprisingly busy during this time with coaching, recruiting, and family. Sometimes these areas overlapped with detrimental results. Coaching looked a little different during the past two months as I have spent a lot of time rewriting our off-season training to accommodate the extended break and lack of facilities. Our normal summer training is focused on general training to recover from the previous season and building qualities for the upcoming season. Athletes didn’t need much recovery time from the shortened season, so we could be more aggressive with the training. It also took a little creativity to accomplish some of the strength goals, but I’m confident the team will be ready.

An extra emphasis was placed on late season recruiting as more high school students delayed their decisions. Some recruits will always wait to see if the magic scholarship appears based on their senior-year improvement. Early in the quarantine, high school seniors refrained from making college decisions in hopes of having a few track meets. Later, they waited to see if schools would be opening in the fall.

With most of the recruiting wrapped up, I’ve had plenty of time to spend with my wife and two eight-year-old kids. We have been canoeing weekly, trying out different swimming spots, completed our first overnight backpacking trip, and I have been coaching. I just can’t help myself. Apparently I get out all of my coaching needs at track practice and it has been building up. It was first evident that I had a problem while playing Chinese Checkers with my daughter one day. I was simply trying to be helpful and suggest a better strategy. She didn’t see it that way and she let me know that my interference was getting tiresome. After a brief intervention, I am now only allowed one coaching comment per game. I find it difficult to restrain myself and need to be creative so they don’t realize they are being coached.

Throughout all of the uncertainty, I need to remind myself of the positives that can come out of this situation. I always say that our track team has a shared hardship that helps build relationships. Collectively, we have that shared hardship now and can use that to build our community. I am missing the time with the team and am looking forward to being back at the track. In the meantime, if any of you are reading this and you’re interested in being coached in something- let me know, I know my kids would appreciate having the spotlight taken off them.

During the indoor season, Collin Trout (Cloquet) qualified in the triple jump for his first NCAA Championships. This year Coach Joe made practices challenging by dusting off some old Soviet training plans that Joe himself completed back in the day. As an example, they were doing sets of 6x6 jump squats with 225 pounds combined with more bounds and drop jumps than I care to count. Collin was up for the challenge and was well prepared for the indoor season. Collin improved his personal record to 47-7.75 feet- more than 4.5ft improvement over his high school personal best (43-0.75 feet).

This spotlight on Colin was sparked by a recent email exchange with Dan Murphy (2005). Dan had read the article “Obviously, This is Way Bigger Than Sports Right Now”, by SJU writer Frank Rajkowski. While we were discussing the overall suckiness of the situation, Dan noted how maturely Collin had responded to the circumstances. In the article, Collin mentions how bad he feels for the other Johnnies in basketball and wrestling who went through the same situation:

"It was a bummer. But honestly, I really feel worse for some of the other senior athletes. Lucas, Jubie (Alade), Ethan Novacinski – the guys on the basketball team. And for Noah. They were all in such a solid position to not only compete, but win. They worked so hard to get where they were at. And I understand completely how they feel.”

Dan’s response reflects how many of us would feel:

“I know I wouldn't have been level headed enough at 22 years of age, after finally making it to a national meet, to consider thinking about the negative impact the cancellation had on others.”

Conversations with Collin are a treat. Those of you who have spent any time with Collin are likely to agree. I drove from the airport to SJU with Collin after we arrived home from the cancelled NCAA championship meet. Collin shared his views about one of his passions: fast food chicken sandwiches. If you ever get the chance, be sure to ask him about it. That day, the conversation eventually rounded to what was going to happen with school, with the season, with his athletic career. Even then, less than 24 hours after his own Championship chances were quashed, Collin worried about the impact on other athletes. For his own losses, he was equanimous. He dismissed his reaction as no longer being as passionate about track as the other Johnnies were for their respective sports.

Since then, I’ve reflected on his response a great deal. If passion were absent, it would have been impossible for any athlete to put in the amount of work Collin has done in the past 4 years. There is just no way a person could sustain it. I think the difference is that, more than most athletes I encounter, Collin has a more holistic view of athletics and how it relates to his life. This particular loss was disappointing, but wasn’t the end to his world. By the time we had reached Collegeville, he had already decided to keep training and had recalibrated his future plans.

Collin is a great example of what you want in a collegiate athlete. He is driven to improve, works diligently in the classroom, and has a personality that makes practice enjoyable. Collin takes great pride in the work he puts into track. Regardless of any performance at the NCAA Championship meet, nobody can deny the level of dedication he put forth to track and field.

This is what I want for all of my athletes. Enjoy the process, the hard work, the time with teammates. If everything falls into place and you have a little luck, maybe you win your heat/ a conference championship/ earn All-American honors. No catastrophe, injury, untied shoelace can take away from all the positive experiences from being part of the team and striving to improve. I’ll paraphrase someone much smarter by saying that we are “only entitled to the work, not the fruits of that work,” (Bhagavad Gita). Take pride in the work, enjoy the work, and don’t let the outcomes- and all the variables you can’t control- take away from that experience.

In less than a month, Collin will complete all his coursework at Saint John’s and leave with a BS in Biochemistry. In the fall, Collin will be attending the University of Minnesota’s College of Pharmacy Doctoral program. He is still training and hopes a roster spot opens up for him to continue jumping for the Gophers with his last season of eligibility. We are proud to consider him a member of our team and are excited to continue to follow him in all his endeavors.

Jeremy

BTW: a shout-out to Dan Murphy for inspiring the idea for this post. Also, Dan is posting our All-Time Lists on the Cross Country/ Track and Field Facebook page. Check out where you stand: Johnnies XC/ TF

In last week’s post, I wrote about the NCAA Indoor National Championship meet and its eventual cancellation. There are a lot of stories from that trip. In the coming weeks, I will share a couple more stories about that weekend and more about our athletes. This week, however, I want to tell you about my running streak. If you’ve never heard of it, a running streak is defined as running one continuous mile on each calendar day- the United State Running Streak Association (USRA) has lots of information about it. Better yet, Check out this interview in the Post Bulletin about Steve Gathje (1977) and his impressive 45 year streak.

I started running every single day to stay motivated to train. Some of you all might have experience with the desire to work out, but only being able to string a handful of days together before life gets in the way. Then pretty soon, it’s been a whole week since you’ve worked out and it feels like you’re starting all over. I thought if i pushed myself to run a little bit everyday, no matter what, it would be easier to keep training. This is actually the third time I have started a running streak. The first two streaks each lasted about one year and ended from a combination of injury and work/life stressors. My current streak started on a vacation to the Prefontaine Classic Track meet in Eugene, Oregon on June 1, 2013.

Most people on running streaks are distance runners, but not me. I was a sprinter in high school and college and still get a lot of satisfaction from that type of training. Currently, my training is geared toward the 400m dash. I will typically do a sprint training session such as 8x30 meter hills or some fast 100’s and 200’s. For my streak, I run at least a mile during my workout each day, no matter what. I go through phases of enjoying distance running, and during those times, I will increase my daily run to 4-5 miles. On extra busy days, my workout will be a quick 10 minute run, just to get it in. Running creates normalcy. It is an essential part of my day.

When it comes to running streaks, I like to hear the great lengths runners go through to keep their streak alive. Here are some of mine:

• Slept in a hospital chair for four nights when our twins were born. Ran every day.

• Food poisoning on Christmas Eve. Everyone went to church while I went running. Only vomited twice.

• Bus arrived home late from a track meet at 11:30pm. Quick changed and went running.

• Sprained my ankle early during a run. I laid on the ground for five minutes and got up to start the mile over again.

• Running three miles outside when it was -55 degrees wind chill.

• Flying to Switzerland and the airline lost my luggage. Yep, I ran in sandals and boxers.

Now that I’m this far into my streak, I never think about “if” I am going to train. Each night, I make a plan of when to fit it into my day. If something throws off that schedule, I make it work anyway. Sometimes it means waking up on a Saturday at 5am to get in a workout before the bus leaves for a track meet. Maybe it means I run after I get my kids to bed. I pick Air BNB’s based on their proximity to good running routes. It’s just what I do.

On Thursday of the NCAA Indoor National Championship meet, we all waited anxiously to hear news of the meet. I probably should have gone on my run instead of constantly checking for updates, but I think all of us were a little overwhelmed. Once the announcement was made to cancel, I was in a flurry to make arrangements to get home. Since every team was trying to do the same thing, I was on-hold an incredibly long time with the NCAA travel agency. By the time I was done, it was 8:00pm, the guys had demolished the candy gift basket and were looking for some real food.

While at dinner, I received a message from another coach and former athlete who was also in town for the meet. He invited me to go out with him and some others. The day was stressful and disappointing and it would be nice to relax with some friends. The last thing I wanted to do was slog through a run through the busy business district near our hotel in the dark. As dinner finished, I made the decision that I wasn’t going to run. Instead, I went out with the other coaches to commiserate. Of course the only topic of conversation with the other coaches was the decision to cancel the outdoor meet, the impacts on eligibility, and the overall uncertainty of the whole situation. Maybe it was a general animosity toward the NCAA or it’s just my personality, but sitting there I realized I couldn’t let the NCAA take another thing away. I wouldn’t let it end my running streak.

During the late walk back to the hotel, I told our vault coach, John Pollack, that we were going running. John and I have been training together 4-5 days a week all year and he was well aware of my streak. He expressed a little disbelief but otherwise obliged. We changed clothes quickly and ran down the street. Complaining continued and with full bellies and tired heads, our bodies didn’t enjoy the exertion. However, it was enjoyable for the pure ridiculousness of the situation and the memory it created. More importantly, it was enjoyable for the consistency.

If a multiple year running streak teaches you anything, it’s that an individual always has a decision to make. The NCAA wouldn’t actually have ended my streak, it would have been my self-pity calling the shots. When I think back to the other times I broke my streak, the reasons hardly seem all that important any more and I regret giving in. While the loss of this season still hurts, I’m sure the sting will subside in time, but this streak will endure. Some day, I might decide to end it, but for now, my streak continues.

PS: A special thank you to John Pollack, Jake Lammi (2015), and Tony Krueger (Minnesota-Morris Cross Country Coach). These three have logged many training days with me during this streak and it is truly appreciated.

This is a hard message to write. Everything has changed so quickly. Obviously I was hoping to have good news to report from a successful weekend at the NCAA Indoor National Championship. We were excited to have five individuals qualified and our team was ranked 19th in the country.

Instead, it was a rush to get home from a canceled meet and slap together one last team meeting on Friday evening to explain to 80 athletes that the rest of their season was canceled. I saw disappointment and uncertainty on their faces. On top of this news, they just had been told to pack up all their belongings and head home for an indeterminate amount of time.

Obviously, the situation quickly encompassed more than the track season and school semester. The entire situation still seems rather surreal. I was so preoccupied last week with making travel plans and trying to transport our pole vault poles. We departed on Wednesday and started to hear rumors at the airport that a few teams weren’t going to be traveling due to the coronavirus. It seemed ridiculous to consider such an option. We arrived in Charlotte, NC on Wednesday evening and drove to Winston-Salem Thursday morning. We went through our normal routine of checking out the facilities during our pre-meet workout that afternoon.

After the afternoon workout, the situation changed rapidly. First we heard that the NCAA was limiting meet spectators to family and necessary personnel. Not a big deal. Shortly after, we heard there would be no spectators at all. Our guys quickly started calling family members that had planned to attend. It wasn’t long until we heard about schools like Carleton canceling their entire spring sports season. All the teams for Nationals were already assembled and practicing in the same building. I never really considered that the National meet would be called off.

At the hotel, we monitored the news and social media while distracting ourselves by watching Keanu Reeves in “Speed”. It didn't take long before professional sports teams started to postpone events and our meet quickly followed. As soon as we knew they weren’t competing, a HUGE gift basket of junk food was demolished by all athletes and coaches alike. I suppose there’s worse ways to take out our frustration than stress eating Sour Patch Kids and Butterfingers (Thanks, Robin!).

At the time, the most shocking news was the decision to cancel the outdoor championship- 10 weeks away. No wait and see approach, but canceled entirely. Seniors were not only being told they wouldn’t be competing at Nationals, but also their track and field experience was entirely over from that moment. We have now heard similar heartbreaking stories across the nation from collegiate to highschool. It is small consolation to know that our sport wasn’t the only thing impacted. And now hearing not only of people becoming ill, but losing their jobs and struggling to make ends meet, it is sobering to know many are more greatly impacted than we are. However, at the time it was difficult to put that into perspective.

Back in North Carolina, the next few hours were a whirlwind of disbelief and planning. I had expected that feeling to have subsided by now. It hasn’t. The disbelief is accompanied by the disappointment from the abrupt end to the season and more importantly, the loss of normalcy.

Everyone has their methods of tracking time. I keep time by track and field seasons. “What year? Oh that was the year we had to cancel Tim’s track dedication because there was a huge storm in April- 2018.” I truly enjoy going to work each day and seeing the great people that assemble to make our team. To say I’m mourning this lost season is probably too melodramatic, but I don’t expect to get over this disappointment very quickly, either. I’m hopeful that the sacrifices these athletes have had to make will keep them and their families out of harm’s way with regard to this pandemic. Our 2020 team was very strong and only four seniors are graduating. Many of the athletes have shared that they have high expectations for next year’s season.

As for me, I’m doing my part at keeping our community safe by limiting contact with others outside my home. I’m attempting to maintain my normal schedule: working out, reading about training technique, writing training plans, and reaching out to recruits. For the next couple months, my primary goal is to keep our team motivated and training, adjusting workouts for each athlete’s unique circumstances. Instead of being in close quarters with Coach Joe every day for 8 hours, I’m working from home with my family. Therefore, I’ve had to dial down my daily banter of track talk- my family doesn’t want to discuss tendon strength protocol or exercise selection for speed development.

Another part of my regular routine is to write this blog all spring, so even though there are no meets to recap, I plan to continue to write. I have a couple anecdotes left over from earlier this season and I’ve socked away a couple stories about team etiquette and my personal running streak I plan to share. In the meantime, I appreciate everyone taking the time to follow our team and all the kind messages of support.

Stay healthy and take care of each other.

Five qualifiers for the national championship! No other team in the MIAC is taking that many individual athletes to this national meet. These 5 athletes will be participating in 4 different events and are supervised by 3 different coaches. This highlights the well-rounded team in which SJU has always strived.

Last week, a few athletes spent spring break practicing and making the long drive to Wartburg College for a last chance meet. Anyone who has made those drives in a tight van likely has fond memories of it. Those trips are often filled with random conversations and lots of laughs. Somehow we started discussing state facts like official bird, tree, drink, muffin, soil, etc. We easily burned an hour of the drive quizzing each other on most of the states in the union.

Here’s a quick snapshot of other topics from this weekend’s drive:

• The quality of a grandma’s pickles

• Origins of the phrase “busting my chops”

• Portly kids playing trombones

• Skiing in the French Alps

• Harry Potter vs. Star Wars (don’t start this one around Coach Joe)

• Best quote: “My grandma is the Jeff Bezos of Kohl’s cash”

(Being that grandmothers are brought up twice on this list should warm hearts knowing that college males think so frequently about their grandparents.)

As for the meet, Collin Trout (SR, Cloquet) saved his big performance for when he needed it most. Many of his competitors at this meet were either on the bubble of qualifying or slightly ahead of him in the national rankings. Collin came through with a new personal record of 14.52 meters (47ft-7in). Of course, he bumped his own teammate, Michael Wallace (SO, Bahamas)Wee, out of the top-20. It looked like Michael wouldn’t qualify. We had to wait for the official announcement on Sunday night to learn that two athletes above Michael Wallace are not competing and he gets a trip to nationals after all. As for other last chance meet highlights, Drew Dockendorf (JR, Holdingford) set another personal record/school record (5.03m, 16ft-6in). Not a bad way to head into the national meet.

I spent most of the day yesterday figuring out how to transport pole vault poles to North Carolina. Many schools send one lone coach in a van just to get the poles to the meet and we were trying to avoid that expedition to North Carolina. All major shipping companies won’t take anything over 8 feet long and there’s only one airline that will take them. After jumping a lot of hoops, Southwest Freight will be getting Drew’s poles to the Home of the Wright Brothers by Thursday afternoon.

The team departs on Wednesday and flies into Charlotte, North Carolina. We will practice at the JDL Fastrack on Thursday in Winston-Salem and be there through the weekend. Here’s the schedule:

Friday: All Times Eastern Time

11:00am: Drew Dockendorf, Pole Vault

3:50pm: Ryan Miller, 60 meter dash

Saturday:

11:00am: Maguire Petersen, High Jump

2:00pm: Collin Trout, Michael Wallace, Triple Jump

Fourth place. I was optimistic we had a chance for second place at the MIAC Indoor Championships if events broke our way. Third or fourth was a realistic expectation and fifth if the meet went poorly. Regardless, the field was tight for second place. SJU was finishing up mid-terms and just about to start our spring break which is not ideal (most years the conference meet falls a week earlier in our academic calendar). Despite St. Thomas’ big lead, they underperformed in some events and scored about 25 points less than predicted. Unfortunately, those points helped other teams more than us.

I would normally say I’m disappointed with the fourth place team finish, but we had too many outstanding performances to think negatively about the meet. In total, we had three conference champions, two school records, and one conference meet record. The gem performance of the meet was Drew Dockendorf’s (JR, Holdingford) pole vault. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIbuBuBsqQU) He joined the 5.00 meter club (16ft-4.75in) for first place and broke the conference record set in 2007. He received a celebratory tackle in the pit by his teammates that put a smile on anyone’s face that got a chance to witness it and yet, no one seems to have caught the rejoicing on film! Ryan Miller (JR, Totino-Grace) defended his conference title in the 60 meter dash and reset his school record with a time of 6.90 seconds. And while we expected to win the triple jump, we had a surprise conference champion. Michael Wallace (SO, Bahamas) upset his teammate Collin Trout (SR, Cloquet) as they jumped 14.39 meters (47ft-2.5in) and 14.30 meters (46ft-11in) respectively.

The distance runners were led by Mitchell Grand (FR, Hutchinson) and Tre Collins (SR, Royalton). Mitchell battled four opposing seniors in the mile who are all ranked nationally in the top-20. He ran an outstanding mile of 4:19.66 for fifth place. Tre Collins had a solid 8th place finish in the 5k; these days 15:22.22 only gets 8th place.

Our place overall was also impacted by the absence of a few key athletes. Two of our 400 meter runners were out with injury or illness: Brady Labine (JR, Detroit Lakes) and Omavi Collison (SO, Bahamas). A third 400 meter runner, Jackson Devereaux (JR, Lakeville South), returned from injury just in time to run a leg of the 4x400m relay. He looked fantastic for his first 400m of the year and should have a dynamite outdoor season. Historically, the Johnnies build steam over the winter and really come into their prime in April and May, so I’m looking forward to what we can do for the outdoor season.

Wait a minute, we aren’t even done with the indoor season! We have three guys who have safely qualified for the National Championships and a couple more who will try Saturday at a last chance meet at Wartburg. So far, Drew is tied for 2nd in the country in vault, Ryan is 13th in the 60m, and Maguire Petersen (FR, Hutchinson) is tied for 5th in the high jump. Our triple jumpers, Michael and Collin are sitting 17th and 19th and will need to compete this weekend. Eli Mollet (SO, Jefferson, SD) fouled a huge throw in the weight throw last weekend and will give it one more attempt in Iowa. It would be stupendous to take 5 or 6 individual event participants to the National meet; we’ll see what we can accomplish this Saturday.

Thank you to all the folks that assisted while we hosted the conference meet last weekend. It was a packed house, and we had a great staff of Johnnie alums and friends that pulled off a great event.

The National Championships are March 13-14th in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I’ll keep you all updated with meet info and livestreams next week.

It’s finally here. The moment everyone has been waiting for: the MIAC Indoor Championships (or simply the end of the indoor season and spring break). The meet is shaping up to be a close battle for second place between the Johnnies, Carleton, Concordia, and Bethel. Each team has their strengths and it will be fun to see the meet play out. In every event group, we are anticipating some impressive performances based on last week’s meet at St. Olaf.

Last Saturday’s trip to Northfield was fruitful as we had several athletes secure MIAC qualifying performances. The team is (mostly) healthy and despite having midterms this week, we’re hoping everyone is finding time to rest. Even if it might be more work for the coaching staff, It can’t hurt our prospects to be hosting the championship meet. I feel the team performs best on our home track, even though we seem to have an uncanny amount of missed events at home meets than when we travel. Keep your fingers crossed that everyone gets to the palaestra on time.

A quick list of things to watch this weekend:

• We have set three school records this season (high jump, pole vault, and 60 dash). Can those athletes improve their marks?

• Sprinters have qualified 6 athletes in the 60m and 200m dashes. (Actually, we would have qualified 8 of the 24 athletes, but are limited to a maximum of 6 in any one event). This group ran really well last week and will be fast again this week.

• The mile looks like it will be an exciting race and we have freshman Mitch Grand (Hutchinson) seeded 5th.

• We have the top two triple jumpers in the meet. Who doesn’t love watching triple jump?

• Weight throwers threw bombs last week; Eli Mollet (SO, Jefferson, SD) moved into 2nd on the SJU All-Time list.

• Relays. The 4x200m are the defending conference champions, and I am looking forward to the Distance Medley Relay (DMR, if you’re fancy) and 4x400m.

Thursday’s heptathlon starts at 2:20pm. The heptathletes are back at it on Friday at 10:00am. The remainder of the meet begins Friday afternoon commencing with field events at 4:00pm and running events at 4:30pm. The last event Friday is the distance medley relay scheduled for 8:15pm. Saturday’s events start with field events at noon and 1:00pm on the track. The 4x400m goes off at 4:10pm.

Ways to follow the meet:

1. Show up! We love having a supportive Johnnie crowd. Face paint encouraged.

2. Stream it online. While we can’t hear your slow clap your favorite jumper from your office chair or recliner, it’s still a good option: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/csbsju/

3. Live results: I get it, you’re in a meeting or at your kid’s hockey game and it will look bad if you are constantly staring at your screen. If this is your fate, live results are for you: https://results.wayzatatiming.com/meets/5292

This weekend is the last chance to qualify for the MIAC Indoor Championships. The indoor season has gone by quickly, and I find myself wishing we had one more week. Some Johnnies need a better performance to ensure a good heat or lane assignment for the championships. Others are still looking to qualify, especially in the mid-distance events where there are so many events: 600m, 800m, 1000m, and the mile. It’s a puzzle to figure out which athletes can be most impactful in each event. Thankfully, we have Tim for that!

Despite feeling harried before the conference championship, last week’s home meet set us up well. The sprinters enjoyed the wider track as compared to the last two facilities and ran much better 200’s. One of the groups that I have been impressed with is the freshmen distance runners. Lloyd Young (Bloomington), Sam Rengo (Esko), Tom Nemanich (Red Wing), Will Mattock (Maryville, MO), Alexei Hensel (Buffalo), and Mitch Grand (Hutchinson) have looked great in practice and at meets. I like the way these guys race. They are aggressive and not afraid to get after it. Pay attention to these guys the next four years.

Last week, the marquee event for the Johnnies was the triple jump. Our duo of Collin Trout (SR, Cloquet) and Michael Wallace (SO, Bahamas) hit some big jumps. Michael broke 14 meters for the first time with a jump of 14.03m (46’-00.5”). Collin unleashed a huge third round jump of 14.36 meters (47’-1.5”), previously his best was 14.10m (46’-4.75”). Collin is currently ranked 15th in the country. These performances round out a solid jumps squad when we also have the #2 high jumper in the country (Maguire Petersen, FR, Hutchinson), and the #5 pole vaulter (Drew Dockendorf, JR, Holdingford). Add in Ryan Miller’s #9 ranking in the 60m dash, and the Johnnies are currently ranked 20th in the country.

Tonight, I will be taking Ryan Miller down to the University of Minnesota to run the 200m dash. He will have good competition at the U of M and needs a slightly better time to qualify for the fast heat in the conference championship. You might recall that at the indoor conference meet the 200m dash is seeded differently; putting only the top three runners in the fast heat. Then on Saturday morning, the whole team will hop on the bus and head to St. Olaf.

Next week is the MIAC Indoor Championships at Saint John’s. I will write a preview early next week. Thursday is day one of the heptathlon with the rest of the meet on Friday and Saturday. Friday’s field events start at 4:00pm and track events at 4:30. On Saturday, field events start at noon and track events at 1:00pm. Come see if we can take down any other school records.

Well, last Friday was a fun meet. The meet at Macalester was a little larger than I expected (10 terms compared to 3 teams at the same meet last year) and it ran over an hour behind schedule. It meant for a late night as I crawled into bed about 1:00am, but our guys adapted to the delays and performed extremely well.

If you looked at any of the results, you saw the big news of two new school records. Drew Dockendorf (JR, Holdingford) upped his school record by two centimeters to 4.90 meters (16-0.75ft) and is currently ranked fourth in the country. The other school record came in high jump. Maguire Petersen (FR, Hutchinson) cleared 2.10 meters (6-10.75ft) to break the old school record of 2.09m set in 2014 by Nick Welshons (‘15). Maguire drew quite a crowd at high jump and had good attempts at 7 feet. He is currently ranked second in the country.

With distance runners competing, the meet showcased how the team is well-rounded currently. We had good performances in the mile with Mitch Grand (FR, Hutchinson) running a gutsy race by taking the lead at the gun. He was nipped at the line, but ran 4:24.85. Two other Johnnies were close behind with Lloyd Young (FR, Bloomington) and Noah Webb (JR, St. Cloud) just over one second behind.

The throwers are coming along nicely. Eli Mollet (SO, Jefferson SD) and Ryan Murphy (JR, Mounds View) have had big improvements in the weight throw this season. The other guys are still trying to figure out how to control the big 35lb weight. I am currently coaching both the sprints and throws (not a normal combination), but they are fun groups to train.

Sprint practice has gone extremely well this week, with a fast day Wednesday. To give you an idea of what we are up to, the 400 runners had a series of 150’s. They did 2-3 sets of 3x150m fast with 30 seconds rest. They took about ten minutes rest between sets. The workout for the short sprinters doesn’t sound nearly as bad, but they honestly shudder at the thought of anything longer than 60 meters. They had 1x180m, 1x150m, and 3x50m. I enjoy these days when everyone is on the track and running fast.

We have two more meets to qualify for the MIAC Indoor Championships. This weekend we are at home on Saturday. Start time for both track and field events is 11:00am. The following weekend we are at St. Olaf on Saturday. Don’t forget, we also host the MIAC Indoor Championship meet on February 28-29. The heptathlon will start on February 27th for you die-hard SJU track fans. Hope to see you at an upcoming meet!

When we travel to meets, we are sometimes reminded of how the small details of our facilities make for a great place for track and field. From the wide track lanes, to the ample space for field events, I enjoy practice and hosting meets here at Saint John’s University. At our meet last Saturday, we definitely missed the full-size track lanes of home. The 200 meter runners struggled to stay in their lanes around tight turns. Since we don’t always have the benefit of competing at home, I guess we’ve got something to work on. 

The big highlight of the February 1st meet in River Falls, WI was Maguire Petersen’s (Freshman, Hutchinson, MN) high jump performance. He cleared 2.07 meters (6-9.5 ft) which is currently tied for fourth in the nation. It also ranks 2nd in Saint John’s history and puts him one inch below the school record. 

The near school record in the high jump reminded Coach Joe Vardas about previous school records. After Drew Dockendorf (Junior, Holdingford) broke the pole vault school record at the alumni meet on January 25th, Joe has been reminiscing about Brayden Wagner and his outstanding performances in 2009. Joe shared that Brayden qualified for the 2009 NCAA Championship in the pole vault and the decathlon.  He finished the day one events with five personal bests. After completing the decathlon events, Wagner still had to compete in the open pole vault that day. Initially seeded 10th, Brayden completed his vaults, jumping  15-7 ¼ (4.76m), just 1 ½ inches off his personal best. Since it had been a long day, Joe and Drew didn’t wait around for the end of pole vault. Joe recalls, “We were sitting in the restaurant, getting Brayden ready for day two of the decathlon, when we received a call from somebody at the stadium.  Brayden was being paged over the PA system in the stadium. They were going to confer awards for the pole vault and he had unexpectedly placed eighth. Three of the top-six athletes No-Heighted, including the Top-Seeded 18-footer in the event.” He hustled back in time for the award ceremony. Wagner began day two of the decathlon in 11th place.  He set four more personal bests and finished the competition with a second place finish in the pole vault and winning the 1500m. His stellar performance earned him a sixth place finish in the decathlon with 6680 points.  He is second on the Saint John’s All-Time list in the decathlon. This is one more example of the rich legacy of Track and Field at SJU. 

Our next meet is Friday, February 7th at Macalester. Both field and track events are scheduled to start at 5:00pm. The distance runners will be back in action and we will have good representation in all events.