As the fourth of five brothers, all of whom went on to great success in cross country and track and field at Saint John's University, it might have seemed a foregone conclusion that Jim Gathje '86 would end up in Collegeville.
After all, his oldest brother Steve '77 had roomed with SJU head cross country and track and field coach
Tim Miles '76 during his time at the school in the mid-1970s.
But the former state champion at Rochester Lourdes High School said it wasn't always inevitable he would follow suit.
"Actually, going into my senior year, my plan was to go anywhere but Saint John's to be honest," said Gathje, who won the 3,200-meter run at the state track and field meet in the spring of 1982.
"My older brother (John '85) was up there at the time, and I'd already been behind him at Lourdes. So I thought it might be nice to go someplace on my own. But then I spent a weekend up there and got to know all the guys on the team. And I just thought to myself 'Why would I want to go anywhere else?'
"Saint John's was where I wanted to be."
That realization proved fortunate for the Johnnies as Gathje went on to a standout career on both the trail and track. He finished in the top 10 at the MIAC meet in cross country twice, including a championship as a senior in the fall of 1985 – the same season in which he finished 19th at the Division III national meet.
But it was in track and field that he made his biggest impact, specifically in the steeplechase – an event that blends distance running, hurdling and water jumps.
That mixture proved uniquely suited to Gathje's skill set. He finished in the top eight at the Division III national outdoor meet all four years during his time with the Johnnies, winning back-to-back national titles in 1985 and '86.
His best time in the event - 8:39.80 in 1985 - remains both a school and Division III record 35 years later.
"My older brother Pete '79 ran the steeplechase at Saint John's and that first piqued my interest in the event," recalls Gathje, who in 2019 was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III Athlete and the Rochester Lourdes Hall of Fame.
"Then my older sister (a standout at Minnesota State-Mankato) had been invited to the 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials (held before the U.S. decision to boycott the games in Moscow that year) to take part in an exhibition in the women's 5,000 meters, which was not yet an Olympic event. That was the first time I got to watch a steeplechase race live.
"I really liked the distance. Three-thousand meters was the perfect range for me. And hurdling just came naturally, so it was a good combination."
His 1985 national championship was impressive, but his repeat performance the following year was record-breaking. He had to fend off a fierce in-conference rival in Jeff Hyman of St. Thomas, who won the 5,000 meters at nationals in 1986 and went on to win the national title in the steeplechase in 1987.
Hyman edged Gathje to claim the steeplechase title at the 1986 MIAC Outdoor Championships prior to nationals. But at the national meet, he recorded a time of 8:43.90 (still a meet record) to claim first place for the second year in a row.
"I doubled up at conference that year and I ran the 10,000 meters on Friday night," Gathje said. "I won that, but then I had to come back and run the steeplechase the next day. He got me there by about three or four seconds. So that motivated me going into nationals.
"I didn't want to let that happen again."
Over the course of his career, Gathje earned All-MIAC honors seven times in cross country and track and field.
"We always took a lot of pride in what we were doing as a program, especially at that time in the distance events," said Miles, who remains the head cross country coach at SJU but stepped down as head track and field coach following the 2015 season (he remains on-staff as an assistant).
"Jim was really our bellwether in those years. To this day at the national meet, when they introduce the steeplechase, I hear them announce him as the record-holder and it's still a great feeling. It's really impressive how long that mark has stood."
Miles said Gathje set a standard that those who came after him have been able to shoot for. It's a big part of why SJU has been so successful in the steeplechase over the years. Another Johnnie – Ryan Bugler '17 – won the 2016 national title in the event and placed fourth nationally in 2017.
"There were already a lot of successful steeplechasers at Saint John's when I got there," Gathje said. "In fact, we had a tradition at the conference meet where we would take water from Lake Sag (Sagatagan) and mix it into the water (used for the water jump) at whatever track we were at. That way, we always felt like we had a home-track advantage."
Gathje's children have carried on the family's successful athletic tradition. His daughters, Maria '14 and Anne '16, competed in swimming, cross country and track respectively at the College of Saint Benedict. Hi son, Tommy, played basketball for Winona State University (he was an honorable mention All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference selection following the 2017-18 season) and son, Peter '21, played basketball for two seasons at Saint John's.
Youngest son Joe is a successful cross country and track and field athlete at Bloomington Jefferson High School.
"That's been fun to see," said Gathje, who is now the director of sales and compensation for Optum, a division of United HealthGroup. "They've all been good athletes, but they've all been strong academically too.
"Luckily, they take after their Mom in that way."
