"I owe everything I ever did in running to the foundation I got at Stillwater High School," said Luke Watson, the first of four Ponies to dip under the four-minute mark in 2003. "Scott (Christensen, the Stillwater coach) is one of the best coaches in the world at any level."
The year before Watson had "knocked on the door" of a sub-four, running 4:01 and 4:00+ outdoors and a 3:58 1,600 meter leg in a relay, but didn't get it. Then at the Meyo Mile, an indoor meet at Notre Dame, he won the race and broke four for the first time.
"At the time I think there were only five Minnesotans who had (run a sub four)," said Watson. "You have to think of American distance running back in the '90s. Back then a sub four minute mile was pretty rare. I was thrilled (to have done it). It still puts you in a little elite club. When people ask you about running, they have three questions: 'How fast do you run a mile. Have you run a marathon, and have you been in the Olympics.'"
Even people who are not sports fans can relate to the sub-four minute mile, says Watson. He had thought about doing it one day, but in high school it was a far off goal. Then a great time was anything around 4:10, but many of those 4:10 high schoolers from the state went on to break four in college or beyond, notes Watson. "One of the neat things about Minnesota in general is it has produced a lot of sub four minute milers."
One of the reasons, he says, is the quality of the coaches in the state. "When I was coaching at Edina that was one of the things that impressed me was the number of great coaches in the state." The guy who set the standard for greatness for Watson was Christensen. "(Stillwater) had a bunch of committed athletes who really bought into Scott's system. He really prepared us well. When we went to the starting line we had so much confidence. The more I learn about the sport, the more I've learned how importance confidence is.
"A lot of it was erasing those doubts (that most athletes often carry into a race) . If you don't do that some of those doubts can be a big deal. One of the things he did to boost are confidence was what we called the 'secret workout.' It was a workout we would do, not before every race, but a couple times a year. We always came out of the secret workout feeling great. It always gave us confidence that we were prepared for the challenge."
"I can't tell you exactly what Scott did to get us peaking at the right time, but we just felt like we were the best team going into (a race). Scott was a good manager of the emotional stability of the team. He kept people on an even keel, not cocky, just the right amount of confidence, self belief. One of the things he used to say was that 'you had to immerse yourself in the present to get where you want in the future.'"
Focus. Concentrate on the task ahead. "Scott would individualize workouts right down to every person on the team. He would have charts up on the wall on what you had to do if you wanted to reach a certain goal. What pace you had to run in workouts. It was very compartmentalized into what you can do today."
The quality of the competition around the state was also important, said Watson. "We always went to the biggest meets. Scott put the schedule together to compete against the best. You always knew (that to be the best) you had to outperform those guys. Our successes gave us confidence."
Christensen was also able to manage a team full of talented athletes so that the competition was against other teams, not teammates. The rest of the guys, such as Sean Graham, another of the sub four club, were great training partners, said Watson, more than great rivals. Individual success was not sought at the expense of the team, but as a contribution to the team's achievements. Reflective of that is Watson's attitude toward the achievements of Stillwater's four-minute group.
Watson sees the teams' successes not so much as their individual or collective accomplishments, but rather a reflection Christensen's program and what he taught them. "When Ben (Blankenship, the most recent Pony alumni to break four) did it, we sent some e-mails around wondering about how it compared with other schools. Scott did some research and found out that we had the most with Eugene South second with three. We were proud of that mostly for Scott. We like to see him succeed. We're happy for his successes."
As a demonstration of that, they organized a reunion of Stillwater alumni in August last year. Around 50 guys showed up, 30 ran in the 5K they held during the reunion. "We had this alumni reunion for Scott. All of the sub four guys showed up."
Not an insignificant effort as Watson is currently at Penn State University finishing up a five year program for a PhD in accounting, Graham is in Washington, DC, and Luke's younger brother Jake is working in LA. But they all came home to honor the guy who made it all possible, Scott Christensen.
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