Grant Wintheiser: Why Mess with Success

Grant Wintheiser wins the MIAC men's race. Photo courtesy of St. Olaf

As with many elite athletes, the sport that they are good at was not their first choice.  St. Olaf's 2014 NCAA DIII XC champion Grant Wintheiser began his sports career with the Big Three.  He played football, basketball, and baseball in sixth and seventh grade.  He was going to try soccer next, but St. Cloud Cathedral's cross country coach Fred Rupp believed running was in Wintheiser's future.

Grant's only exposure to the sport had been the fact that his dad was a runner, and he was not keen on the idea.  The first time Rupp approached him Wintheiser turned him down.  Rupp was not deterred.  He visited Wintheiser's health class and asked if Grant could be excused so he could talk with him.  "You don't have to make a commitment,"  Rupp said.  "Just come to one practice."  OK, Wintheiser replied.  He came.  He ran.  He was hooked.

While Wintheiser was not a prodigy, didn't immediately rise to the top of the high school running world, he had a major impact on Cathedral's cross country team.  Rupp, who has been coaching at Cathedral for 43 years, said that Wintheiser "changed the culture of the team."  He has the ability to focus on a task and commit to what is necessary to accomplish what he sets out to do, said Rupp.  

Wintheiser pushed himself and he became the model for the others on the team to follow. Again, this was not an instant change.  "There was some blow back,"  Rupp said.  The other kids didn't buy into the commitment, the workload necessary to get the best out of oneself.  As Wintheiser's work ethic delivered results, however, the others took notice.  Wintheiser led by example.

"He's a Stearns County kid," said St. Olaf coach Phil Lundin, "A hard working guy."  Wintheiser also has what Lundin calls "a quiet confidence."  He takes a pragmatist's approach.  Going into the DIII nationals Wintheiser had been undefeated against DIII runners.  He'd run his fastest time ever for 8K XC at the Region meet, which "helped me go into Nationals with a lot of confidence."  And North Central's John Crain, who had been Wintheiser's chief rival in 2013, had graduated.

Despite all those positive signs Wintheiser didn't go into the race believing he had a lock on the title.  Nobody gives you a national title.  You have to earn it.  Through nearly all of the race Wintheiser played the role of the hunter, not the hunted.  He didn't take the lead until the end.   After runner up Colin Cotton of Williams College broke open the race in the last mile, Wintheiser followed him and took the lead with a little more than a half-mile to go and won by six seconds.

Wintheiser had taken what he'd learned over the previous two seasons and  executed his race strategy to perfection.  There was relief, joy, and satisfaction as he crossed the line.  "As a sophomore I didn't expect to get third,"  Wintheiser said.  "(Last year) I was a little complacent."  This year he was ready and able.  He doesn't plan on stopping with the XC title, however.  There is unfinished business in track.  Ultimately, he'd like to finish his collegiate career with a triple: XC, the 3K indoors, and 5K outdoors.  He's also hoping to combine talents with some of his teammates to run together on a distance medley relay team. Beyond that is a big question mark.

In addition to being an outstanding athlete, Wintheiser is also an exceptional student.  His classes in biology and neuroscience convinced him to apply to medical school and he was accepted at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.  There he will explore what specialty in medicine he'll pursue, and he'll continue to run.  Recreationally if the school commitment only allows that, but one of the contingency plans is to be able to train enough to run competitively in 10Ks or half marathons.  See if there is a future in the sport, if Olympic aspirations are a realistic goal.

If so, he may try and follow in the footsteps of another Minnesotan, Dr. Bob Kempainen, who made two Olympic teams while getting through medical school. As in high school and college, Wintheiser will be pushing the boundaries, exploring his capabilities, and aiming for the top. It's a plan that has worked for him thus far, so why mess with success.