Photo ID: Van Nelson

The primary objective of  Photo ID  has been to pass on a bit of the history of the sport linked through photographs.  For Van Nelson who was shown in the photo above, we've already written about him in a Where Are They Now two-part story from 2009.  Chad Austin conducted the interview with Nelson and you can find the two segments HERE and HERE.

Photo ID: Steve Plasencia

Steve Plasencia being congratulated by
John Swain after winning the Swain
Invitational in Duluth.  Photo from the collection
of Gene Niemi

"I won Swain twice," says current University of Minnesota director of track and field/cross country Steve Plasencia.  "(After one of the wins) I was in Faces in the Crowd in Sports Illustrated."  A nice honor for a Cooper HS kid, but as he would later learn, he was not only one inspired.

Don Clary, who grew up in Alaska, but would later train with Plasencia when both were running post collegiately in Eugene, Oregon, saw the photo, checked out what sort of times "Plas," as his friends call him, was running and thought: "I wonder if I could do that too." Not run the times, but get his picture in SI.

Plasencia "grew up in a neighborhood where we were out the door at 8 AM with the whole day centered around outdoor play," Plasencia said.  "Just out being physical.  I never knew I was a runner."  His introduction to running was through recess "races" with another kid during fifth and sixth grade.  They would run back and forth to the fence on the playground getting ready for the 600 yard dash that was part of the President's Physical Fitness program that was at all the schools at that time.

They spent the whole recess doing the fence racing, but it wasn't the only sport Plasencia played.  All the "ball sports," as well hockey made up the PE "curriculum" for the kids in his neighborhood, and Plasencia  had another sport, playing on the hockey team in high school.  "As you can tell from the picture, I was kind of a long-haired punk," says Plasencia of his early years in high school.  "I was a good kid and a good student, but I had another side.  I had to cultivate the party boy out."

By his junior year, Plasencia had finished second in the state in cross country and was aiming to move up a notch his senior year, but an Achilles injury cut short his senior XC season and prompted Plasencia to devote all his energy toward track.  He stopped playing hockey and won the MSHSL Track Championship in the mile in 4:12.  "I loved sports and I loved to compete," said Plasencia.  "When I was a kid, when I lost I cried. I still take my losses hard, whether it's in recruiting or on the field.  I was always trying to figure out what I had to do to be the best I could be."

Don Hurley, a teammate of Plasencia's at the University of Minnesota, says the thing he noticed about Steve was that he was pushing the envelope, willing to try things that weren't even being considered by others.  For example, when Plasencia was training for the marathon, he felt he needed more volume, more miles, endurance work, but also knew that his body didn't handle that well.  So, he went back to his hockey days and substituted roller blading for running to get in extra "miles," sometimes flying along at sub four minute mile pace.

Earlier when he had to substitute running in the pool to get in "mileage" when he was injured, Plasencia took it one step further by wearing a vest that wasn't filled with air for buoyancy, but with sand, so he had to work harder to keep his head above water during his aqua aerobics.  His coaches, Jim Fischer and Milan Mader in high school, Roy Griak in college, Dick Quax and Rob Lyden post collegiately, were advisers, people he sought for information.  "I coached myself," is how Plasencia describes it, with the help of whoever he could find.

He sought out advice from other Olympic runners: Garry Bjoklund, Frank Shorter. When Shorter came to the Twin Cities to do promotions for Dayton's when they were a sponsor for the Get in Gear 10K, Plasencia followed him around.  "I was so keen to learn, ask him questions," Plasencia remembers, "Finally he said: 'Quit following me around.'"

Now the tables are turned.  People come to him for advice.  Plasencia has to pass on his knowledge to others, so the learning process continues.  Instead of motivating himself, Plasencia has to learn what motivates others.  Instead of training himself, he has to find out what works for others.  "Over time," Plasencia says.  "An athlete finds what's right for them."  And it's his job to assist in that process.

Part of it has nothing to do with race tactics or training protocols.  With only a set number of spots available for each year's NCAA Cross Country Championships, a process has been developed for selecting the teams who will get to compete in the Championships each year.  The first part of that process is simple, the top two teams in each Region get automatic qualifying berths.  Where it gets complicated is selecting the "at large" qualifiers who fill in the remaining spots.

For Division I teams that process involves a point system where teams earn points during a portion of the season by how they perform at meets leading up to the NCAA Regional meets.  Each team selects their schedule in an effort to gain as many points as possible so that if they are in a loaded Region with a lot of top teams, they can be one of the teams that still merits selection to "the Big Dance," to use the promo name given to the NCAA Basketball Championships.

This year the Gopher men came within one point of qualifying for the NCAA Championships.  They had purposely run the Griak Invitational and the Adidas Invitational back-to-back in an attempt because it offered the best opportunity to gain points.  By doing well there they were in a position where if they had tied Oklahoma for fourth place in their Region, they would have been the team that went to the NCAA Finals based on having accumulated more points leading into the Regional Meet.

Minnesota tied with Kansas with 157 points, but was one point back from Oklahoma.  That one point kept the Gophers out of fourth and at home for the NCAA Championships.  So close, but yet so far.  They had executed the first part of the strategy by accumulating the necessary points, but fell a point short of being able to use them.

Now the challenge becomes to avoid that result again.  Sport offers a series of teachable moments with the goal being to use those opportunities to your advantage next time.  Plasencia was able to teach himself how to do it.  Now he has to pass those skills on to his team.

Photo ID: Dennis Barker Embarks on a New Journey

Dennis Barker

Runners of that era will recognize the hairstyle as familiar to that of Western Kentucky University and the UK's Nick Rose, who is a runner Dennis Barker admires.  The great talent, the gritty front running tactics, and the long, flowing hair attracted the St. James, Minnesota native who said his off track attire at the time this picture was taken was green bell bottoms and a T-Shirt with the peace sign on the front.

Raised on a farm, Barker was like most high schoolers who used sports as an outlet. Sports became an often used vehicle that gave one an identity, a persona. Today they'd call it a "brand." He started his athletic career  as a seventh grader on the football team, but after not playing a single down during his first and only season, he got the message that the coaches did not believe he would be the next Adrian Peterson.  He thought about playing baseball in the spring, but his football experience made him fear that if he was also not deemed talented enough all he would do is ride the bench.  Instead Barker opted to try track.

He chose to run the sprints, hurdles, and long jump, but soon discovered that speed was not one of his athletic talents.  As fate would have it, junior high kids back then ran the 660 as part of the President's Physical Fitness program.  He ran.  He won, and a long distance running career was launched.  That Fall, as an eighth grader, he went out for cross country.  "When you have a little bit of success," he said of the 660 victory.  "You want more."

It was as a high school cross country runner that Barker was introduced to his first  coaching mentor, St. James coach Norb Renner.  "He had a real passion for the sport," said Barker.  "He was a pioneer in cross country (coaching.  From him) I learned about how to treat a team."  That year, with Barker running as fourth or fifth man,  St. James ended Mankato High's 16 year streak to win the  District championship and then finished second in the  Region meet to qualify for the State Championships.

As  a Senior, Barker came into the State Meet undefeated.  Going into the race he was thinking he could win.  Instead he learned a lesson on the power of the mind.  About two miles into the race, Barker realized  he wasn't going to win.  His dream shattered, Barker fell apart, not physically, but mentally.  At one point he was passed by a runner who he had beaten in an earlier race that season by over a minute.

Barker finished 17th.  He "barely made it" to the finish, he recalls, because once his goal of winning was lost, Barker lost all motivation.  Physically he was capable of finishing much better, but his mind checked out once he knew that he wasn't going to achieve his goal.  The experience taught him not to invest everything into a single objective.  That once the primary objective was lost, don't give up, have at least a Plan B.  Don't "check out" just because the ultimate goal proved to be out of reach.

Fortunately for Barker, Golden Valley Junior College coach Sev Legred didn't give up on recruiting him.  It as Legred who taught Barker the value of high volume training.  Mega miles.  Prior to each cross country season Legred would take the team to St Croix State Park where they would run three workouts on some  days, running up to 150 miles a week.  Instead of breaking him down, Barker discovered that the high mileage training suited him, allowed him to build the stength that allowed him to outrun some of his teammates who, Barker believed, had more natural talent.

It was high volume training with "speed work" being five minute mile pace, even for interval training sessions where the quarters were done at  5-minute pace.  Knowing ahead of time what it was going to be like, Barker worked up to run his first 20 mile training run in August prior to the training camp.  For the long run at the camp, Legred would drive them  far away from their camp site, and they would run back, a journey that could take up to five hours.

The training camp was  a great team building experience, says Barker.  "We were united in our suffering," he said.  Already lean when he went to camp, he came back gaunt. "My cheeks were hollow," he said.  "I had a slight fever and a headache," he said.  "I didn't run for three days...But I didn't get injured and I improved a lot."

In junior college he competed against a fellow named Beardsley, lapped him in a 10K.  Iowa State coach Bill Bergen came to watch one of their meets. He was recruiting Barker's roommate who was a 1:51 half miler.  Bergen noticed Barker, liked what he saw and offered him a partial scholarship to join Bergan's up and coming program at Iowa State.  In Barker's first season the team placed second in the Big Eight conference, and the training program was radically different than Legred's.

Shorter morning runs and fast interval work.  Some of the mile interval workouts, for example, would have the team's top runners finishing up with 4:20 miles.  For Barker this tempo was more like running a race than a training session, so  instead of trying to keep up with the leaders, he'd do his fastest interval miles around 4:40.  On the other end, he upped the morning runs he did to eight miles.

While he couldn't match their speed, Barker learned that by working on his endurance, he could outrun some of his faster teammates.  It was a valuable lesson in finding out what worked for him and altering his training to fit his strengths, not trying to do speeds or distances that suited others.  Prior to the first NCAA championship meet Barker ran for the team, they watched a video of the famous epic battle between Nick Rose and Steve Prefontaine as that race was on the same course they were running.  It was a two loop layout, and  at the end of the first lap there was Rose, hair flowing behind him, attacking, front running with about a 70 meter lead on Prefontaine.

When they came around the second time, though,  Pre had caught Rose and would outrun him to the finish.  But it was Rose who caught Barker's eye.  The long, flowing hair.  The attacking style.  He didn't win the race, but he captivated the farm boy from St. James.  Inspired him.  That inspiration would motivate him as an athlete and later as a coach, and remains a fond memory to this day.

For 20 seasons, Barker has taken what he has learned from those who taught him, inspired him, and passed on that knowledge to the runners who have gone through the track and cross country programs at Augsburg.  Today Barker moves on to another phase of his coaching life, stepping down from his posts at Augsburg, retaining his position as coach of Team USA Minnesota.  He'll also continue coaching other runners who seek his knowledge and guidance.  And he hopes to do some writing. While one "journey" ends, another begins.

Augsburg press release on Dennis Barker is HERE.