Looking back 20 years to her experiences as a high school athlete at Wheat Ridge, Jen Michel insists she wasn’t a good runner, just a good athlete. She was a tough one, too, which she proved by playing post on the basketball team at 5-foot-7.
“I played the post because I was the most aggressive,” Michel recalled this week. “I was like the third-tallest on my team, but I was more aggressive. I said I would play whatever position possible to make varsity. I was probably the shortest post in the conference, but I could outplay my height. I knew that wasn’t going to happen in college.”
So she got serious about running. Mentored by the well-known “Running Reeses” — Dan, Julie and Angie Reese, who were Wheat Ridge coaches at the time — Michel parlayed raw talent and heart into a chance to run at Western State Colorado University. There she became a three-time NCAA Division II champion, and in 1999 she was named the D-II cross country runner of the year.
After graduating in 2001 she became a coach at Western, taking over as head cross country coach in 2007 after program patriarch Duane Vandenbusche retired, and in 2011 her men’s squad won an NCAA title by the fourth-lowest score in Division II history. For her achievements as a runner and coach, Michel was inducted into the on Wednesday night at the Denver Athletic Club.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized in anything that involves running, and for Western State it’s nice to get a little recognition as well,” Michel said. “It’s good for our program and our school.”
Vandenbusche, who built Western State into a Division II power and rival to Adams State, coached Michel to NCAA titles in the steeplechase, the 3,000-meter run and the indoor mile.
“She was one of those athletes who was willing to do anything for the team, even though it might mean she would not perform as well as she would have in one individual event,” Vandenbusche said. “If we went to a conference meet, she would run the 3,000 steeplechase, the 1,500, then maybe even the 5,000. A great work ethic, a runner who developed as much as any runner I ever had, and a girl the team members looked up to and tried to emulate because of her work ethic.”
Vandenbusche, 78, made the trip from Gunnison to introduce her at the Hall of Fame event. There was a special poignancy about his attendance because he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in August.
“Coach Vandenbusche is just a very special person,” Michel said. “He’s stubborn, driven and a perfectionist, which has really helped him overcome cancer. In his coaching and his teaching, he didn’t settle for mediocrity. That really pushed me.
“But I also learned to stand up for myself. I was opinionated. I could go into his office and talk to him and hold my own. I think he helped foster that and bring that out of me so down the road I could coach. I could handle myself in different situations and stick to my guns.”
Vandenbusche completed chemotherapy treatments in December. He is in remission, grateful for an outpouring of support from the Western State community while he went through chemo.
“That is an understatement,” Vandenbusche said. “So many people, I couldn’t use them all — bringing food, going shopping for me, driving me around. It was tremendous, and I really appreciated every bit of it.”
Vandenbusche coached Western from 1971-2007, producing eight Division II men’s cross country title teams, four women’s team titles and four Olympians, including Michael Aish and Elva Dryer. That left Michel with a legacy to preserve.
“It was really important to make sure I continued that,” Michel said. “I had to find my own way doing it, but making sure I held Western State to a high standard. There was a lot of pressure, mostly from myself but from alumni and him. It’s been 10 years and I’ve had to keep building, still learning how to win and get better.”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer
Colorado Running Hall of Fame
The Colorado Running Hall of Fame was created in 2007 with an inaugural class that included Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter. The 10th class of inductees was presented Wednesday night. In addition to Jen Michel, they included:
Adam Chase, ultrarunner, president of American Trail Running Association
Billy Nelson, Olympian in steeplechase, CU runner and coach
Don Janicki, two-time world championships competitor, elite athlete coordinator for the Bolder Boulder
Susan Weekes, former owner of Runner’s Roost, former chief executive of Running USA
