After having won state titles in the 800 and 1,600-meter runs as a senior at Kingsland (Minn.) High School, and having turned down a scholarship offer at the Division I and II levels, Chris Erichsen arrived on campus at SJU in the fall of 2004 expecting immediate success in both cross country and track and field.
But that didn't happen. At least not right away.
"The first half of the cross country season my freshman year was a tough transition," he recalls. "I was more of a middle distance runner. The high school distance in cross country is five kilometers, but in college it's 8K. So the longer distances were a big challenge for me at first and I struggled.
"But I remember we were hosting a meet in Cold Spring and the distance was only going to be 5K. I was really looking forward to that race because it was my chance to show everybody what I could do at a shorter distance. And it didn't go anywhere near as well as I was expecting. So I was really starting to doubt myself and question if college running was something I wanted to do."
But following that meet, Erichsen had a parking lot conversation with his parents and then Johnnies head coach Tim Miles that he says turned the course of his collegiate career around.
"Tim was very honest when it came to laying out the type of work I'd have to do over the course of four years to be as successful as I wanted to be," Erichsen said. "That's when I realized this wasn't something I could just show up to at the start of the season and be successful. And from there, I started shifting my focus into something more long-term."
Miles remembers that conversation as well.
"He was pretty discouraged, but I ran out a litany of examples of guys who got off to crappy starts and ended up becoming All-Americans," Miles said. "As I was talking, he was kind of staring at his feet. But finally I said 'Chris, I can tell you one thing. I don't know when you'll get out of the slump you're in, but I can promise you this. It won't last four years.'
"That's when he looked up and started to smile."
Miles proved prophetic. Erichsen soon got things headed in the right direction and went on to become one of the most decorated cross country and track athletes in school history.
"I had a pretty decent race my last meet of (his freshman) year at regionals (in Waverly, Iowa, finishing second on his team with a time of 26:37)," Erichsen said. "That gave me a boost of confidence and spring-boarded me into track season the following spring."
Indeed, Erichsen finished third in the 800 at the MIAC indoor meet and third in the 1,500 at the MIAC outdoor meet as a freshman in 2005. And he was just getting started.
As a sophomore, he won conference titles in the mile (indoors) and 1,500 (outdoors) while finishing second in the 800 (indoors). As a junior, he placed sixth at the MIAC cross country championships, then placed first in the 1,500 and 5,000 (outdoors) and second in the mile (indoors) in track.
He finished fourth in the 5,000 at both the NCAA Division III indoor and outdoor national meet, and finished second in the 3,000 steeplechase – an event he he'd just taken up that season.
"We had other steeplechasers on the team my first two years, so there really wasn't a need," Erichsen said. "But heading into my junior year in track, Tim asked me to try it. I had been a basketball player in high school, and that athleticism combined with my running background turned out to be a good fit for that event. I only ran it a few times that year, but I ended up being pretty successful."
"With his athleticism, I told him I could picture him being a contender for a national title in the steeplechase," Miles recalls. "And that turned out to be the case."
It did.
Erichsen again finished second in the event as a senior in 2008 – capping a final year that saw him win the MIAC title in cross country and finish third nationally, then add conference track titles in the steeplechase, 1,500 (outdoors), mile (indoors) and 5,000 (indoors and outdoors). He also finished second in the 800 (indoors) and the 10,000 (outdoors).
He placed sixth in the 5,000 at the Division III national indoor meet and second in the 5,000 outdoors.
"Chris just looked like he was born on the starting line," Miles said. "His body language and his confidence were outstanding. He was a guy who loved to race and had a real competitive drive. He set high expectations for himself and he lived up to them."
And that competitive drive didn't dissipate when he graduated from SJU. Erichsen continued to pursue competitive distance running, qualifying for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon where he finished 40th out of the 85 top runners in the nation (
right).
"That was an amazing experience," Erichsen said. "I wasn't just competing against the best Division III athletes in the nation, but against national champions and former Olympians. Guys whose names I'd seen on TV and in magazines. Just to be on the starting line alongside them was a real honor. And the media coverage of that event went far beyond anything I'd ever been part of. NBC broadcast the race and there were TV cameras everywhere.
"It was a really cool thing to be part of."
These days, Erichsen is a licensed sales representative for Adidas based in the Twin Cities. He still runs, though not competitively. But he still draws on lessons he learned as an athlete at SJU in his daily life.
"I think it comes down to the way Tim trained us," Erichsen said. "His focus was on helping us strive to improve each time out. So many athletes came out of there better than ever because of the training environment that existed at Saint John's."
