NDSU Track- Prime Time

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Two NDSU athletes and one grad assistant will participate in the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships-
Keller, Schmidt & Christensen to Compete at USA Track & Field Championships

2003-06-17

FARGO, ND--North Dakota State University's Cortney Christensen, Nathan Schmidt and Stevie Keller are scheduled to compete at the 2003 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships scheduled for June 19-22, at Stanford University's Cobb Track & Angell Field in Palo Alto, CA.

The USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be televised live from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, June 21, on NBC, and from 4-5:30 p.m., Sunday, June 22 on ESPN2.

Cortney Christensen, a senior from Anchorage, AK, races in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 7:50 p.m. Thursday, June 19. The finals are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Saturday, June 21.

Christensen placed fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Minnesota Distance Classic with a time of 10:45.17 at Macalester College on June 7.

Christensen ranks ninth on the entry list with a personal best time of 10:23.28. She won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2003 North Central Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships and placed second at the 2003 NCAA Division II Outdoor. Lisa Aguilera leads the field with a time of 9:46.30.

NDSU assistant track & field coach Stevie Keller and junior Nathan Schmidt, a junior from Redwood Falls, MN, will compete in the decathlon this weekend. Keller qualified with 7,673 points and Schmidt qualified with a PR of 7,513 achieved in winning his third NCC decathlon title.

Keller’s score of 7,673 was also a lifetime best and topped the old Ellig Sports Complex record. He broke personal records in the long jump, shot put, discus, javelin and 1,500 meters. Keller’s score ranks him 13th in the U.S. and 30th in the world.

Schmidt won the decathlon at the 2003 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a score of 7,326 points. He was the runner-up in the decathlon at the 2001 NCAA Division II Outdoor.

Schmidt is the third three-time decathlon champion in North Central Conference history and will have the rare opportunity to become a four-time champion next season with the Bison. He was selected the 2003 NCC Outdoor Track & Field Men's Athlete of the Meet.

Competition in the decathlon begins at 11:10 a.m. Saturday, June 21 with the 100 meter dash. Other events Saturday include the long jump, shot put, high jump and the 400-meter dash. The 10-event showcase concludes Sunday, June 22 beginning with the 110-meter hurdles at 11:50 a.m. Other events include the discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1,500-meter run.

Tom Pappas of NIKE leads the field in the decathlon with 8,585 points.

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Article in The Forum that focuses more on Stevie Keller:


NDSU assistant Keller advances in decathlon
By Jeff Kolpack
jkolpack@forumcomm.com
The Forum - 06/17/2003

There was no shortage of track and field expertise at the North Dakota State pole vault camp over the weekend. One of the coaches, Stevie Keller, could have done nine other camps:

The 100-meter Camp, the Long Jump Camp, the Shot Put Camp, the High Jump Camp, the 400-meter Camp, the 110 hurdles Camp, the Discus Camp, the Javelin Camp and the 1,500-meter Camp.

Those are the 10 events of the decathlon, something Keller has resurrected after a two-year hiatus.

The Bison graduate assistant coach scored 7,673 points at a recent qualifying meet at Ellig Sports Complex. It was the 13th best total in the country and 30th best in the world and qualifies Keller for this weekend’s U.S. Track & Field Championships in Palo Alto, Calif.

It also means Keller is on pace to qualify for next year’s Olympic Trials. The top 24 point-getters get invited. That is something that seemed quite distant two years ago.

A series of nagging injuries, mostly to his back, told Keller’s body to take a break. He went to New Zealand in 1999 to student teach for six months.

That was followed by a stint as head track coach and substitute teacher at a high school in Seattle. Last year, NDSU head women’s track and field coach Ryun Godfrey, a former college teammate, called Keller and asked if he wanted to be his graduate assistant. Keller jumped at the chance.

“My priority was coaching,” Keller said.

Any workouts were spontaneous efforts with the college athletes. He probably spent more hours in a van driving NDSU athletes to a meet than he did training.

Up until last month, Keller hadn’t planned on training for the decathlon.

“A lot of times, driving a van can just wear you out,” Godfrey said. “Sometimes, we get back from a competition and then he gets back into training. I’m impressed. I’m very impressed. I think coaching has helped improve his ability in decathlon. He talks about technique so much.”

Keller hopped into an occasional event as an unattached athlete in open meets. Then came a decathlon in Emporia, Kan., in April, something Keller thought he might as well give it a shot.

It didn’t start well. He thought about quitting after the high jump on the first day. Then he became an overnight success.

Keller set personal records in four of the five second-day events.

“That gave me the incentive to keep training,” he said.

At 26 years old, Keller is entering the prime of decathletes. Mentally, they begin to master the techniques of the throws and the jumps. Physically, their bodies adapt to the different types of runs.

“He’s strong and he’s smart and he knows what to do,” said Beckee Keller, Stevie’s mother and high school coach in Harvey, N.D.

The Kellers are a well-known track family in North Dakota. Suzy Keller and Kim Keller were standout athletes. If you were to pick one of the three who would have excelled after college, it probably would have been Suzy.

She was an All-American in the javelin and heptathlon at Seattle Pacific University. She was on pace for the Olympic Trials before an injury ended her hopes.

Stevie, meanwhile, appears to be a later bloomer. His best effort in college was an eighth place finish in the 1995 Division II decathlon. He did not win a North Central Conference event.

He was that way as a kid, too.

“He was as klutzy little boy,” Beckee Keller said. “We felt sorry for him. Then one day, about age 11, he just ran and everything was working together.”

It helps that Keller isn’t working at the decathlon alone. Current NDSU athletes Nate Schmidt and Andrew Aakre make for good training partners.

Schmidt and NDSU women’s distance runner Cortney Christensen also qualified for the U.S. Championships this weekend. Schmidt’s decathlon standard was in the top 20 in the country and Christensen qualified in the steeplechase.

“It’s the best track meet in America,” Godfrey said.

Next year could be different for Keller. An Olympic year brings out the best athletes, who sometimes take a year off.

“You’ll see people come out of retirement,” Keller said. “Right now, I’m 13th but there are guys like Dan O’Brien who haven’t competed.”

O’Brien is the 1996 Olympic gold medalist and a former world record holder with 8,891 points. Keller was asked if getting to the 2004 Olympic Games was a reality.

“I don’t know, that would be pretty tough,” he said. “It will take a bigger commitment. I would have to have a lot of things go really well.”

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546