University of St. Thomas Athletics
Faris Colic scored the game's only goal against Omaha and started a three-game win streak in Men's Soccer
Photo by: Patrick Hart
DI Year I - Gene's Blog: Underdog role doesn't faze Toms in year one
6/7/2022 3:11:00 PM | Athletics, Gene's Blog
The 2021-22 season for University of St. Thomas Athletics was a year that could be best summarized as (insert your favorite adjectives here).
Multiple answers seem appropriate: Historic. Unique. Unchartered. Overachieving. Transformational. Surprising. Game-changing. Fun. Frustrating. Surreal.
These terms help describe what happens when a 40-plus year Division III athletic department swims upstream to compete against Division I opponents. It was an undertaking never done by a D-III institution with all of its sports in one season.
Year one included 393 competitions across 21 Tommie varsity sports. The D-I chapter officially started on a warm night on campus in August with a 0-0 tie for Women's Soccer against Northern Iowa. Season one officially concluded on a chilly May night in Miesville, Minn., as Tommie Baseball pulled out a 9-8 comeback victory over Omaha.
St. Thomas Athletics' initial Heartbeat of America tour covered 28 states and took the Tommie banner to all corners of North America. On one extreme there was a 4,900-mile round trip for a hockey series in Fairbanks, Alaska; at the other, two dozen 10-mile round trips to Minneapolis to compete in various sports on the Gophers' campus. Our student-athletes embraced the added travel and learned that study time, team bonding and sightseeing were nice benefits.
In all, 21 Tommie varsity teams combined to travel approximately 173,000 round-trip miles by plane, bus or car for competitions. That doesn't count the 13,500-mile round trip to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China for Women's Hockey coach Joel Johnson (Team USA head coach) and two of his players, Saskia Maurer and Nicole Vallario, who were Olympians for Switzerland.
Our Purple teams faced NCAA D-I opponents with enrollments as large as Arizona State University (63,000 undergrads) and as small as Presbyterian College (1,048). We played games or exhibitions against teams representing the Pac 12, Big 12, SEC, Big Ten, ACC and the Ivy League. We started conference rivalries with 30-plus opponents across the Summit League, Pioneer Football League, CCHA and WCHA hockey.
The outdoor conditions were good except when they weren't. Baseball played in the humidity and waited out a rain delay in Miami. Men's Hockey played outdoors in a snowstorm on a freezing day in Mankato. Track and Field athletes won't forget competing in the heat of Tulsa.
Opportunity Over Obstacles
With the Tommies' lack of D-I experience and their learning curve, these last 10 months were comparable to sprinting along the tracks and jumping into the boxcar of a train. A train that's moving 40 miles an hour.
If you measured 2021-22 solely on our final won-loss records... or on our team placings in the conference standings... or on our individual awards lists... these were not the outcomes that Tommie sports fans were used to celebrating.
But once you factor in all that our student-athletes and coaches overcame -- plus the spirit and resilience they displayed -- you came to appreciate the positive energy on the fields, ice, pool, courts, track and courses.
Competing against established scholarship programs, our teams had plenty of built-in excuses if they chose to use them. But the Purple's year-one identity became one of embracing the opportunity rather than bemoaning the obstacles.
These Tommies competed like crazy. And when they did get down, our coaches and athletes didn't stay down.
Every sport showed improvement from the start to the finish of their seasons. Every squad had a surprise story or two. Five teams won their final game, including Men's Soccer and Baseball each closing with three-game winning streaks.
Nearly every sport exceeded its predicted finish in pre-season conference polls. Four Tommie teams had top-four conference team finishes: Men's Cross Country (second place out of eight teams); Football (tie for third of 11); Men's Outdoor Track (fourth of seven); and Women's Cross Country (fourth of nine). In preseason coaches' polls, MCC was picked for fifth while football was picked for eighth.
Several teams posted a win or tie against an opponent that later competed in the postseason. Softball played nine teams that reached the NCAA playoffs. Women's Hockey's conference was so stacked that four opponents made the 11-team NCAA playoffs, with Ohio State edging Minnesota Duluth 3-2 for the national crown. Men's Hockey played 10 games in the CCHA against Minnesota State and Michigan Tech, teams that took two of the 12 NCAA playoff qualifying spots.
Six new leaders at St. Thomas -- Hockey's Johnson and Rico Blasi; Golf's Katie Hanneman and Matt Rachey; Tennis' Lois Arterberry; and Softball's Jen Trotter -- had to tackle these challenges as first-year Tommie head coaches. They all planted their program flags in the ground, laid down a plan, and are eager to build on their progress in year two.
Walk-Up Music?
Tommie Softball is one of many teams worthy of the Tom Petty "Don't Back Down" award. By one metric, the Purple played the second toughest schedule among the eight Summit teams and ranked in the top 100 of all 301 D-I programs for toughest schedule.
They played their first 32 contests -- and 39 of 50 games in all -- away from campus. Besides facing nine NCAA eventual playoff teams, they posted a 5-6 home record, and went 5-13 against teams that reached the Summit League playoff as part of a 14-36 final mark.
Softball's March 18-20 trip to Tampa, Fla., summed up the entire department's year-one spirit. Coach Trotter's team went 1-4 against a gauntlet of polished teams, four of which reached the NCAA postseason. The Toms beat No. 22-ranked and host school South Florida, 10-4. They lost 5-2 to Ohio State, and fell just 5-4 to Purdue. They lost in 11 innings to Canisius, the Metro Atlantic regular-season and playoff champion. They also led 3-0 and 5-4 before falling 8-5 to Lehigh, the Patriot League playoff champions.
Freshman shortstop Brooke Ellestad played all spring like an established D-I veteran en route to receiving the Freshman of the Year award in the Summit League. Among all conference players, Ellestad led in batting average (.425), and was ranked third in on-base percentage (.455), and sixth in hits (57 in 42 games). Overall, she batted .559 with runners in scoring position (19-of-34).
In one of the final competitions of 2021-22, Men's Track and Field sophomore Nate Raddatz made school history. He became the first St. Thomas individual conference champ of the D-I era as he won the decathlon in May at the Summit League outdoor meet. Raddatz recorded personal-best times and marks in all 10 decathlon events. His best decathlon score as a D-III freshman athlete in 2021 was 5,761. Yet this season he scored 6,855, a total that ranked in the top 50 among all D-I sophomores and freshmen. That decathlon score is also third best in St. Thomas history and the program's top score over the last 27 seasons. Raddatz' 175-1 best in the javelin moved him to No. 5 on the Toms' all-time list in that event.
Toms Made D-III Proud
More than 60 percent of our 500-plus D-I student-athletes in 2021-22 were holdovers from the Division III era. No sport wore the underdog tag more prominently than Men's Basketball. Despite losing six games by seven or less points, the Toms posted a 10-20 record with a starting cast entirely of MIAC guys.
Coach Johnny Tauer could probably earn a second PhD in Psychology by documenting the Tommies' collective mindset as they competed so well against so many proven programs.
"What an incredible journey the first year in Division I athletics was for all of us," Tauer explained. "For basketball, we started the same five guys in Division I that we did the previous year in Division III. That will likely never be replicated in NCAA basketball. We had a roster of committed, selfless, resilient student-athletes who are committed to excellence in their lives. From the historic victories to the challenging losses, I was as proud of this team as any we have ever had at St. Thomas.
"The guys seized every opportunity, all while they embodied the mission of our university. Our fans came to appreciate their toughness and togetherness, epitomized by top national rankings in fewest turnovers, assist-to-turnover ratio, and made three-point baskets. This team traveled from coast to coast and competed like champions.
"St. Thomas' first year in Division I will serve as a foundation for the incredibly bright future we all feel in our athletic department under the direction of Dr. Phil Esten, as we continue this historic journey."
The D-I underdog tag fits St. Thomas so well, let's say we roll it back out again in 2022-23?
--
Multiple answers seem appropriate: Historic. Unique. Unchartered. Overachieving. Transformational. Surprising. Game-changing. Fun. Frustrating. Surreal.
These terms help describe what happens when a 40-plus year Division III athletic department swims upstream to compete against Division I opponents. It was an undertaking never done by a D-III institution with all of its sports in one season.
Year one included 393 competitions across 21 Tommie varsity sports. The D-I chapter officially started on a warm night on campus in August with a 0-0 tie for Women's Soccer against Northern Iowa. Season one officially concluded on a chilly May night in Miesville, Minn., as Tommie Baseball pulled out a 9-8 comeback victory over Omaha.
St. Thomas Athletics' initial Heartbeat of America tour covered 28 states and took the Tommie banner to all corners of North America. On one extreme there was a 4,900-mile round trip for a hockey series in Fairbanks, Alaska; at the other, two dozen 10-mile round trips to Minneapolis to compete in various sports on the Gophers' campus. Our student-athletes embraced the added travel and learned that study time, team bonding and sightseeing were nice benefits.
In all, 21 Tommie varsity teams combined to travel approximately 173,000 round-trip miles by plane, bus or car for competitions. That doesn't count the 13,500-mile round trip to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China for Women's Hockey coach Joel Johnson (Team USA head coach) and two of his players, Saskia Maurer and Nicole Vallario, who were Olympians for Switzerland.
Our Purple teams faced NCAA D-I opponents with enrollments as large as Arizona State University (63,000 undergrads) and as small as Presbyterian College (1,048). We played games or exhibitions against teams representing the Pac 12, Big 12, SEC, Big Ten, ACC and the Ivy League. We started conference rivalries with 30-plus opponents across the Summit League, Pioneer Football League, CCHA and WCHA hockey.
The outdoor conditions were good except when they weren't. Baseball played in the humidity and waited out a rain delay in Miami. Men's Hockey played outdoors in a snowstorm on a freezing day in Mankato. Track and Field athletes won't forget competing in the heat of Tulsa.
Opportunity Over Obstacles
With the Tommies' lack of D-I experience and their learning curve, these last 10 months were comparable to sprinting along the tracks and jumping into the boxcar of a train. A train that's moving 40 miles an hour.
If you measured 2021-22 solely on our final won-loss records... or on our team placings in the conference standings... or on our individual awards lists... these were not the outcomes that Tommie sports fans were used to celebrating.
But once you factor in all that our student-athletes and coaches overcame -- plus the spirit and resilience they displayed -- you came to appreciate the positive energy on the fields, ice, pool, courts, track and courses.
Competing against established scholarship programs, our teams had plenty of built-in excuses if they chose to use them. But the Purple's year-one identity became one of embracing the opportunity rather than bemoaning the obstacles.
These Tommies competed like crazy. And when they did get down, our coaches and athletes didn't stay down.
Every sport showed improvement from the start to the finish of their seasons. Every squad had a surprise story or two. Five teams won their final game, including Men's Soccer and Baseball each closing with three-game winning streaks.
Nearly every sport exceeded its predicted finish in pre-season conference polls. Four Tommie teams had top-four conference team finishes: Men's Cross Country (second place out of eight teams); Football (tie for third of 11); Men's Outdoor Track (fourth of seven); and Women's Cross Country (fourth of nine). In preseason coaches' polls, MCC was picked for fifth while football was picked for eighth.
Several teams posted a win or tie against an opponent that later competed in the postseason. Softball played nine teams that reached the NCAA playoffs. Women's Hockey's conference was so stacked that four opponents made the 11-team NCAA playoffs, with Ohio State edging Minnesota Duluth 3-2 for the national crown. Men's Hockey played 10 games in the CCHA against Minnesota State and Michigan Tech, teams that took two of the 12 NCAA playoff qualifying spots.
Six new leaders at St. Thomas -- Hockey's Johnson and Rico Blasi; Golf's Katie Hanneman and Matt Rachey; Tennis' Lois Arterberry; and Softball's Jen Trotter -- had to tackle these challenges as first-year Tommie head coaches. They all planted their program flags in the ground, laid down a plan, and are eager to build on their progress in year two.
Walk-Up Music?
Tommie Softball is one of many teams worthy of the Tom Petty "Don't Back Down" award. By one metric, the Purple played the second toughest schedule among the eight Summit teams and ranked in the top 100 of all 301 D-I programs for toughest schedule.
They played their first 32 contests -- and 39 of 50 games in all -- away from campus. Besides facing nine NCAA eventual playoff teams, they posted a 5-6 home record, and went 5-13 against teams that reached the Summit League playoff as part of a 14-36 final mark.
Softball's March 18-20 trip to Tampa, Fla., summed up the entire department's year-one spirit. Coach Trotter's team went 1-4 against a gauntlet of polished teams, four of which reached the NCAA postseason. The Toms beat No. 22-ranked and host school South Florida, 10-4. They lost 5-2 to Ohio State, and fell just 5-4 to Purdue. They lost in 11 innings to Canisius, the Metro Atlantic regular-season and playoff champion. They also led 3-0 and 5-4 before falling 8-5 to Lehigh, the Patriot League playoff champions.
Freshman shortstop Brooke Ellestad played all spring like an established D-I veteran en route to receiving the Freshman of the Year award in the Summit League. Among all conference players, Ellestad led in batting average (.425), and was ranked third in on-base percentage (.455), and sixth in hits (57 in 42 games). Overall, she batted .559 with runners in scoring position (19-of-34).
In one of the final competitions of 2021-22, Men's Track and Field sophomore Nate Raddatz made school history. He became the first St. Thomas individual conference champ of the D-I era as he won the decathlon in May at the Summit League outdoor meet. Raddatz recorded personal-best times and marks in all 10 decathlon events. His best decathlon score as a D-III freshman athlete in 2021 was 5,761. Yet this season he scored 6,855, a total that ranked in the top 50 among all D-I sophomores and freshmen. That decathlon score is also third best in St. Thomas history and the program's top score over the last 27 seasons. Raddatz' 175-1 best in the javelin moved him to No. 5 on the Toms' all-time list in that event.
Toms Made D-III Proud
More than 60 percent of our 500-plus D-I student-athletes in 2021-22 were holdovers from the Division III era. No sport wore the underdog tag more prominently than Men's Basketball. Despite losing six games by seven or less points, the Toms posted a 10-20 record with a starting cast entirely of MIAC guys.
Coach Johnny Tauer could probably earn a second PhD in Psychology by documenting the Tommies' collective mindset as they competed so well against so many proven programs.
"What an incredible journey the first year in Division I athletics was for all of us," Tauer explained. "For basketball, we started the same five guys in Division I that we did the previous year in Division III. That will likely never be replicated in NCAA basketball. We had a roster of committed, selfless, resilient student-athletes who are committed to excellence in their lives. From the historic victories to the challenging losses, I was as proud of this team as any we have ever had at St. Thomas.
"The guys seized every opportunity, all while they embodied the mission of our university. Our fans came to appreciate their toughness and togetherness, epitomized by top national rankings in fewest turnovers, assist-to-turnover ratio, and made three-point baskets. This team traveled from coast to coast and competed like champions.
"St. Thomas' first year in Division I will serve as a foundation for the incredibly bright future we all feel in our athletic department under the direction of Dr. Phil Esten, as we continue this historic journey."
The D-I underdog tag fits St. Thomas so well, let's say we roll it back out again in 2022-23?
--
Gene's Blog is a sports column penned by Tommie sports information director Gene McGivern. Gene is working his 28th season at St. Thomas and 34th overall working with college athletics teams. He blogs periodically on various topics regarding the Tommies and college sports.
If you have comments or questions, e-mail Gene at ejmcgivern@stthomas.edu
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