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Matt Tegenkamp on his way to victory at the 2002 Big Ten Cross Country Championships. (Photo by Chris Fox)

Interview with Matt Tegenkamp

Posted on June 25, 2006, Interview conducted June 24, 2006

By Parker Morse and Alison Wade

Matt Tegenkamp, a 10-time All-American and former U.S. junior cross country champion while at the University of Wisconsin, took second in the 2006 USA Championship 5,000m. On a cool Friday evening, Tegenkamp pushed the pace from the 4k mark, and eventually trailed only Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat to the line. Tegenkamp's time was a PR 13:15.00, behind Lagat's 13:14.32. Tegenkamp is still based in Madison, Wisconsin and trains with his collegiate coach, Jerry Schumacher. EliteRunning.com spoke with Tegenkamp the day after his runner-up finish.

Has your post-college experience so far been a lot like your collegiate career?
Yes. Jerry [Schumacher] and I talked about trying to find somewhere else that I could go and train with more of a post-collegiate group, but it's been so nice not having to change. I still know everything in Madison, all the trails, so it's been a pretty easy adjustment so far.

I had a lot of problems in college, everybody knows, with all the injuries. I had to basically start over, in my junior and senior year. I was just getting going again, my senior year. Jerry still had a lot of work to be done with me, and I wanted to stick with a coach I'd been with and who knew me.

What does your summer schedule look like?
Currently the only thing that I have set in stone is the [DN Galan] Stockholm 5,000m [on July 23], but this race opened up a lot of opportunities. I wanted to get over there at the start of July, but my brother's getting married on July 8th. I won't be over until July 10th. We wanted to get one or two 1,500s before the Stockholm race, and kind of get ready, but that Stockholm race is really what we're going to focus on for the first half. Then I'm coming back over to run the race in Eugene.

Which race is that?
August 8th, in Eugene. They're just starting up, it's the first time. Vin Lananna's setting it up, it's going to be something like Pre. We'll worry about the second half [of the European season] later.

Was last night's race like what you expected, or beyond what you expected?
Honestly, the race was really weird while we were running it. When I heard 8:01 at 3k, I couldn't believe it. I thought we were going to be 8:10, 8:15. Somebody wrote down every split for us last night, and it went from 61 to 67. It was up and down the whole time. As the race went on, it felt like it got easier, it felt more comfortable. I've realized, especially from [the] Pre [Classic], that I can't wait. I can't change gears, sit and kick from 400m out. I can do it from 1,000 out, when my legs aren't completely taxed or anything like that. So I've been saying all week, whatever pack I was in, I wanted to take the lead and start hammering from 1,000m out. I couldn't believe that it actually worked out like it did, but like I said, 8:01 felt really comfortable. I was just biding my time and waiting. With 1,000 to go, I just put the hammer down to go as hard as I could. It was exciting.

There seems to be some bitterness in certain circles about Bernard Lagat becoming a U.S. citizen and 'taking away our national titles.' How do you feel about that?
I'm not bitter, or anything like that. I've had friends tell me things like, 'You're the real national champion,' but [having Lagat in the race] only elevates the competition. In the 5k, three years ago we couldn't get anybody under 13:20. Now we've got a handful of guys running 13:15. It's just going to get better and better. Our depth will get better because everyone will think they have to run faster to get in one of these races. I think it's better for our sport.

Did watching Ryan Hall and Ian Dobson last year inspire you?
Last year at NCAAs, I had a really crappy race. I was training for deep into the summer, and I really wasn't prime for NCAAs. It was a terrible race, and it kind of broke my confidence going into USAs. I really should've gone with that front pack; I was ready to run that kind of time last year. But it didn't happen; I was in the second group. As the summer went on, things got better and better. Going over and competing with [Dobson and Hall], I knew that I could come back here and compete with anybody that I was going to be racing against. The younger guys are going to be a lot of fun. There's going to be a huge group of young guys coming through, and nobody wants to lose to one another.

Were your workouts leading up to this indicating you'd be ready for this?
When we were working up to this season, the Prefontaine meet director asked Jerry what he thought I could run [for two miles] and Jerry said, 8:16. And I ended up running 8:16. So we had a pretty good idea of what I was able to run.

Have you been doing your workouts with Chris Solinsky?
Yeah, we do a lot together.

Did his NCAA win get you pumped up?
Yeah, it's like we key off each other. If somebody goes out and runs this, than the other people thinks they can run pretty much the same thing. We don't have the same training philosophy, we're two different athletes in that respect, but in terms of racing, we pretty much, whatever one person runs the other is right there. He got unlucky this weekend and got stuck behind someone he thought was going to go with the race, and kind of fell asleep and missed the break. You saw what he was able to do at NCAAs; he's going to be right there with everyone else.

Do you think going through a long NCAA season might have been a disadvantage for him?
I don't really think so. He just got unlucky; I wouldn't even say it was inexperience. He just thought the race was going to go, and fell asleep. He was even talking about going to Stockholm as well. He's trying to race right now. He was furious after the race last night; he was angry. It wasn't the way he wanted to finish his season.

No matter what you do, athletes like Dathan [Ritzenhein] and Alan [Webb] always seem to get more attention. Do you get motivated by flying under the radar?
Yeah. I've always had it in my head that I'm on the level with those guys. Ritz has had the same injury problems; he was just more known in high school. He's always going to have the name recognition. When I was injured, I think it put me on the back burner a bit. But now I'm healthy, and I know I've always been on the level with those guys, and I'll continue to be able to run with those guys.