COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Oct. 28, 2006, was a pretty good day for Saint John's athletics.

Three Johnnie teams were in action on that date 20 years ago and all three either clinched an MIAC title outright or locked up a share of the conference crown.

The success started with the SJU cross country team, which had set some fairly high goals for itself entering the MIAC championship meet at St. Paul's Como Park.

"We'd like to get five or six all-conference runners and challenge for the title," junior Kelly Fermoyle told the St. Cloud Times beforehand. "But we need every one of our top five runners to have a great race."

That's exactly what happened as five Johnnies finished in the top 12, led by junior Mitch VanBruggen, who placed second overall in a time of 26 minutes and nine seconds. 

Fermoyle finished fifth in a time of 26:18 and junior Chris Erichsen was sixth in a time of 26:21. SJU compiled a team score of 35, six points in front of defending champion Hamline. 

It marked the Johnnies' first MIAC title since 1999.

Meanwhile, just a few miles away, the SJU football team was in action against archival St. Thomas at O'Shaughnessy Stadium, and the Johnnie defense made sure it was a long day for Tommie quarterback David Sauer. 

SJU finished the afternoon with nine sacks, including two from senior defensive end Kevin McNamara, en route to a 27-7 victory that wrapped up a share of the MIAC crown. Senior Brandon Royce-Diop began the game by taking the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and junior free safety John Cloeter had a 33-yard interception return for a touchdown on the third play of the second half.

"Our defensive line was all over the field today," said Cloeter, whose team held St. Thomas to just one yard rushing, in a postgame interview with the Times. "Even when they didn't get a sack, they were pressuring (Sauer). I thought that was the biggest difference in the game."

Johnnie quarterback Alex Kofoed (like Sauer, a graduate of Rocori High School) threw for 267 yards and two touchdowns. 

SJU fell 28-13 to Bethel in the regular-season finale on Nov. 11 at Clemens Stadium and ended up sharing the conference title with the Royals, who earned the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

But the Johnnies still made the postseason via an at-large bid and won a pair of playoff games on the road before falling 17-14 at Wisconsin-Whitewater in the national quarterfinals and finishing 11-2 overall.

Back on Oct. 28, though, yet another SJU team was wrapping up an MIAC crown. The Johnnie soccer team fell behind 1-0 early to struggling Concordia but rallied to win 6-1 on the road in Moorhead.

Six different SJU players scored goals and nine Johnnies registered at least a point. Sophomore Tyler Kodet led the way with his team-leading fifth goal of the season.

"We were down 1-0 in the first 10 minutes," SJU head coach Pat Haws told the Times. "It's so hard not to be overlooking. We're playing the bottom team. We know we're in the playoffs. We know our playoff games are at home. For these (college athletes), it's really hard to sort through all these distractions."

But Haws' team eventually did, wrapping up sole possession of the regular-season conference title in the process. It was SJU's first MIAC championship in soccer since 1989.

Three teams, three titles. All in all, not a bad day's effort.

90 years ago (1936)
Vedie Himsl (who later went on to briefly manage MLB's Chicago Cubs) rushed for touchdowns of 50 and 55 yards as the SJU football team rolled past Itasca Junior College 39-0 on Oct. 31 in Collegeville.