Tommie Sports - Men's Track and Field
Track & Field gets 4 major Central Region awards
May 18, 2009St. Thomas track and field received four major regional awards for 2009. On the men's side, Steve Mathre was named Central Region Head Coach of the Year; Tim Springfield was named Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year; James Ewer was named Central Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year; and Katie Theisen was named Central Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year.
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Steve Mathre
Mathre, a repeat honoree, has 10 athetes qualified in 10 events to the May 21-23 NCAA Outdoor Championships. St. Thomas placed fifth last season at nationals and have a chance at another top-five NCAA finish. The 2009 season is his 14th as Tommie head coach. Mathre previously served five seasons as a Tommie assistant. In Mathre's 19 seasons in the UST program, St. Thomas has won all 19 MIAC indoor team championships, plus 15 of the 19 conference outdoor team crowns. In those 19 years, he’s coached St. Thomas athletes to more than 200 All-MIAC honors (19 of which set MIAC meet records) and more than 80 All-American performances. He's also coached athletes to more than 50 All-American performances and nearly 90 national qualifying performances. St. Thomas’ is 25-for-25 all-time in MIAC indoor team titles -- one of the longest current streaks of its kind in any sport in Division III. Mathre's 2006 team became the first in any MIAC sport to win 22 consecutive conference team championships.
Tim Springfield
In his 12th year at St. Thomas, assistant coach Springfield led the Tommies’ middle distance crew to new heights in 2009. Springfield-coached student-athletes broke four school records, earned three indoor track & field All-American honors, achieved seven NCAA provisional or automatic qualifying marks, and scored 93 points at the MIAC championships during the indoor and outdoor track & field seasons. He also helped UST athletes have three top-three finishes at the Drake Relays, including the conference's first relay win at Drake in 77 years (women's distance medley). He's also helped that same distance-medley quartet to NCAA indoor runner-up placings in 2008 and 2009.
Katie Theisen
A senior from Elko, Minn., with a 4.00 gpa, Theisen had a hand in 38 points at the MIAC outdoor track & 
field championships to lead St. Thomas to the team title. Theisen is ranked 3rd nationally in the steeplechase with a time of 10:36.39 heading into the national championships, and she will also compete as a member of St. Thomas’s fifth-ranked 4x400 meter relay. Her steeplechase time broke the all-time conference record. Theisen also recorded provisional marks in the 800 meters and 1500 meters during the outdoor season. Theisen scored 263 points in eight career conference track meets (inndors and outdoors). She helped St. Thomas win 11 of a possible 12 team titles in her era in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. In cross country, she had three top-five individual finishes and at nationals improved from 76th to 36th to 20th to 13th place over her four-year career. Theisen likely will repeat as a CoSIDA Academic All-American. She won an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and a Goldfwater Scholarship this year; she was named the MIAC Female Student-Athlete of the Year by College Sporting News.
James Ewer
Ewer, a senior from Lakeville, Minn., had a hand in 36 points at the MIAC outdoor track & field championships to lead the Tommies to victory. Headed into nationals, Ewer is ranked sixth in the long jump, is on UST's top-seeded 4x100 and 4x400 relays, and also qualified in the 100 meters. He's a two-time All-American though slowed by injuries for much of his four-year career. Earlier this spring, Ewer was named Tommie of the Year as St. Thomas' top senior student.
