Ihmels was originally from Williston, North Dakota, where he did serious damage to the state record books. When he left high school, he was the fastest person in state history in the 800m (1:53.54), 1600m (4:09.54), and 3200m (9:03.65). Since then, the 1600 and 3200 have only been eclipsed by one person (Jake Leingang), while the 800 has been surpassed by two (Brandon Barnes and Brain McCulley). He also still holds the state meet record in the 3200m.
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| The high school champion. Courtesy: footlockercc.com |
Ihmels won the state cross country meet individually three years in a row, 1989-1991. In 1990 as a junior, he placed 13th at Kinney Nationals (now called Footlocker, the national high school cross country championship) with a time of 15:37, only 30 seconds behind the winner. As a senior, he came back and won the 1991 National Championship with a time of 15:03, 15 seconds ahead of 2nd-place and- at the time- the second largest margin of victory in the race's history. He capped off his senior year by sweeping the individual events at the State Track Meet, winning the 800m by two seconds, 1600m by 17 seconds (!!), and 3200m by 42 seconds (!!). This gave him 5 total individual state track titles in high school.
After that, he went to Iowa State and had a successful college career. He was a 6-time All-American (2 XC, 3 Indoor Track, and 1 Outdoor Track), as well as a member of the 1994 D1 National Championship Cross Country Team, where he placed 13th. (He was 23rd the year before with a 3rd place team finish). As for track and field, in 1996 he placed 4th at the D1 Indoor National Meet in the mile, running 4:04.03, and then 5th in 1997 with a time of 4:02.42. In the preliminaries of the '97 National Meet, he ran 3:59.7 to become the first and still only sub-4 miler from North Dakota. He also briefly ran profressionally with Nike after college.
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| Head Coach Ihmels Courtesy: broncosports.com |
It's not doubt that he's one of the fastest North Dakotans out there, and below I have a short interview with him. I tried to put in some more in-depth questions and some lighter ones.
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ND Runner: I read in an interview with you from high school where you said that in the summer leading up to your Kinney Nationals (now Footlocker) victory, you would wake up at 6, take the family pickup to a gravel road, and run 10 miles before going off to coach baseball during the day. What was your motivation to get up and do that every morning? Did you ever have anybody to run with or join you?
Corey Ihmels: I was pretty self-motivated to see how good I could
get. I had great coaching and mentors
along the way but really never questioned the work that had to be done. I did all of my training alone and probably
why to this day that I really do enjoy solo distance runs. I think also the success that I had
nationally as a junior was great motivation to try and win the national meet as
a senior.
NDR: Were there any runners in North Dakota that you
looked up to or drew inspiration from while growing up?
CI: I had great inspiration from the high school cross country
team in Williston. I was a 7th
and 8th grader on the bus with the HS kids so to be around that and
see that at a young age was very important.
Rob Heen (editor's note: Rob Heen was another great runner from Williston. A seven-time state champion, he ran 1:54.89 in the 800m and 4:12.76 for 1600m in high school. In 1987, he won the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m at the state meet) came before me so I really looked up to him and what he was
able to accomplish. That showed me what
was capable even coming from a small town in North Dakota.
NDR: What led you to choose to go to Iowa State after
high school?
CI: They had been very successful at the national level in XC,
having won the NCAA title in 89 and had been 2nd every year
since. Coach Bill Bergan was someone I
really related to and he promised me we would win an NCAA title if I came. I was sold. (editor's note: they did win a national title while Ihmels was there)
NDR: You’ve been successful now as a runner and as a
coach. Do you prefer one to the other, or do they have their own space?
CI: They are both different for sure, but would prefer to be an
athlete. As an athlete you can control
the outcome on race day and practice. As
a coach you have to rely on someone else to get the job done. Both are very rewarding but in different
ways.
NDR: As of today, you still stand as the only North
Dakotan to go sub-4 in the mile. At what point in your career did sub-4 become
a goal (if at all)?
CI: I think it is something that is always a goal or in the back
of your mind as you progress as a runner.
I did it in a prelim at NCAA so know I could have gone faster but still
a moment you will always remember.
NDR: Do you see yourself as someone who can inspire
future North Dakota runners?
CI: I hope so, although it’s been so long since I was a factor
in North Dakota. I hope if anything it
shows you can run at a high level coming from North Dakota. I am very proud of where I grew up and really
am fortunate to have grown up in Williston and being coached by Clint
Chamberlin. Also, the coaching in the
state at the time I was running was truly special. It seemed as if every program had great
coaches that really cared about the progress of their athletes.*
NDR: In regards to running, what is your biggest
regret?
CI: Probably my biggest regret is being too hard on myself day
to day. I think I had a tendency to
train too hard and always want to do it a little harder and more each day. That isn’t sustainable over a long period of
time. It requires patience and if I had
to do it over again that would be something I would try and do.
NDR: I understand that you were injured a few times
in college. What helped you through the times of being injured? Did you ever want
to give up on distance running?
CI: I think you always have the motivation to get back to the
level of success that you had before. I
truly love to run and enjoy the process of it and what you have to do to be
successful. Everyone goes through bad
patches where you want to pack it in but running has a way of sucking you back
in. I don’t think I will ever give up on
running it has given way too much to me.
NDR: What is a piece of advice you would give to a
young runner who wants to be successful?
CI: It takes patience and then more patience. To be great in this sport it takes years and
being consistent and patient is of utmost importance.
NDR: If you could recommend a great place to run in
North Dakota to a runner who’s never been to the state, where would you say to
go?
CI: The Maah Daah Hey Trail.
I didn’t find this until recently but it is fantastic. (editor's note: the Maah Daah Hey Trail is considered one of North Dakota's most well-kept secrets, and it's.....well actually you should find out for yourself :) )
These next two questions are currently being talked about
nationally:
NDR: What is your opinion on the surge of the beer
mile?
CI: I guess it has its place and it does bring some attention to
our sport.
NDR: Do you agree with the NCAA moving towards the
mile in outdoor championship races?
I would prefer the 1500.
I think it is shortsighted on our part to move in this direction. The rest of the world isn’t going to move to
the mile. The Olympics will always be
the 1500.
I'd like to thank Mr. Ihmels for taking time to answer these questions for a lowly fringe blogger like myself. I enjoyed getting to know a little more about him, and hopefully you did as well.
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*I actually made a post earlier examining the difference in winning times at state track over many years, and it appears that in the last thirty years, the fastest haven't gotten all that faster. That means that the athletes and coaches of 20-30 years ago, with different tracks and equipment than we have now were producing the same kind of times. It definitely seems like the late 80s and early 90s were a booming time for distance running in North Dakota. The Winning Times
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