Photo courtesy of Teddy Kortenhof.
This week I had the pleasure to talk to the former sports editor and current writer Teddy Kortenhof. Kortenhof, a junior, runs cross country in the fall and distance indoor and outdoor track and field. Last week the track team had multiple first and second place performances—among them was Teddy’s second place in the steeplechase.
Shane Farrell: For people that don’t know, what is the steeplechase?
Teddy Kortenhof: The steeplechase is a 3,000 meter event with hurdles. Each lap, competitors hurdle five barriers. One of the barriers has a pit of water over (or into) which one jumps. Over the race’s seven and a half laps, there are 28 regular barriers and seven water jumps. It is grueling.
SF: How/why did you get involved in this event?
TK: Lawrence actually has something of a proud steeple tradition. Over the last few years, we have had some very good steeplers, so I started racing the steeple because it is what we do. I also find that it is a fun race. Hurdles every 80 meters help to break up the long distance.
SF: How did it feel crossing the line with an impressive second?
TK: My finish was somewhat dramatic—with 400 meters (and five barriers) to go, I was in third, somewhat close behind a guy from St. Norbert’s. It stinks being beaten by guys in the conference, so I wanted to chase him down. By the final 100 (one barrier left), I had mostly made up the distance, but the Norbert’s guy still had me by 10 meters. In accelerating to try to catch him, I vaulted the last barrier, but hit it pretty hard with my trail leg. I did wind up catching him after the vault, but I had to bleed for it. At the finish line my teammates made me go to the training room to get patched up. My knee was bleeding pretty badly.
SF: Both the men’s and women’s teams had great performances last meet, are you proud being a part of this team?
TK: I am extremely proud of everyone on the team and I am honored to be a part of the team. We had an amazing weekend. Josh and Jackson broke two school records, which is really cool. We had more amazing performances than I have space to list here. But most of all, I think that my fellow steeplers deserve mention. I was one of four Vikings to steeple this meet. Alec Timpe and Aaron Arthur joined me in the men’s race. Both of them had great races, although Alec decided to go for a bit of a swim after one of his water jumps. Christina Sedall made her steeple debut in the women’s race. She did amazing. It was a ton of fun being out there with them.
SF: So what is next?
TK: The team is gearing up for our home meet next weekend. We will be defending our home turf on Saturday against St. Norbert’s. The week after that, it is on to the Conference Championships!