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
Photo: (courtesy of Nathan Lodermeier)