Calvin Wetzel
Assistant Sports Editor
What do Dunkin’ Donuts and Root Beer have to do with running?
Members of the Wheaton cross country team know the answer, though they are feeling the effects from this year’s J. Goertz Memorial Week of Pain, a Wheaton cross country annual tradition that dates back to the 1990s. It is a week for runners to forget about the rigorous training and healthy diet decisions that go into their success in season and garner respect among their peers by partaking in painful challenges that push their bodies to the edge.
The J. Goertz Memorial Week of Pain gets its name from two Wheaton cross country alumni, brothers Jacob (’12) and Jeff (’08) Goertz. According to junior cross country runner Ethan Harris, these brothers enjoyed thinking up “stomach-rocking” competitions to participate in after the season’s conclusion.
“Jake loved pain so much, he has been lovingly referred to as Jake ‘The Pain’ Goertz in Wheaton myth and legend,” Harris said.
The events take place each year during the second week after Thanksgiving break, once the team wraps up its season at nationals.
The main events that comprise the Week of Pain are the Retro 400, the Root Beer Mile and the Queen Jandy Dunkin’ Donuts Challenge. Also included during the week are a men’s basketball game, a women’s basketball game, a men’s touch football tournament and a women’s powderpuff football tournament.
Each of the main races is divided into a women’s competition and a men’s competition, while the basketball and football games pit the classes against each other. The members of the team gear up for the competitions by dressing up in costumes, but the games are no joke. Many runners train for the events in the days preceding, hoping to earn bragging rights for the following year.
The first event of the week, the Retro 400, is a simple 400-meter dash with one exception: The runners must run the entire lap on the track backwards. Senior Nate “The Backtrack” Veldt earned his fourth consecutive men’s Retro 400 championship on Monday with a time of 1:14.24, beating his record time of 1:20.87 set in 2011.
Veldt came within five seconds of the world record for the Retro 400, which is 1:09.56, achieved by Thomas Dold of Germany in 2005. According to www.recordholders.org, Dold also has the second best time ever of 1:14.04. Veldt’s time would rank third in the world based on this website’s unofficial rankings.
“I’d be curious to someday see what I could do if I actually trained for backwards competitions. Most people would have to admit they’d get a kick out of telling people they held a world record in something ridiculous,” Veldt said.
He conceded, however, that this day is not in the near future.
“For now, all I’m going to be training for is forwards running. My last track season is coming up in the spring, and I want to be ready for it.”
Sophomore Brett Haffner finished in second place with a time of 1:25.82, and freshman Garrett Boggs came in third at 1:30.85.
Winning the women’s Retro 400 was senior Annie Shults, who edged out freshman Jordan Tuin by less than two seconds. Shults set a new Wheaton College women’s record with her time of 1:39.28, while Tuin finished the race in 1:41.20. Both times were faster than the previous record of 1:44.26 set by Shults in 2011. Junior Emma Gilbertson came in third with a time of 2:00.91.
On Tuesday, Dec. 4, day two of the Week of Pain, the men played football, resulting in the seniors defeating the freshmen and the sophomores beating the juniors. The seniors then won the championship over the sophomores.
The Root Beer Mile put the runners’ stomachs to the ultimate test on Wednesday, Dec. 5. The contestants had to drink a can of root beer, run a lap and repeat four times. Four cans of root beer, four laps, one mile. Crossing the finish line first with a time of 6:59 was senior Todd Vankerkhoff, just edging out senior Alec Shunk who finished in 7:00 flat. Harris rounded out the top three, completing the race in 7:46.
The women’s champion was Tuin, who broke the previous Week of Pain record by over a minute with her time of 8:22. Seniors Hillary Topazian and Shults placed second and third, respectively, with unrecorded times.
The men’s basketball game and women’s powderpuff football games were held on Thursday night, Dec. 6. The official results were unavailable at press time.
The final event, the Queen Jandy Dunkin’ Donuts Challenge, will take place tonight, Dec. 7. The event is named in honor of alumna Jennifer Anderson ’12, who was affectionately known as “Queen Jandy.” Anderson’s name was given to the event after she set what was then a school record time of 6:09.53 in 2010. The “DDC,” as it is often called, is the original event of the Week of Pain. While the other two individual events were added in 2005, this event began in the 1990s. There is no clear favorite in this year’s contest, but the competition promises to once again be fierce.
“The (Dunkin’ Donuts Challenge) is anyone’s game. It requires a unique blend of courage, determination and lunacy. Many in the field possess these,” junior Sean Larsen said.
This event does not involve any running, forwards or backwards, but it does involve root beer once again. In this event each participant must eat 12 different donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts —“munchkins” do not count towards the total — and drink one bottle of IBC root beer. Thirty minutes are allotted to complete the challenge. Last year’s champion, Jake Goertz, finished the Dunkin’ Dozen in an astonishing 6:00:30, or less than 30 seconds per donut, factoring in the bottle of root beer.
Spectators are welcome to attend tonight’s event, which will be held at 804 Washington St. north of Edman Chapel at 7 p.m.
Photo Courtesy: Ethan Harris
Printed in the December 7, 2012, issue of The Wheaton Record. Send comments to the.record@my.wheaton.edu.