UCM track and field coach pursues own career

”When I set out four years ago for my path to the Olympic trials, I didn’t know if I’d ever get there,” Brondyke said.

He said the experience was once in a lifetime.

”I couldn’t have been more humbled to have taken part of it,” Brondyke said. He said coming to the University of Central Missouri to be a graduate assistant played a big role in making him the athlete he is today. ”It’s tough, there are struggles everyday,” Brondyke said.

He said Kip Janvrin, UCM co-head track and field coach, has been helping train him along the way. Janvrin got to join Brondyke during his trip to Eugene.

”What I enjoyed the most was not only Kurtis but the other athletes that were competing, I got to be close to it and get a good feel of it,” Janvrin said.

”You never know if you get to go to one of these or more than one, so just being able to share that experience with him was so amazing,” Brondyke said of having Janvrin at the trials with him. Janvrin competed in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, when he was 35 years old.

”The Olympic experience made those 15 years of training worth it,” he said. Janvrin said he enjoys watching Brondyke grow because he sees similarities between the two of them.

”Our paths are eerily similar and hopefully continue to run parallel lines,” he said. Brondyke said he was hoping to finish in the top seven but is pretty pleased with how the trials went.

”To have four personal records and compete at that stage, yeah for the most part I was pretty happy,” Brondyke said. He said this is one experience he will never forget and will continue to grow more as an athlete because of it. ”The nice part is, you never get bored,” Brondyke said. “There is something new and something different you are working on everyday.”