Past events can seem preordained. Take the All-American running careers that Joel and Tina Fenske enjoyed while at the University of South Dakota at Vermillion. Of course, we knew they had the ability. We remember their stellar high school careers, in which they earned state honors in both track and cross country It seems so obvious now. What we don't remember at first is all the challenges they faced and overcame; Tina giving birth to their son, Elliot, while in high school; Joel struggling his first year at USD because he missed Tina and Elliot; or Tina abandoning her competitive athletic career for a few years while attending Ridgewater College in Willmar, working as a nurse's aide, and raising Elliot.
What we don't know is the help they received from teammates to baby sit Elliot during meets. Or late night trips to meet someone's parents in Pipestone to drop off Elliot before a big meet. Or what it's like to be an elite athlete, student, and parent.
After a runner-up finish in the state cross-country meet his senior year, Joel attended the University of South Dakota and redshirted in cross country in the fall of 1994. In his first year of competition the next fall, he finished 24th in the NCAA Division II cross country meet to earn All-American honors as the Coyotes finished eighth as a team. In 1996, he was 16th individually and earned All-American honors again. The team was a disappointing ninth that year, but took a renewed sense of commitment into their off-season workouts.
Joel had a busy summer aside from his training. He and Tina were married that summer, as were three of their siblings.
Tina, who worked as a nurse's aide in Paynesville after high school while studying for her Licensed Practical Nursing degree at Ridgewater had been out of competitive running for almost three years. She had done some summer road racing and did some voluntary coaching for distance runners on the high school track and cross country teams, but hadn't done any serious training.
Joel approached the coach at USD about Tina joining the teams, and the coach eagerly accepted.
In the fall of 1997, Joel helped lead the Coyotes to a national championship and Tina began her string of national championship events. In the meet in Kenosha, Wis., Joel finished seventh to earn his third straight All-American honor, and led a group of USD runners that finished seventh, ninth, 11th, 13th, and 37th to edge Central Missouri by five points for the national title.
Tina finished 30th in the race and missed All-American honors by one spot.
She qualified for the national championship for both indoor and outdoor track in the spring of 1998, but couldn't compete indoors due to illness. Outdoors, she finished seventh to earn her first All-American honor.
Joel qualified for his only track national championship outdoors in 1998. "I've always liked cross country better, " he said. "I still like track, but I've always been better at cross country, even in high school."
Last fall, Joel finished 15th at nationals to earn his fourth All-American honor. "(He's) the first athlete at USD to become a four-time All American in cross country," said Tina, who placed 10th in the women's Division II race to earn her All-American honors.
This spring, Tina earned four All-American distinctions in track. In the indoor nationals, she finished sixth in the indoor mile and fifth in the 5,000-meter run. She holds the USD school record for the indoor mile.
At outdoor nationals in Kansas over Memorial Day in May, she finished fourth in the 3,000-meter run and sixth in the 5,000-meter run. She holds the school records in both events.
Over the last year, she had five All American finishes. In her two-year career at USD, she qualified for every national championship in her two sports and earned six All American nominations. She has been nominated for the NCAA Division II Woman of the Year, based on athletics, academics, and leadership. The winner will be announced this fall.
"She won't tell you, but I'll tell you it is pretty phenomenal for a distance runner," said Joel.
Tina, who still has two years of college eligibility that she doesn't plan on using, is glad she went back to school and ran competitively. "I just decided...to try it," she explained. "I'm glad I did. I had a lot of success and fun."
Intensified training
Mental toughness is a key component in the make-up of a distance runner, and both Joel and Tina have it in abundance. During cross-country races, Joel would sense apprehension in his competitors' eyes as they approached hill. Liking the hills, he felt, gave him a mental edge.
Tina, meanwhile, ran the 10,000-meter run twice during college, to help her track team score points at the outdoor conference meet. The race is almost twice the distance of the women's cross-country race. "The coaches knew she was tough enough to do it," explained Joel, "and no one else would."
That's not even as hard as the 5,000-meter run indoors. On a 200-meter track, that race requires 25 laps and lots of turning on sharp curves. "That is painful," explained Tina. "It's a mental game on the indoor track. You have to be pretty tough, especially mentally."
College competition is much harder than high school, they agreed. First of all, in college mostly the elite runners from high school participate, and everyone is out for success.
One unique aspect of the Division II level is that there are no age limits. In Division I, there are limits once athletes reach their mid-20s. So world-class athletes from other countries frequently choose to compete at the Division II level. Some colleges even have foreign language scholarships apart from their athletic programs. Joel ran against a Kenyan runner who is now a professional on the marathon circuit and against a Russian who represented his country in the steeplechase in the Olympics.
The training is much more demanding, and in addition to these requirements student-athletes face increased academic duties. Joel said that in high school he ran more than 30 miles in a week for training maybe once or twice. At his peak training, during cross country his junior year, he was running 100 miles a week on grass and gravel roads.
They also did bike training and lifted weights while in college. "Training is so much more involved at the college level," said Tina.
The races are more demanding, too. High school cross country courses are 5K for boys and 4K for girls. For Division II last year, the men ran 10K and the women ran 6K.
Cross country camp
Joel and Tina were in Paynesville last week conducting a cross country training camp for local runners. The camp was from Monday to Friday, July 19-23, from 8 a.m. to about 10 a.m. Joel said the idea for the camp belonged to Paynesville's cross-country coach, Darrel Carstens.
Joel and Tina put the 16 runners through various workouts, started getting them in shape for the upcoming season, and told them about training techniques that had helped them.
Each day started with a discussion of training ideas. Topics for the week included shoes and equipment, nutrition, and weightlifting. After stretching and warming up, the group completed their workout. On Monday, they did an easy run on the golf course. On Tuesday, they ran out to the big hill on Northwest Koronis Road and did workout there.
On Wednesday, they completed a 10-kilometer endurance run, and on Thursday they did a ladder workout on the high school track. Friday was an easy day with a jog out to the Veteran's Memorial Park for swimming and to eat watermelon and cantaloupe.
Youth participating in the camp were Erin Aagesen, Riley Flanders, Ryan Flanders, Travis Flanders, Carin Frenchick, Megan Haines, Jenny Hess, Eric Korman, Clayton Lang, Angie Mattke, Matt Mehr, Tia Nowaeki, Eric Rausch, Tiff Rausch, Brooke Schmitz, and Adam Utsch.
Medical careers
Joel and Tina moved to Eagan this summer to start the next chapter of their lives. Tina is currently working in a LPN float pool, but has passed her Registered Nurse boards and will be starting as an RN on the medical-surgical floor of Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis in August.
Joel will be starting chiropractor school at the Northwestern College of Chiropractic in September. It should take him a little over three years to complete the schooling.
They have run in some road races this summer, but competitive running and training is mainly on hold. Nowadays, they prefer roller blading with Elliot, 6. He will be in first grade this fall.
Joel and Tina will miss the camaraderie of a cross country team this fall. One thing for which they are grateful is all the help their teammates offered to look after Elliot during meets and practices.
Their families have also been extremely supportive, they said, and helped them through tough times. "Our family has always been there for us," said Joel. "We're really blessed with good families on both sides."
Joel is the son of Dallas and Patsy Fenske, and Tina is the daughter of Kevin and Bev Lang, all of Paynesville.
"The Lord has been so good to us," continued Joel. "We're truly grateful, truly blessed."