Tommie Triathlon President Matthew Higley (center) helps another member correct their form during the team’s swim practice on Nov. 13. (Eli Anderson/The Crest) 
Team event organizer Sid Rezac builds muscle during a team lift session on Nov. 15. (Eli Anderson/The Crest) 
A Tommie Triathlon member does push-ups in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex weight room. (Eli Anderson/The Crest) 
Higley practices his swimming. He said he was inspired to create a club for students to focus on triathlon training this semester after competing in his first this summer. (Eli Anderson/The Crest)
When first-year Matthew Higley’s hopes of continuing with either soccer or swimming post-high school didn’t pan out, he was left looking for motivation at the start of the summer.
He soon found it in the Turtleman Triathlon held in Shoreview on July 20, where he placed No. 23 out of 215 competitors despite never having raced a triathlon before and only training for a week in advance. Now, as the president and founder of the new Tommie Triathlon team, Higley said he hopes to extend his newfound passion to other St. Thomas athletes.
“It was a really great experience, super positive environment, and that’s why I wanted to keep going with it,” Higley said.
The club held its first practice on Nov. 4, which Higley said had a dozen members turn out, with more signed up on TommieLink. So far, the team has been holding practices almost every day — each dedicated to either running, lifting or swimming — with informal bike practices planned separately due to the limited stationary bikes available in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex.
The club has come a long way since its beginnings at the start of the semester, which mainly consisted of Higley floating the idea to acquaintances interested in working out — or, in some cases, anyone he saw wearing running shoes. Still, due to the typically lengthy startup process, Tommie Triathlon will not be an official club sport until 2025, according to an email from Club Sports Director Kevin Manson.
First-year Vice President and Media Manager Madelyn Anderson said she has already been feeling positive, communal energy at practices. Anderson, who described herself as “not much of a runner,” has been leading the beginner-level runs and said that she has already formed connections within that group.
“If you’re just by yourself, it’s so easy to be like, ‘Ugh, I’m done after a mile, I’m tired,’” Anderson said. “But when you’re with a group of people, they’re like, ‘You need to keep going.’ It’s a good environment to run in.”
Senior Gavin Haut said that he thinks there is a strong desire among former cross country and endurance sport athletes to continue to exercise and challenge themselves in college.
Haut trained for and competed in the Maple Grove Triathlon last summer, making him one of the few club members to have already raced a triathlon besides Higley.
“I definitely had to get used to, especially last summer, training by myself multiple times a day,” Haut said. “But it’s been really fun training with people. Having the same goals as people is great.”
While members’ goals may align, their backgrounds often don’t. Many have a blind spot in one area of the three-leg competition — swimming for Haut, biking for Higley and both, for Anderson — that Anderson said made her apprehensive about joining.
Thankfully, she said, first-year club event organizer Sid Rezac took charge at the team’s first swim practice and helped ease newcomers into the process.
“He’s like, ‘Just swim. Go down and back, do whatever you need,’” Anderson said. “ … We’re just getting in the water and making progress slowly.”
Anderson said that she has also been stressing the club’s open-ended nature in promotional material; anyone is welcome to join for the opportunity to work out collaboratively in whichever part of the sport they feel most comfortable in.
Higley hopes that the team’s low fees — $25 for the first half-semester this fall, with a potential raise next semester — will also help set them apart from other club sports on campus.
Still, costs for individual gear and race fees add up, not to mention the pricey challenge of finding bikes for members to practice and race with. Higley said that he has been getting financial advice from the University of Minnesota’s triathlon team, and he hopes to pursue both fundraising and university funding as a means of getting the team on its feet.
Rezac said that while he’s been excited by the club’s strong word-of-mouth, having official bikes and more facility space is key in establishing the team in campus culture.
“Our major goal is just to stabilize where we’re at now,” Rezac said. “ … Just getting more equipment, getting the word out there that we’re official and we’re going to be around; we’re not just here for the semester.”
The club’s plans for next semester aren’t just a matter of longevity; in February, the team will compete at the University of Minnesota. All members need to do is finish, and they will automatically qualify for the team’s ultimate goal: the USA Triathlon Collegiate Club National Championships, held this year on March 28 and 29 in Miami on the Homestead-Miami International Speedway track with cheering fans on all sides.
While the costs of flights, lodging and registration — plus the need to qualify first — are still concerns, Anderson said that she was surprised by the enthusiasm that even relatively inexperienced members exhibited for the event.
“Honestly, I thought a lot more people wouldn’t want to do it,” Anderson said. “But on the run, all these people are like, ‘Yeah that’s the goal! I want to go to nationals, that’s the goal.’ And I’m like ‘Oh, OK! Me too then!’”
To ensure that members don’t lose their fitness progress before then, Higley plans to send them home over winter break with individualized training plans. He has also mapped out training all the way until February in the absence of any official instructor.
“I’m kind of acting as the coach, but I don’t want people to think of me as the coach,” Higley said. “I just want to be a good resource, and the main goal is to just keep everyone healthy and not get anyone injured.”
Being a coach, president and aspiring triathlete all in one less than three months into his collegiate career has kept Higley busy. Still, he said that the number of other members who have leapt in to help run practices and create more interest in the club — much less motivate each other to stick with the daunting exercise — has pushed him to do his best for the team.
“There’s a definite ‘want’ to do this thing; it’s not like anyone’s being forced to be there, so that helps a lot, I think,” Higley said. “And so when I see that, I stay motivated to manage the club side of things.”
Kevin Lynch can be reached at lync1832@stthomas.edu.