By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point track and field team members Mike Mead and Dan Schwamberger reasons for participating in the sport could be categorized as off-the-wall.
But no matter how unlikely their entrances into track and field are, they can now call themselves national champions.
Mead and Schwamberger broke UW-SP's 12-year drought without a national title last weekend, when Mead won the high jump and Schwamberger captured the 5,000 meter run at the NCAA Division 3 Indoor Championships. Tom Moris was the school's last national champion with a title in the 5,000-meters in 1988.
Mead didn't necessarily leap into track. Mead was a basketball player in high school and broke his foot as a junior. Instead of sitting out from all athletics that year, he decided to join the track team at Neenah High School. A year later, in 1996, Mead won the Division 1 state high jump title.
After two years at UW-SP, Mead decided last spring he had to take time off from school and decide what he wanted to do. He wasn't on the Pointer team year ago. Mead contemplated not returning and thanks his parents, Dave and Judy Mead, and his girlfriend, Ann Seim, for being supportive and pushing him to get back into school. When he returned to the university in the fall, he chose to pursue a business major.
Schwamberger didn't get his start in track until his senior year, when his English teacher, who was also the track coach, persuaded Schwamberger to join the team.
"I ran the 800(-meter run) there and I ended up going to the state meet in Minnesota," Schwamberger said.
Schwamberger was already registered for classes at UW-SP and his high school coach called UW-SP men's track and field coach Rick Witt. The next fall, Schwamberger was out for cross county, which he admits he knew nothing about when he first joined.
"I had always thought about running," Schwamberger said. "Every year I kept progressing. Every year it's gotten a little better."
At nationals, both events came down to the wire, as Mead won on tiebreaking criteria and Schwamberger out-sprinted the competition to the finish line.
Mead cleared 6-feet-9-3/4 without a miss. Mead and Raheim Greenridge of Wheaton (Mass.), the only competitor to clear the same height, moved on to 7-feet. Both missed all three times, but because Greenridge missed once at 6-9-3/4, Mead won the title.
"I was pretty optimistic going in," Mead said. "I knew I was definitely going to place in the top six."
Witt said Mead had his sights set higher.
"We realistically thought he could be somewhere in the top three," Witt said. "He was really confident. He told me he was going to win."
Mead expects the best is yet to come. He is shooting to clear 7-2 or 7-3 and would like to reach 7-4, the provisional qualifying mark for the Olympics.
"I'm usually a better jumper outdoors," Mead said. "That's usually where I start to shine. The surfaces are a lot harder indoors and it's harder on jumpers."
Schwamberger's win in the 5,000 meters came one day after the distance medley relay team he was on finished a close second.
"'Schwamy' was a little bit of a surprise," Witt said. "I was not sure how much the distance medley had taken out of him. Sometimes I think it helps you to get the first race out of the way.
"I knew he would run very well. He's been really hot, he's been kicking up on everybody."
Added Schwamberger: "I knew it was possible but I wasn't expecting to win. I didn't think it was impossible. It just happened to be the right day."
Schwamberger and teammate Jesse Drake, who was also on the distance medley, stayed in the front pack the entire race.
"The first mile got out kind of fast," Schwamberger said. "In the second mile, no one really wanted to go. Then in the third mile, one guy made a move and another went with him. I followed right behind those guys."
Using a 57-second final quarter mile, Schwamberger caught the leader and won going away, by four seconds, with a time of 14:33.43. Drake was seventh in 14:43.52).
"There aren't many guys who can close that well," Witt said. "The guy that got second really tried to break the race open in the last mile. Dan almost let him get a little too far ahead. He started to labor with a quarter to go."
Schwamberger and Drake, along with teammates Chris Horvat and Ben Treptow, nearly won another title in the distance medley, finishing second in 10:00.90. North Central edged the Pointers by 0.77 seconds.
"That was as good a race as you'll ever see. We knew that we had to have a five second lead going into the last mile," Witt said.
Witt said both Schwamberger and Mead each put four years worth of work into their titles.
"People have to realize these guys worked really hard to get where they are," Witt said. "I don't care what level you're at, you're going to reap rewards when you're a junior or a senior."