St. Olaf's Joe Coffey Wins a Tactical Battle and Puts to Rest the Curse of Como

Coming from the awards ceremony, St. Olaf's Joe Coffey gave thanks that "I never have to race on this course again."  The declaration was only partly tongue in cheek.  As a freshman, Coffey finished 130th on the Como course, same place as he finished as a sophomore when he was handicapped by a cramp in his side.  Last year he tamed the course somewhat by finishing ninth and banishing what was seemingly the curse of Como.

This year he buried it, but not without some anxiety.  "I felt a bit of a cramp in my side," And, he said, that he felt it in nearly the same spot it appeared two years ago, but the feeling passed.  Since the early pace of the race was tortoise like, Coffesy's main mental struggle was when should he make his move.  He didn't want it to come down to the final straight, a kicker's dual, but when should he make his move?

In retrospect Coffey said that the slow early pace was an advantage for both him and his team   because most of his teammates were running with him in the large lead pack.  The result being that the team was in the driver's seat for the team championship.  But as the snail's pace continued, Coffey knew he had to make a move soon.  When the the pack approached the Como ski hill for the second time, he hatched his plan.

Every runner had to accelerate going up the hill to keep a good pace while climbing,so Coffey thought that if he made a big move, a greater acceleration before he crested  the top of the hill, he could open a gap on the other runners who weren't expecting  that much of an acceleration.   The strategy worked.  He quickly increased the gap as the runners ran along the top of the ski hill and then back down toward the starting line the gap increased even more.

Nervous to see how much of a lead he had, Coffey looked around several times to check on the chasers.  His move had fractured the large pack and the race was on.  Coffey knew he had to keep pushing the pace as he raced across the fairway where the race had started and went under the overpass decorated with the MIAC banner and embarked the last loop.  "I was sucking air for the last K," Coffey described of the effect of his effort, but his rivals weren't getting any closer.

Joe Coffey has the finish in sight. Photo by Jim
Ferstle

That effort was etched on his face, but nobody was able to close the gap.  Coffey won by 10 seconds over runner up Ryan Buglar of St. John's.  His teammates were able to hold it together as well resulting in a fifth straight team title for St. Olaf.  And the curse of Como was banished forever.