Katie Schulzetenberg-
Every day, rain, sleet or shine, head cross country and track and field coach Matt Schauf goes for nice run. He has been running at least two miles every day for the past 16 years, regardless of the circumstances. On Sunday, January 22, he encountered a little roadblock in his daily routine.
He was on his morning jog and was jumping over cracks in the sidewalk as usual, for good luck. But there was one crack in the sidewalk that was too far to jump.
“I knew that it was a risky jump, but I wasn’t going down without a fight,” Schauf recalls solemnly. In order to jump over the crack successfully, coach Schauf was going to need a running start. Unfortunately, it was this death-defying jump that shattered his left femur.
Schauf’s cross country and track athletes heard about his fall the next day at practice and decided that something had to be done to keep the coach’s 16-year streak alive. “We all agreed that this accident was not going to get in the way of such an impressive achievement,” one team member said.
That evening before practice, the entire team worked together to carry coach Schauf for his two mile minimum. Two members of the team would support the coach on either side of him, and the rest of the team would run behind and take turns holding him up.
Together, they managed to help him complete his run and maintain his outstanding record. “I have such an unbelievable team and I am so grateful,” Coach Schauf said. The team vows to continue to carry him on his runs until his femur heals, and in return, the coach has agreed to ease up on workouts.