By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - The Saint John's University track and field team was a dynasty in the early 1970s, winning conference outdoor titles in 1970, '71 and '72.

By the spring of 1973, though, Hamline had emerged as a challenger to the Johnnies' dominance. Led by distance standout Dave Teague, the Pipers entered that season's MIAC meet – held May 11-12 at Macalester in St. Paul – looking like the favorites to dethrone SJU as league champs.

But knowing the meet was likely to come down to the wire, SJU head coach Jim Smith and assistant Chuck Ceronsky kept an unlikely ace in their pocket.

That ace was sophomore Kevin Carlson.

"I certainly wasn't a star by any means," recalls Carlson, a 1975 SJU graduate and Iowa native. "I was a decent high school runner, but I was hampered by shin splints. I wasn't sure I was even going to go out for the sport at Saint John's. I decided to do it, but I spent a lot of time as a freshman running by myself on the intramural fields – just making sure I stayed healthy."

Yet Carlson showed promise as his freshman season went on and continued to improve as a sophomore in both cross country and track and field. By the time the conference meet rolled around that spring, he was ready to volunteer for the role Smith and Ceronsky had in mind to counteract Teague.

Knowing the Hamline star would also be running the one and six-mile (winning both), the idea was for other SJU runners to push him in those races, sapping him of energy in advance of the three-mile – the meet's second-to-last event.

Then Carlson, who would be held out of those earlier races, could come out fresh in the three-mile and hang even with Teague or beat him – providing SJU with just enough points to hold off the Pipers in the final team scoring.

"Starting in 1970, which had been my senior year, Saint John's had dominated in track and field," said Ceronsky, himself an All-American in both cross country and track for the Johnnies who could have contended for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in the marathon in 1972 had injuries not kept him out of the trials. "Our distance runners were really talented (SJU won five-straight MIAC cross country titles from 1968-72). 

"But by the 1973 season, it was getting a little iffy. Hamline had been improving every year and we knew it was going to be a close meet. We didn't have an individual runner as good as Dave Teague. So we wanted to keep one of our distance runners fresh – someone who could potentially beat him in the three-mile in case it came down to it. 

"And Kevin was interested in taking on that challenge."

In the end, the meet played out almost exactly as Smith and Ceronsky had foreseen. SJU turned in a number of outstanding performances – including in the 440-yard intermediate hurdles where the Johnnies took four of the top five places, led by freshman Greg Traxler, who won the event in a time of 55.6 seconds.

But when the three-mile rolled around, SJU and Hamline remained deadlocked.

"I remember being at the starting line warming up when the PA announcer said 'With 19 of 21 events completed, Saint John's and Hamline are tied,'" Carlson said. "That's when it hit me that I really needed to run well here."

And that's just what he did. 

Helped by an early pace-setting push from freshman teammate Tim Miles (SJU's current cross country and longtime track and field coach), Carlson won the event in a conference-meet record time of 14:14 – holding off Teague, who finished in second place. (SJU track runners in 1975; top row, L to R: Dave Arnold, Steve Gathje, Mike Bauer, Joe Perske and Matt Williams; bottom row, L to R: Jim Schoffman, Carlson, Miles)

"The last mile, the athletes lined the track and the infield and all the SJU guys were yelling and cheering me on," said Carlson, who went on to a long career in college textbook sales before retiring several years ago. "One of our throwers was a football player by the name of Kurt Wachtler (who would be selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the 15th round of the 1974 NFL Draft). He was a big guy and when you heard him yelling for you, you responded.

"With like a lap-and-a-half or a lap to go, I heard one of the Hamline guys say 'He's dying Dave! You've got him!' That really lit a fire under me to finish hard."

Hamline went on to win the mile relay. But Carlson's win helped SJU finish the meet with 77 points – three ahead of Hamline's 74. That earned the Johnnies their fourth-straight MIAC crown in what turned out to be Smith's last season as head coach.

"It was a pretty emotional win," remembers Smith, who was also SJU's head basketball coach for 51 seasons from 1964 to 2015, finishing his career as the winningest coach at any level in Minnesota college basketball history. 

"I think I got thrown into the steeplechase pit afterward. Fortunately, there was water in it. But everyone was really excited."

Including Carlson, who said the race was perhaps the greatest moment of his collegiate career at SJU.

"It was amazing, but it wasn't just me," he said. "Everyone who scored points helped us win that meet. It ended up being like a football game that comes down to a last-second field goal. I was lucky enough to be that kicker and I'm glad I was able to come through."

80 years ago (1943)
Six freshmen made their collegiate debuts as the Johnnie baseball team topped Hamline 7-1 in that year's season opener.

90 years ago (1933)
The Record reported the school's annual tennis tournament got underway on May 3. The results would not only dictate the roster of that year's varsity team, but would be used to select the two players who would go on to represent SJU at that season's state tournament on May 19-20 in Collegeville.