Gene's Blog: When every year was leap year for Tommies

November 06, 2009

Here’s a trivia question: What famous St. Thomas student athlete is linked to legendary Olympic champion Jesse Owens?

Did you guess Leapin’ Leonard Jones? If yes, congratulations. As a prize, you’ll receive an “I Love the 90s” T-shirt from MTV, a Kirby Puckett Wheaties box, and a game worn Laurie Trow headband.

Jones, a 1991-94 Tommie wizard, was among the most electric performers in conference history. A nine-time NCAA champion, a 19-time All-American, a 23-time MIAC champion and provisional Olympic Trials qualifier, Jones still holds seven St. Thomas records and five conference-meet records in track and field.

His resume would have been even more impressive if he hadn’t missed outdoor nationals with an injury as a senior in 1994. His seven career NCAA indoor championships are still a Division III record.

Jones (shown at right) competed in seven NCAA indoor and outdoor meets and led St. Thomas to top-5 team finishes in each competition. UST went 8-for-8 in conference team titles in the same era.

Outdoors, Jones' collegiate bests were 25-10 3/4 in the long jump, 51-7 3/4 in the triple jump, 7-2 1/4 in the high jump and 10.53 at 100 meters. Indoors, his bests were 25-1 1/4 in the long jump, 51-10 1/2 in the triple jump and 7-1 in the high jump.

In the 1994 NCAA Indoor Championships, Jones joined a select group of athletes to win three individual titles in one national competition (high jump, triple jump and long jump). Prior to 2004, the only NCAA athlete to capture four individual titles in one national meet was Ohio State's Jesse Owens in 1935. (Owens later won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.)

We won’t soon forget Leapin’ Leonard. In fact, the slick NCAA Champions Magazine will do its part to keep his accomplishments alive. The winter 2009-2010 edition of the magazine will include a feature story on Jones, a longtime teacher in Minneapolis public schools.

Champions Magazine, the showcase publication of the NCAA, debuted in January 2008 and runs four times a year. Coaches and administrators at more than 1,000 member institutions receive the publication in the mail, and it’s also available to view online.

Jones also played two seasons of football (nine touchdowns, 25 yards per reception) and also was a member of the Tommies' basketball team. He was inducted into the UST Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001, in his first year of eligibility.

Looking back 

Tommie football is off to a 7-1 start for just the second time in the last 13 seasons with a key game Saturday at Bethel.

The last Tommie football postseason qualifier, in 1990, had similar offensive threats as the 2009 Toms. Under Coach Vic Wallace, St. Thomas secured the first NCAA postseason playoff victory in school history, a 24-23 NCAA win at UW-Whitewater. Senior All-American running back Gary Trettel posted his 10th consecutive 100-yard rushing game and had his 12th game in a row with a TD.  That St. Thomas team lost the next week in round two 33-32 to Central College as Trettel was sidelined early in the game to an injury.

Trettel, a 1998 UST Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, finished his 12-game senior season with 22 touchdowns, 1,861 rushing yards and 2,547 all-purpose yards, all still UST season bests. On his three-year career, he finished with 3,724 rushing yards, 6,041 all-purpose yards and 45 touchdowns.

UST career rushing leader Jake Barkley was a three-year starter (2000-2002) and finished with 33 TDs and 3,969 rushing yards.

By comparison in his first eight games of 2009, junior RB Ben Wartman has 980 rushing yards, 18 touchdowns, seven 100-yard rushing days and 1,196 all-purpose yards. In 18 career games at running back, Wartman has 31 touchdowns and 2,291 rushing yards.

A couple of stats that help explain the UST football resurgence: Wartman and TE Jake Friederichs scored no touchdowns in 2007 in a 2-8 finish. In the last two seasons, they have 39 TDs.

Also, the Tommies had a minus-17 sacks ratio in 2007 (18 recorded, 35 allowed). In the last two seasons, they have a plus 30 sack ratio (41 recorded, 11 allowed).

Waldy's world

The “Fritz blitz” in the local media is underway. Fritz Waldvogel was interviewed for an online story in the Pioneer Press and is featured in D3Football.com’s “Around the West Region: http://www.d3football.com/columns/around-the-region/west/2009/Fritz+causing+fits+in+return+game

He’s also mentioned in the Star Tribune’s Friday weekend preview of Minnesota small college football.

It’s easy to forget that Waldvogel actually has an impressive kickoff return in three consecutive games, not just two.

In his last three games, Waldvogel started the second half with a 59-yard return to the Johnnie 28-yard-line; started the Carleton first half with a 74-yard touchdown return; and began the Augsburg first half with an 87-yard return to the end zone.

His four return TDs this season rank first in Division III and rank among the most in all NCAA divisions:

Return Touchdowns by NCAA players, 2009 season to date

5, Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, Indiana (Pa.) Div. II (3 PR, 2 KR)
5, Deante Steele, Shepherd (W.V.), Div. II (3 PR, 2 KR)

4, Fritz Waldvogel, St. Thomas (Minn.) Div. III (2 PR, 2 KR)
4, Jerome Hewitt, Southeastern Oklahoma, Div. II (2 PR, 2 KR)
4, Brandon Banks, Kansas State, FBS (4 KR)
4, LeRoy Vann, Florida A&M, FCS (4 PR)

Coincidentally, The Tommies’ two longest kick and punt returns came on consecutive weeks during the 1988 season –- Trettel’s 100-yard kickoff runback against Concordia, and an 88-yard punt return to the end zone by Tom Serie against Gustavus.

Did you know?

 A few of these stories have been lost in the crush of fall and winter sports news:

--Tommie women’s basketball will play an exhibition game Saturday night at Division II Concordia-St. Paul. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. at CU’s Gangelhoff Center – which will serve as the home site for seven Tommie games this winter. Coach Ruth Sinn’s team graduated four-year starter Jessica Katch from a 19-8 team that reached the conference playoff semifinals last winter.

--Former Tommie All-American center Isaac Rosefelt is in the process of getting Israeli citizenship to help continue his hoops career. Rosefelt, whose parents are Jewish, expects to play this winter for a team in Israel in a strong professional league.

New faces in Tommie winter sports include:

--Ex-NHL and Gopher player Matt Koalska is a men’s hockey assistant coach for Coach Terry Skrypek

--Former Marquette and Minnesota Gopher shooting ace Katie Alsdurf is an assistant for Coach Ruth Sinn’s women’s basketball team

--Two Division II basketball players have transferred to St. Thomas – 6-0 sophomore Maggie Bryant of Sartell has three seasons to play after playing one year at Northern State, and 6-2 junior Rachel Booth has two seasons of eligibility left. Bryant’s brother, Sean, was a four-year Tommie men’s hockey letter winner and captain of last year’s squad. Booth averaged 11.6 ppg and 6.4 rpg last winter at St. Cloud State and has 688 points and 337 rebounds in 57 games with the Huskies. She was a 1,000-point scorer and two-time all-stater at Minneapolis DeLaSalle.

--Men’s basketball coach has two transfers on his roster with four seasons of eligibility – Cretin-Derham Hall grad John Nance, who was a scholarship football player at Minnesota, and Noah Kaiser of Henry Sibley, who was injured last winter at St. John’s.

Tough tests

St. Thomas teams will play two hockey teams this weekend who played in last year’s Division III Frozen Four, and have anotjhjer game against the 2008-09 MIAC champs. The Tommie men play tonight at St. Olaf and Saturday night at No. 3-ranked UW-Stout, while the Tommie women are home tonight to face No. 7-rated UW-River Falls.

Also tonight, the Tommie men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams compete at Carleton. It’s been awhile since the Tommies have beaten Carleton in a dual meet. Last November, the Knights won the women’s meet 73-63 and took the men's meet by a mere 71-69 score. Carleton went on to win the MIAC team title, but UST finished just ahead of the Knights men at the conference meet in a third-place team finish.

The Tommie volleyball team has played the three teams currently ranked 1-2-3 in Division III. The Toms lost in five sets to all of them -– UW-Oshkosh (15-12 in fifth), Juniata (15-11), and Washington (Mo.) (19-17).

Saturday’s football opponent, Bethel, reached the national semifinals in 2007.

The Tommie men’s team will have a Nov. 12 exhibition game at Winona State, and later could face road games with top-10 teams Wooster and UW-Stevens Point.

Oh, brother!

Waldvogel’s isn’t the only interesting kick-return story in Division III this season. Geneva (Pa.) brothers A.J. and Jake Delmonico each returned a kickoff or punt to the end zone in back-to-back games for the Golden Tornadoes in October. Geneva (7-1) has won 11 of its last 12 games.

It’s the second biggest football feat in Geneva’s home city of Beaver Falls since May 1943, when Joe Willie Namath was born there.