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.

The first full meet of the year is quickly approaching. I am really excited about this year’s team. We had some great things happen last year and I think the athletes have high expectations of what they can accomplish in 2020. 

Despite the long holiday break, the guys who trained all fall are ready to compete. We have a handful of guys who are just joining us this semester from a fall sport: a couple from soccer and several from football. We also have two freshmen who completed Basic Training in the fall and have begun their first semester at SJU.

As we head into the weekend, I invite you all to attend the alumni meet this weekend. There is still time to register and we have a healthy amount of alumni competing in the meet. Nervous about your start or how that old uniform fits? No worries, come check out the current team and head to Brother Willie’s Pub afterward for pizza, beverages, and probably a few stories from Tim.

Register here: https://csbsju.imodules.com/s/1433/interior.aspx?sid=1433&gid=1&pgid=5321&content_id=4047

To entice your attendance this weekend, here are some key highlights and matchups for the alumni meet:

Alumni

• The return of Drew Schoenbauer (2019): welcome Drew back to the track as he shakes the National Championship podium dust off his spikes.

• The 400: Steve Dahled vs. Dan Murphy (both class of 2005): I have insider information that one has been doing some serious training. If that matchup doesn’t get you excited, their kids will go head-to-head in the 60. 

• Jim Schoffman (1975) in the 200 and 400. I look forward to seeing him run every year. Hopefully Dahled and Murphy are prepared.

• Triple Jump: Eric Buss (2009) and Paul Ferber (2005) compete in the triple jump. They are ranked #1 and #3 in Saint John’s history. It is looking to be an UNBELIEVABLE competition. 

• The kids’ 60 meter dash: will they all run in a straight line? Will Coach Joe Vardas’ kids beat the Karger-Gatzow’s? 

As for our current group of Johnnies

Sprints: Our sprints crew is pushing twenty guys. The returners have put in some quality work and we have added some talented freshmen. Keep an eye on Charlie Haik (Mounds View, JR) who looks good in practice. Alex Peters (Blaine, FR) has one meet under his belt and Kevin Arthur (Champlin Park, FR) will both be ones to watch. 

Jumps: Triple jump and high jump will be big events for us this year. Collin Trout (Cloquet, MN; SR) and Michael Wallace (Nassau, Bahamas; SO) return in triple jump along with two solid freshmen: Cole Tetrault (St. Cloud Cathedral) and Alex Crnkovich (Omaha, NE). High jump added two athletes from the Minnesota State meet: Maguire Petersen (Hutchinson, MN) and Jared Meier (Shakopee, MN).

Pole Vault: We return Shawn Schindler (Maple Grove, SO) who placed third at the MIAC Outdoor Championship last year. We add Joe Stauffer (Cambridge-Isanti, FR) and Drew Dockendorf (Holdingford, JR) who transferred from Concordia-St. Paul. Joe was at the State Championship meet last year and placed 4th with a vault of 14-6. Drew set his PR last season with a vault of 15-9. 

Throws: Throws will be anchored by returners Eli Mollet (Jefferson, SD; SO) and Ryan Murphy (Mounds View, JR). Eli set the freshman record in the hammer throw last year. Our four freshmen are learning the weight throw and are wondering why it needs to be so heavy. 

Distance: Tre Collins (Royalton, MN; SR) returns after sitting out last year and leads a talented group of first years. Look out for Mitch Grand (Hutchinson), Alexei Hensel (Buffalo), Lloyd Young (Bloomington-Kennedy), and Tom Nemanich (Red Wing). 

Field Event schedule

11:00-12:00 Long Jump Men and Women combined (Cafeteria Style)

12:30-1:30 Triple Jump Men and Women combined (Cafeteria Style)

11:00 Pole Vault Women (Men after)

11:00 High Jump Men (Women after)

11:00 Shot Put Women

             Men immediately after women

11:00 Weight Throw Men

             Women immediately after men

Track Events

11:00 60m Hurdle Prelims         M/W

11:20    60m Dash Prelims       M/W

11:40    Mile                             M/W

12:10    60m Hurdle Finals       W/M

12:20    60m Dash Finals          M/W 

12:30 Kids 60m Dash (All Kids Welcome)

12:40    400                            M/W 

12:55    800                            M/W 

1:15    200                                M/W 

1:40      3000                       M/W 

2:10      1600m Relay                M

2:20    800m Relay                 W

Welcome back to Johnnies Track and Field! While the track portion of the blog has been dormant, the team has been anything but. Practice, finals, and even a meet have kept our team busy and now the athletes have headed home for Christmas break. While you all are preparing for the holidays, I will give you a quick update on what we have been up to and some upcoming dates to keep in mind. 

We started practice on October 21st and have had six full weeks of practice this Fall. The time has been great to integrate freshmen and spend time working on technique. Unique to our sport is the long interval of training before a meet. Team sports and even high school track teams have such a short buildup to the competitive season with often only two weeks of practice before games/meets start. The six weeks of training is a luxury that I enjoy even if it does get a little long for the athletes. 

It will seem foreign to alumni, but we added a meet to the schedule and already competed in our first meet. Five brave athletes, including two First Years, thought they were ready to compete (or were simply postponing studying for finals) on December 7th. Keep in mind, that I do not plan training to compete in December. Our next meet isn’t until January 17th, so it’s a little early to be race-ready. However, several of the men on the team were getting antsy with that much practice and no opportunity to race.

I took two vaulters and three sprinters to the meet at Mankato. Our freshmen sprinters, Alex Peters (Blaine) and Pierre Deutschlander (Maple Grove), had solid first races with Alex making finals against the Division 2 sprinters and Pierre running his first ever 400m dash. Vaulters Shawn Schinder (SO, Maple Grove) and Drew Dockendorf (JR transfer from Concordia-St. Paul) looked good and will anchor a strong pole vault squad. The surprise of the meet was Ryan Miller’s 60 meter dash. I am usually pretty good at predicting performance, but I didn’t expect Ryan to start the season by breaking his school record (previously 6.93) with a time of 6.91 seconds. 

Hopefully the performances from the meet are an indication of positive things to come this season. We graduated a few key guys from last season, but added a good group of new athletes. Our freshmen have been impressive this fall and we also added some big transfer students who will contribute immediately. 

I am excited about the upcoming year and will continue with the blog throughout the season. After the holiday break, I will highlight some of our new team members and give my outlook on what to watch for this year. 

In the meantime, here is a list of this season’s home meets to plan your vacations around (we host the indoor conference meet!). There is also an online store if you want SJU Track and Field apparel. Orders are due no later than December 24th.  

2020 SJU Home Meets

Saturday, January 25th: Alumni Meet

Saturday, February 15th

Thursday- Saturday, February 27-29th: MIAC Indoor Championships

Saturday, March 28th: Optimistically Outdoor Meet

Thursday, April 9th

Saint John’s Track and Field Apparel Order

Pass code: SJUTF20

DEADLINE: December 24th

www.bigteamstore.com

Merry Christmas!

Jeremy

JOHN CRAGG

We celebrate the college career of our all-time cross country and track and field great when John Cragg is inducted as a charter member of our Saint John’s Hall of Honor on Saturday, October 5.

Saint John’s had a cross country team in 1938, 1947-1950, and 1952-1956. In fact, Macalester was the only MIAC school with a program in 1962 and 1963. Saint John’s resurrected our sport in 1965 with Jim Smith coaching the team. In 1967, freshmen John Cragg (St. Paul Cretin) and Jeff Brain (Seattle Prep) and sophomore transfer Chuck Ceronsky (Minneapolis De La Salle) arrived on campus. Add freshman Joe Skaja (St. Cloud Tech) one year later, and Saint John’s quickly became one of the top small college teams in the nation with 8th place team finishes at the 1968 NAIA Championship and again 8th place finishes at the 1969 and 1970 NCAA College Division Championships. College Division at that time was all teams that would be Division II or Division III today. Pretty good.

My brother, Bill, graduated from Cretin in 1969, and so he and John were teammates for two years. In 1972, the spring of my senior year at Cretin, I asked Bill, who was enrolled at Minnesota and already the Cretin cross country and track and field coach, where he thought I should go to college. His answer was short: “if you are looking for great a place to study and run, you should go to Saint John’s.”

Cragg, Ceronsky, Brain, Skaja and their teammates had made Saint John’s “a great place to run”. Every serious runner knew it, and I am confident that many of us, had it not been for them, would have landed somewhere other than Collegeville.

Beyond his running, my brother admired John so much in every other way, as did my Saint John’s teammate Dave Lyndgaard (SJU ’74) who got to run with him during his freshman year. Dave told me that John had once told him that, while being recruited by the University of Minnesota, Coach Roy Griak had put his arm around his shoulders and told him “If you go up there (Saint John’s), you’ll never do anything”. (John’s high school bests were 4:29 and 9:43.)

Given Saint John’s spotty history theretofore, Coach Griak may have been justified in that estimation. But John would go on to finish second individually at the NCAA College Division Cross Country Championships as a junior in 1969 and as a senior in 1970. By virtue of those finishes he qualified to run in the University Division Championship (today’s Division I race) both years.

As a junior, in a race won by Gerry Lindgren at New York City’s Van Cortland Park, he finished 49th. Five Big Ten runners beat John that day, including two from Minnesota.

As a senior, the six-mile race was run at Williamsburg, Virginia. Oregon’s Steve Prefontaine won in 28:00. Michigan State’s Ken Popejoy was the first Big Ten finisher in 20th place at 28:05. John finished 21st in 28:56. Pretty good.

Come and help us celebrate John Cragg at the Hall of Honor awards banquet on Saturday, October 5. The event will be in Guild Hall (The Old Gym) at 5 PM. The link to register is below. $75 if you register by September 21. $100. Thereafter. We hope to see you there! http://sjualum.csbsju.edu/s/1433/gid3/interior.aspx?sid=1433&pgid=5188&gid=3&cid=8048&ecid=8048&post_id=0

SEPTEMBER 7 LUTHER ALL-AMERICAN INVIATONAL

We kicked off our 2019 season without a bang at Luther’s All-American Invitational last Saturday. Some raced well, but we finished a distant third of nine behind Luther and Augustana of Rock Island. Our team had a very good summer of training, but when I examined the results on our long drive home, I saw that runners from other schools who also raced last year averaged 32 seconds faster while our Saint John’s runners averaged 7 seconds slower. At that point, I quit examining results. We had a very flat race and underperformed. Next! We are Carleton on Saturday at 10:30 AM. A great field on a great 8000 meter course. The MIAC Championship will also be there on November 2

Hopefully you paid attention last weekend and have seen the videos of our races (all are on SJU Johnnies Twitter) from the NCAA National Championships. I don’t know if I have sufficiently processed the Johnnies’ week in Geneva, Ohio. It seems rather surreal yet, but I will give you the coach’s account of the weekend.

We flew to Ohio on Tuesday to allow practice time on Wednesday and attend the awards banquet on Wednesday night. The banquet was a great event to kickoff the week as fellow Johnnie JIm Gathje ‘86 was inducted into the Coaches Association Division III Hall of Fame. Gathje still holds the steeplechase Division III Championship record at 8:43.93. Non-track highlight: literally a table with hundreds of donuts at the NCAA banquet from Madsen Donuts.

Thursday was the prelims of the 4x100m relay. I have commented in previous posts about my feelings before and during that relay. Those emotions are always amplified when there are high expectations. Thanks to their performance at the Last Chance meet (Last Chance Blog) the week prior, we were ranked second overall. For prelims, we made some adjustments to account for the strong, swirling wind and the team performed great. Despite my coaching worries, they won their heat and had the second fastest qualifying time. However, UW-LaCrosse had qualified as the fourth seed without running their fastest team members. They are the biggest competition.

Prelims of the 100m dash and shot put were on Friday. Kai Barber had a very good series of throws to finish 9th, one place from earning All-American status. He was consistent in his throws, but lacked the big throw that would have moved him higher. Drew Schoenbauer and Ryan Miller ran well in the 100m dash. Drew ran his second fastest time of his career to finish in 14th place. Ryan qualified for finals with a 10.46s and set the stadium record in the process.

Saturday was the big day. It was hot & humid “sprinter weather” and their performances showed it. I typically don’t spend a lot of time with the athletes at meets. I am usually moving between events and am available if athletes need help. Hopefully I have done my job in practices throughout the year and the athletes are prepared. At the National Championships however, there aren’t as many athletes to coach. I’m not sure if I was looking nervous during their warm-ups (I usually try to play it pretty cool) as Nick Gannon simply looked at me and said “We got this, Coach.” I took that as a sign to get out of their way and find a good place to watch the race.

The teams that made it to finals for the 4x100m relay had extremely close seed times. With such a competitive field, the race really came down to handoffs. Nick had a great start and I quickly noticed LaCrosse struggle on their first handoff. The race stayed close as Drew gave the baton cleanly to Brady Labine. A couple other teams slowed down on that exchange and Brady sprinted past. He got the baton to Ryan Miller and we were in 3rd or 4th place. There was no panic as Ryan smoothly accelerated and blew past the other competitors including the athlete who, earlier in the/week, delivered the furthest long jump in DIII Championship history.  

Disbelief, relief, restrained excitement were emotions I allowed myself to feel momentarily. Then I quickly moved on to Ryan needing to cool down and get ready for the 100 meter finals. I wondered, if Ryan’s focus would be compromised after winning a National Championship race. How would his body respond after standing on the hot turf waiting for the awards ceremony? Despite my apprehensions, Ryan wasn’t phased. After spotting his competitors a sizable lead, Ryan hit top speed and nearly took everyone down but simply ran out of room and came in second. I was beyond proud of that performance. And then the time appeared on the scoreboard: 10.22 seconds! (Remember, Ryan’s prelim finish of 10.46s was itself an incredible time and set a stadium record!) I still can’t comprehend that time and is the 5th fastest all-conditions time in Division III history.

On top of all that, the Johnnies scored 18 points and placed 11th as a team. What a tremendous weekend! I am so thankful to be able to work with these great student-athletes.

Special thanks to all the families that made the trip to Ohio. We had a great cheering section and it was greatly appreciated. We even got a couple shout-outs over the PA system on our flights- the guys found that particularly enjoyable, so thank you to whomever made that happen. To all the alumni, family, and friends who have reached out to congratulate us after the weekend, I am extremely humbled that you all pay attention to Johnnie Track and Field. Thank you for all the support!

Now that the season is over, I am focused on preparing for next year. I am finishing up recruiting and will be attending some Section Championship meets and the Minnesota State High School to see some of the new athletes who will be attending Saint John’s next year. I also spend considerable time to provide summer training and review last year’s training. Hopefully I will write a couple more blog posts this summer about those areas of recruiting and training.

Last Chance meets are aptly named because they are the last opportunity to improve a time or distance to qualify for the Division III National Track and Field Championships. Even though it’s literally the name of the meet, I don’t like to show up to a Last Chance meet needing to qualfiy. Ideally, our athletes would perform well enough at the conference meet to qualify and either not need to compete at all or just race to stay sharp. Unfortunately, our 4x100m relay has run on mostly cold, windy days. With only one more opportunity to race, SJU was hoping to crack into the top 16 and get a ticket to nationals, but were sitting 23rd overall.

This season, our sprinters are just too good to not be at nationals in the 4x100m relay. After last week’s MIAC Conference meet, I agonized over the best relay lineup and best last chance meet to attend. First, I made lineup changes. Nick Gannon (last year’s lead-off leg) is finally healthy after struggling with hamstring injuries since the indoor season. He worked hard through rehab and stayed focused to earn his way back on the relay. His go-to workout during much of his recovery was 10 sets of 10 x 10 meter sprints with little rest. Try it sometime; it is surprising difficult. Thanks goes to Johnnie alum Matt Arbeiter for helping Nick with physical therapy. Nick was able to return for the conference meet and place 7th in the 100 meter dash with a personal record of 11.00 seconds. With Nick back in the leadoff role, Brady Labine moved back to the third leg. It is the same team who ran at Nationals last year even though they only ran as a team twice: once at a last chance meet to qualify and once at 2018 Outdoor Nationals.

With the order set, I agonized on the decision of where we should travel for a Last Chance meet. With the new relay lineup, it would be nice to have more than one chance to qualify. The easy option was to compete in LaCrosse, WI. The weather forecast looked warm and LaCrosse usually has good competition. I also considered going to two meets in Massachusetts. Out East, there were two meets on consecutive days, giving us effectively two last chances. As opposed to the midwest where all the last chance meets are on the same day. Ultimately, the relay team decided for me; they were confident they only need one shot to qualify, so we headed to LaCrosse.

The weather turned out perfect for sprinters, warm and a little humid. Many of the top 4x100m teams in the country were entered in the meet. As I mentioned, I don’t like needing to use Last Chance meets as the last chance; it’s stressful on a coach. I found myself pacing on the infield as the runners were setting up their blocks and marking their exchange zones. I must have looked humorous because my friend, Jess Devine (Head Coach at University of Minnesota, Morris) decided instead of recording the race to record my reactions to the race. It turns out, however, all that nervousness was not necessary.

The Johnnies ran a truly great race against very good competition. All four (Nick, Drew Schoenbauer, Brady, Ryan Miller) ran well with good handoffs. Nick had an excellent start and a smooth handoff to Drew. Drew’s handoff to Brady was safe and Brady ran a good turn. Ryan had his characteristic finish to put the Johnnies in 2nd place with a time of 40.78s. They crushed the school record (set last year with a time of 41.32) and finished the day ranked 2nd nationally. The top three times in the country came from that race and six of the teams racing in LaCrosse that day qualified for DIII Nationals.

We will have a great group at Nationals this year in Geneva, Ohio. The 4x100m relay team will compete first in prelims on Thursday, May 23rd at 3:15pm. Kai Barber will throw shot put on Friday, May 24th at 11:15 a.m. Also on Friday, Drew and Ryan will race the 100 meter prelims at 3:30 p.m. All times are Eastern and you can watch here: NCAA Live. If all goes well, finals are Saturday, May 25th with the 4x100 meter relay at 12:15 p.m. and the 100 meter dash at 1:40 p.m.

While I have been busy preparing for our Last Chance meet and next week’s National Championships, I have had little time to reflect on last week’s MIAC Championships. I get nervous for championship meets and after the all the adrenaline wears off, I’m exhausted when they are over. Like most meets, I went into last week’s excessively pessimistic. Firstly, several members of the team were getting sick or just recovering. Then, I was expecting anything from second place to fourth as the team scores looked like they would be close. One bad event and the team drops a couple places pretty quick. I recall in 2017 when I thought the MIAC Conference Championship team scores would be really close. We were 15 points behind second place St. Olaf, but yet we finished in seventh overall.

The best way to sum up Friday’s events is “average.” The guys who were supposed to make finals did. We didn’t sneak anyone extra into finals. However, we did have some notable performances. The hammer throwers started things off with all three setting personal records. Kai Barber (54.09m) moved to second place on the All-Time Johnnies Performance list. Eli Mollet had a great freshman year (46.64m) and senior Ryan Reiter closed out his collegiate career with his best of 47.34m.

Saturday, however, was far from average. The day started great with our two javelin throwers (Ryan Thompson and Kyle McKinney) sneaking into finals and scoring. The team never really looked back after that. Not to be outdone by his teammates, Max Martin had a beautiful hurdles race. He was smooth over the hurdles and cracked the 15.0 second barrier for the first time. Max is an emotional guy and it was fun to watch his reaction when his time of 14.96 appeared on the scoreboard. A great way to end his collegiate career, as well.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the event that really just blew us all away: the 100 meter dash. Yes, it was that good! Johnnies placed 1st, 2nd, and 7th. Nick Gannon worked hard for seventh place after missing most of this year’s indoor and outdoor seasons with hamstring injuries. Drew Schoenbauer’s performance gets overshadowed, but he took second, and becomes the second fastest in Johnnie history, and is currently ranked 11th in the country. In addition, Drew came back later to win the 200m dash. As for 100m dash champion, Ryan Miller ran 10.39 seconds  and as of writing this, is ranked #1 in the country for Division III. Yes, that is also a new school record. It is also the fastest in Division III since 2014. If you are wondering about Ryan’s 200m performance, no need to worry. I’ll make sure he has the right spikes with him next time.

Next week, several of us will be headed to the Spire Institute in Ohio for the Division III championships. Hopefully after tonight, we’ll be increasing our qualifiers. Regardless the outcome, I feel very confident that we’ll have some funny conversations in the van and have a delicious meal together on the way home. Stay tuned.

PS: If you’re into the facebook scene, Johnnie alum Dan Murphy has started the SJU XC/TF Alumni & Friends page and welcomes you to follow along, too. He has made it to many of our meets and has posted some great videos including several from the MIAC Championships: https://www.facebook.com/JohnniesXCTF

By far, the Meet of Saints is my favorite  track meet of the year. An annual event for many years, it is a men’s team meet between St. Thomas and St. Olaf (this year we added “St.” Concordia) and ourselves. Traditionally, it always has great competition in all events, the weather usually cooperates, and the whole meet is done in about three hours. It is the last opportunity to qualify for the conference meet and has a sense of urgency to the competition.

This year’s Meet of Saints was particularly special as it included the naming ceremony for the track. The meet could not have provided a more perfect setting to honor Tim and his continued service to Saint John’s Cross Country/Track and Field. Well over 350 people showed up for the celebration. Lots of familiar faces of recent graduates and many alumni who I recognized by their names from the Saint John’s All-Time performance lists or from one of Tim’s elaborate stories. While the event was to honor Tim, it was a great reminder of the role coaches play during student-athletes formative years and the strength of the relationships built during that time. Tim is tremendous at forming those relationships and has dedicated himself to his athletes. Even though I personally consider him a mentor, I could not ask for a better “assistant”. I believe he mentioned he plans on sticking around for awhile, and now I have about 350 witnesses to hold him to it!  

With the Meet of Saints behind us, we are now onto MIAC Championship week. We qualified forty athletes with someone in every event except for the long jump. We have the top seed in several events: 100 meter dash (Ryan Miller), 200 meter dash (Drew Schoenbauer), triple jump (Collin Trout), shot put (Kai Barber), and the 4x100m relay (Brady Labine, Drew, Jack Young, and Ryan Miller). Beyond those top seeds, we have several #2 and #3 seeds to watch.

Since we are also in finals week, this week always proves especially challenging. Last week, guys were scrambling to complete class assignments. Now they are staying up late to study for finals. My college coach always told us we weren’t going to learn anything after 10:00pm so we should just go to sleep. If you haven’t learned it by now, you probably aren’t going to learn it that late at night. Much like Tim’s joke at the end of the season, “We have two days to get in shape!” If you haven’t studied or trained, it’s a little too late. I find myself constantly reminding the team to rest and the importance of sleep. We have a handful of guys who succumbed to end-of-semester pressure and are sick or just recovering. Otherwise, we are relatively healthy.

We have one last practice before the conference meet so, “One day to get into shape!” Today, Seniors will give farewell speeches to the team and several have already told me they’ve prepared remarks. Perhaps some highlights from those messages will appear in next week’s blog post.

On Friday and Saturday, we are off to compete at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul. Field events start at 2:00 pm each day and the running starts at 2:00 pm on Friday and 3:00 pm on Saturday. Come cheer on the team!

While there is not much track and field left in the year, I consider mid-April as the turning point of the season. The coaching staff is getting excited about the improvements athletes are making and looking forward to the upcoming MIAC conference meet. The athletes are adjusting to being outside, the weather is improving, and injuries are healing. We are also looking ahead as we are finally getting a glimpse of next year as our recruits are posting good results during their senior year.

Last week’s Macalester Twilight Meet proved to be the season turning point, as plenty of athletes posted good performances. The obvious highlight or redemption tale of the meet was the 4x100m relay team. After squandering the good California weather; Brady Labine, Drew Schoenbauer, Jack Young, and Ryan Miller ran 41.53s for the second fastest time in school history and are currently ranked 12th in the country. Our anchor leg, Ryan, followed that up with a 10.58s in the 100m and is currently ranked 6th in the country.

Performances like these often overshadow other notable events that might not be talked about in the “box score”. I get just as excited for the athletes who may not have made finals or moved up on the SJU top ten list, but had a breakthrough meet and personally moved up in the conference standings. While I spend most of my time coaching the throwers and sprinters during a meet, I try to see snippets of every event. Consider these the “Coach’s Highlights”:

• After Dillon Diekmann spent part of cross country and indoor track injured, he finished strong in his debut 5k and I am excited to see him race again.

• Our three steeplechase runners (James Mathison, Dan Allen, and Nate Meyer) all had nice improvements and are getting better at clearing the barriers.

• Randy Clintsman’s (Junior) hard work continues to pay off. Because of his dedication the past two seasons, he has steadily improved and become a consistent conference qualifier in the 100m dash.

• Senior hammer thrower, Ryan Reiter, reached a great performance at the meet, hitting a mark five meters better than last year’s personal best. More importantly, Ryan has nourished the throwers with his grill-master skills and insightful political debates at practice.

• Ryan Thompson ran his first 400m dash of the year in a strong 51.86s to set himself up well for this week’s decathlon.

This weekend is our last chance to qualify for the MIAC Outdoor Championships and the MIAC Decathlon Championship. Ryan Thompson will be competing in the decathlon on Thursday and Friday at Carleton. The rest of the team will be at SJU for our turn to host the Meet of Saints. Remember, we will be dedicating the track to honor Tim Miles after the meet. Register here for the event or even check out who will be attending: Miles Track Naming Ceremony. Hope to see you all there!

The Go Johnnies Fundraising challenge was a huge success. The Cross County/Track & Field team pulled in 129 donors and raised over $21,000; well beyond our goals for the event. Thank you to all the alumni, family, and friends who helped make the day successful. The money raised helps us continue to travel for meets like we did this past weekend.

Last weekend we split the team among three meets. Tim made his annual trip to La Crosse with some of the distance runners. Joe was a one-man show and took a majority of the team to Carleton. I was the lucky one and flew ten athletes to Los Angeles for the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University.

We arrived late on Wednesday night to Los Angeles and on Thursday practiced at Azusa’s track. In the evening on Thursday, we had just barely enough time for a photo at the Santa Monica Pier before meeting several SJU alumni for dinner. Tom Roth hosted the team at the Jonathan Beach Club on Santa Monica Beach. Several of the guys mentioned that it might have been the best dinner they’ve had (after their own mothers’ home cooking, of course). People often talk about the “Johnnie Connection” and it was in full force at dinner. Current students and the alumni bonded over their many shared experiences and alumni offered to help in any way after graduation. Overall, it was an outstanding experience for our athletes and one they truly relished.

Friday’s meet was the warmest weather we’ve seen in a long time, upper 80’s and not a cloud in the sky. They guys were ready for it and performed well. The meet started rough with a dropped baton in the 4x100 meter relay. That race is always the most nerve-racking for me. We haven’t had a lot of time to work on the handoffs with the cold weather, but we will get them smoothed out in the next couple weeks.

The sprinters bounced back and had a great meet in the 100 through 400. Ryan Miller ran 10.62 and is ranked 8th in the country. Drew Schoenbauer followed it up with a personal record of 10.72 and is ranked 16th. Drew had more left as he dropped his 200 personal record by .4 seconds and just missed the school record with 21.55. A bigger surprise was Omavi Collison’s 400. He dominated the slow heat to improve his personal best by nearly 1.5 seconds and won his heat by over three seconds. His time of 49.00 broke the SJU freshman record of 49.4 set in 1970 by Dave Arnold.

While the sprinters were busy running nationally-ranked times, Kai Barber was was holding his own against the throwers. He threw his PR on his second throw with a 16.30m (53’5”). Kai made some adjustments and improved on his third throw with a put of 16.49m. After he warmed up for discus with a few throws into the cage net, I learned Kai unexpectedly made finals for shot put. He quickly got back to the shot ring and began with two lackluster throws in finals. I’m not sure if he was nervous to follow Sweden’s Wictor Petersson (one of the top young throwers in the world), but Kai put it together on his last throw (did I say Kai is Clutch?) for 17.05m (55’11”) and is currently ranked 4th in the country.

After such great performances at the meet, it was easy to agree to a night walk along the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On our long, slog of a drive back to the hotel (everything they say about L.A. traffic is true) we even saw the lights of the Goodyear blimp.

Overall, the trip was a good experience for our athletes who really performed well. I hope the athletes had as much fun as I did. While it is still “work”, I enjoyed traveling with this tremendous group of student-athletes. I appreciate all the alumni support to make trips like this possible. We have two more weeks to qualify for the MIAC Championships and will be at Macalester for the Bolstorff Twilight Meet on Thursday. Hope you can make it.

Once again, I could write about the spring weather in Minnesota which has caused us to cancel this weekend’s meet. Rather than complain, I am looking forward to taking ten athletes to Los Angeles next week. We are able to afford this trip because of alumni donations.

Thursday, April 11, is the big Go Johnnies Challenge. We have some very generous matching gifts for the Cross Country/Track and Field Team. Please consider donating. To learn more about how the funds will be used, watch the videos enclosed. Tim’s message shares his passion for some long overdue improvements to the program. I have to thank my 7 year old daughter, Alma for directing and filming my video as my selfie skills are not quite up to par with today’s savvy internet consumers.

I want to emphasize what I mentioned in last week’s post, we never know what will happen during the first outdoor meet of the year. Will it be inside, outside, or cancelled? The weather forecast looked promising with a predicted sun, low wind and a high temperature in the upper 40’s. Wow, did that change in a hurry.

Saturday evening, we learned the forecast changed to a cloudy day with a high temperature in the mid-30’s and chance of flurries. Coaches were texting to determine if we were canceling the meet and one team even backed out. Joe and I were determined to host the meet after the long week of preparation. It’s too bad the weather prediction was right on.

Teams showed up and were in good spirits. I think everyone was happy to be competing after the long break between the indoor and outdoor seasons. Surprisingly, there were few complaints; mostly laughing at how ridiculous the weather turned out. Sprint times were slow as the 100 meter dash was run into the cold wind. Many of the sprinter didn’t return to the track for the 200 later in the day as I thought two races in the bitter cold would probably anger the hamstring gods. We still managed a couple impressive performances out of that group with sophomores David Russell and Tyler Johnson running good times despite the weather.

Our main reason to continue with the meet was because the throwers and distance runners can still compete well in the cold. The throwers need opportunities to compete and were tired of throwing into a tarp in the fieldhouse. The upperclassmen made use of the opportunity with several personal records especially in hammer throw. The freshmen, Eli Mollet and Cameron Murphy, looked good for their first time throwing hammer and discus. They will have some big throws this year.

I enjoyed seeing the distance runners get an early race. They also looked good with a nice run from Kevin Lamb in the 1500 and Noah Webb not far behind in his first track race of the year after injuries during the indoor season. By the time the distance guys made it to the 5k, the flurries were coming down hard and James Mathison squinted his way to a win.

Overall, I’m glad we hosted the meet. We got the first competition out of the way in a low-key, small meet. Now we can focus on this week’s meet at Hamline which has over fifteen teams. If track fans are up for seventeen heats of the 200, you’ll know where to find us.

Two events in recent weeks have created a strong sense of nostalgia for my early coaching days. I was first hit with the feeling when in Boston with Kai Barber at the NCAA National Championships. The second time was when I shared my coaching background with the Coaching Methods class I am teaching this semester.

I graduated college in May 2000. That summer, I was painting houses and living in St. Paul with college friends. I had no long-term career plans and had not given it much thought. I often joke that my girlfriend Erica, now wife, felt sorry for me. She was moving to Boston to volunteer with an AmeriCorps program called Athletes in Service and invited me with. I don’t remember giving that decision much thought either and decided to tag-along.

We packed up a trailer and my minivan (yes, I was 22 and had a minivan) and made the big move to Boston. While Erica volunteered, I quickly found a job as an exterior house painter with seasonal workers from Ireland. The job went relatively smooth until fall was ending and I realized the job would end as well.

In a rare moment of serendipity, I was reading the Boston Globe employment section and saw an ad for a Division 2 sprints coach at Bryant University in Rhode Island. “I can do that for the winter,” I thought. I had not really considered coaching as a profession, but it seemed like a good way to occupy my time during the winter. Thankfully my college track coaches, Hamline’s Kent Stahly and Paul Schmaedeke, taught me enough coaching theory to bluff my way through the interview. Maybe Coach Stahly was covertly preparing me for this opportunity when he gave me a stack of books for an independent study on track coaching. The class had no assignments or papers, just the simply instructions to read the books.

The coaching position earned me a meager stipend for the year. Added to my wife’s AmeriCorps position, we lived simply and relished visitors who would take us out to eat. The first weeks of coaching went well until the jumps coach was fired. In response, the head coach asked if I would be willing to coach them as well. I had jumped in high school and it meant a pay increase. “Of course!”

Coaching was fun and challenging. I loved being able plan training and learn more about the events I was coaching. However, I was 23 years old and many of the athletes were nearly the same age. To separate myself I tried to look older. I’m not sure the long hair and beard were the right choice, but the team definitely stopped asking me to social functions.

During my second year at Bryant, Erica and I moved to Providence, RI to be closer to the school. As the indoor season was ending, our throws coach abruptly decided to retire. What do you do when the head coach asks, “Are you able to coach the throwers for a little extra money?” Definitely! Did I know anything about coaching the throws? Not a chance. However, I had great coaching mentors who were willing to direct my learning and a good group of athletes who understood my lack of knowledge. It was a collaborative effort, but I learned quickly.

I coached at Bryant University for only those two years before Erica and I headed to graduate school. That story will have to be for another time. It was great to be back in Boston and reminisce about my first years coaching. I appreciate how that first experience shaped my career and provided a unique learning opportunity.

Clutch. Kai Barber has insisted that he is “clutch” and will perform in high pressure situations. He is competitive on the football field, in the throwing circle, during pick-up basketball, and playing Fortnite; he insists he will come through when needed. His ability to perform under pressure was on display during the last three weeks of the indoor season. Not that I doubted him, but he reminded me at the indoor conference meet during the weight throw. After fouling his first throw and a lackluster second throw, he had a big personal record throw to make finals.

On the second day of the MIAC Indoor Championship, Kai was disappointed in his shot performance. He placed fifth (15.90m, 52’2”) behind four athletes who were ranked in the top-twenty in NCAA Division 3. Not bad company, but not a result to satisfy Kai.

We spent the following week leading up to the last chance meet working on some technical changes; mainly his posture at the start of the throw and movement in the middle of the circle. He worked hard that week and hit some big throws during practice that made us optimistic going into the last chance meet. In another clutch performance, Kai executed well on his first throw and hit a PR of 16.05 (52’8”) to move him into twentieth place in the country and earn a spot at the National Championships.

The NCAA Division 3 National Championships were in Boston. Both Kai and I were confident he would throw well. After an uneventful travel day, we had two days to get a feel for the circle, work on technique, do some sightseeing, and watch some Will Smith “One Strange Rock.” His practice throws went well all week and he was ready.

On Saturday, the meet officials walked the throwers to the track and introduced them to the crowd. Kai’s warmup throws for the first flight were good: smooth and relaxed. First throw, Kai’s posture was poor at the start, he dropped his shoulder in the middle, and threw a lackluster 15.43 (50’7”). A couple other throwers had good throws and Kai was up for his second throw. This throw was worse. It was an overly aggressive start and off balance through the middle of the circle for 14.99 (49’2”). No worries on Kai’s face. He simply said he needed to slow the start of the throw and have a good finish. Clutch again! He nailed his final throw for a big personal record of 16.29 (53’5.5”). He finished the day in tenth place and placed higher than all but one of the other MIAC throwers.

I am more than pleased with Kai’s performance as his indoor PR improved 1.14 meters over the season and bettered his outdoor PR by 28 centimeters. Pretty good for an athlete who was unable to throw for over two years due to shoulder surgery. He is determined to keep improving during the outdoor season and I am excited to see what happens.

Spring Break 2019! While most of the team went in various directions this week, a few Johnnies started their spring break with a snowy drive down to Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa for a Last Chance Meet. Several guys were close to qualifying for the Indoor National Championships and and we took the literal last chance.

Despite the snowy start, we had a good meal in Faribault. While we were eating, several people stopped by our table because of our SJU gear. It seems like no matter where you go, there’s likely to be a Johnnie alum in the crowd. Some friendly locals were also curious what we were doing and were intrigued when they learned two of our group are from the Bahama’s. Minnesotan’s can’t believe people from the Bahamas actually elect to spend their winter in Minnesota.

On Saturday, our athletes really took advantage of the excitement and atmosphere at the meet as several set or tied personal records. Collin Trout had a nice PR in triple jump with a jump of 14.14 meters. Drew Schoenbauer tied his PR of 22.19 in the 200 and Ryan Miller tied his 60 meter PR of 6.93. Kai Barber had the big improvement of the day with his shot put of 16.05.

The difficult part of a Last Chance meet is the drive home when you are sitting on the bubble to qualify. The top twenty athletes in each event qualify for Nationals. Kai moved into 20th place, Drew was sitting at 21st, Ryan at 25th, and Collin at 26th. Will someone move ahead of them as other meet results are entered? Or will some athletes higher than them decide not to compete in that event and they’ll sneak in? The guys were constantly checking their phones for updated results throughout the drive. Thankfully we had a break from the drive home with an enjoyable dinner at Famous Dave’s. Dinner did get a little heated as the guys debated the top-five Marvel movies. Strong feelings all around for which ones should be considered. Apparently you shouldn’t mention Guardians of the Galaxy as one of the best.

Roads were good the rest of the drive home and the guys did a great job of keeping me entertained. I teased that I cope with tired driving by taking “micro naps” just closing my eyes for three seconds at a time. They might have believed me because they put away their phones and continued the movie debate for the next two hours. We branched out to the merits of the Rocky movies and the strengths of each opponent. It was good way to pass the time and I truly enjoy road trips with the team.

The NCAA doesn’t announce the official qualifiers until Sunday at 6:00pm. Guys tend to move up based on who opts to focus on a different event or maybe someone is hurt and can’t compete. I was hopeful that someone would sneak in, but both Ryan and Drew missed out by .01 seconds. Their times would have easily qualified in previous years.

At the end of the day, Kai’s performance held on and he and I are headed to Boston this week! I am excited for the shot put as Kai is throwing well and he joins four other athletes from the MIAC in that event.

Hopefully we return to warmer weather and can start the outdoor season soon.