For Jonathan Podbielski, this season is his final chance to cement his legacy as one of the University of Regina’s greatest distance runners before he intends to transfer to the NCAA.
“I feel a ton of pressure, knowing that I’ve put my legacy down and I’m running with my friends who know this is most likely my last year,” said Podbielski.
Podbielski confirmed that he had offers from NCAA Division one schools and had been talking to schools about graduate transfer opportunities. Because of his intention to transfer after this school year, Podbielski will not be competing for Regina’s cross-country team this season.
“There’s some complicated rules going on right now, but my ultimate goal is to run in the NCAA, and so I’m going to save some eligibility there.”
Podbielski is a three-time U20 national champion, Canada Games champion, five-time Canada West champion on the track and a four-time U Sports medalist. However, there is one key medal missing from his collection. He has never won U Sports gold.
Podbielski admitted that it bothers him that he hasn’t won that elusive gold medal. “I think about it a lot … it’s been something that I’ve been chasing for awhile [and] just fallen short of it in recent years.”
Podbielski is coming off an outdoor season where he broke the prestigious 3:40 barrier in the 1500m and finished the season ranked seventh in the country in the event. He also had top 8 finishes at the World University Games and the Canadian Track and Field Championships, as well as winning Canada Games in the 5000m and finishing second in the 1500m.
“I felt like I had a little bit of a breakthrough season this summer … and so yeah I think that big jump that I was able to have really gives me some momentum into the indoor season.”
Podbielski revealed that he had a coaching change in the outdoor season, with longtime Cougars distance coach Stephen Davis leaving and being replaced by the U of R cross country coach Russell Neff.
“It was definitely a little bit stressful going through the coaching change, not knowing how the difference in training programs would affect me. But it ended up having a very positive impact on my performance and attitude.”
Neff coached Podbielski in high school and with the Cougars cross country team and had high praise for the star distance runner’s work ethic.
“He always wants to do the most he can. I spend much more time telling him to do less than pushing him to do more,” said Neff. “I consider that a good problem to have because I don’t need to motivate him to put in the work.”
Podbielski was asked if this season would be a failure if he didn’t win U Sports gold.
“If my goal is to win and I don’t, then in any case I have failed at reaching that goal,” said Podbielski. “But that doesn’t mean the pursuit of the goal was a complete failure … to me success/failure lies more in the effort I give rather than the result.”
