A Golden Summer: Mitch Potter and Adam Steele Discover Gold

Remember those first few days of third grade? The first assignment the teacher would hand out was to write an essay on what we did over the summer. We would all enthusiastically recount stories of a family vacation or going away to camp, always trying our hardest to make our summer sound that much more exciting than any of our classmates had.

Adam Steele and Mitch Potter would top the class this year. The pair of Minnesota sprinters saw their years of dedication, hard work and training pay off big time in a summer where they had the chance to live a dream and do it together.

During an interview prior to the Big Ten Championships in May, Potter commented that his focus was on the team winning the title. If that were accomplished, Potter went on, everything else would be icing on the cake.

Turns out, both Potter and Steele got their cake with plenty of icing. The summer of 2003 was a sweet crescendo of events from the NCAA Championships to the U.S. Track Championships to the Pan American Games to the grand finale, the World Track Championships.

Steele picked the premier collegiate event to enter the spotlight. The Eden Prairie, Minn., native went from being a virtual unknown in the track world to winning the 400-meter NCAA title in a world-best time of 44.57 seconds.

The summer of track dreams coming true began at the NCAA meet and an elated Steele was now a believer. Steele had this to say after becoming the ninth Gopher, and first sprinter, to win a track national title. "Not even in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen," said Steele. "Mitch and I came in with the goal to go 1-2 in the 400 but I just felt I had to do my part. My goal was always just to make it to the next round. In the final we all crossed the line together, when I saw my name come up first on the scoreboard as the winner I had no idea what to do. This is such a surprise. It's great."

Steele, Potter and South Carolina's Otis Harris crossed the finish line with only thousandths of a second separating them. A photo finish proved Steele got there first just 16 thousandths ahead of Harris. Potter was awarded third place with a time 44.58.

There was little time to celebrate such a thrilling end to their collegiate season. Only a week separated the NCAA Championships from the U.S. Championships. One week, Steele and Potter were competing against the best collegians in the nation. The next week it was time to turn the competition up a notch. The U.S. Championships were a proving ground against the very best in the world.

Doing well at the U.S. Championships would open doors that could ultimately lead to the chance to compete in the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004.

With only days of rest after the NCAAs, Potter and Steele advanced through the preliminary rounds and, with a national television audience watching, placed fifth and sixth respectively as the only amateurs running in the 400-meter final. While their showing didn't land them one of the three spots on the USA team to run the race at the World Championships, their performances did earn them spots on the U.S. team to compete at the Pan American Games held in the Dominican Republic.

This time it was Potter's turn to garner the gold, winning the Pan American gold medal with a time of 45.11. Steele placed fourth in 45.72.

With top-notch performances in so many meets, Potter and Steele were extended the invitation of their young lives. The USA was calling with an invitation to join the team's 4x400-meter relay pool. That invitation included a trip to Paris to train with the best 400-meter runners in the world and an opportunity to compete for the chance to run the relay in the World Championships.

There were no promises. The chance to train with the U.S. team in Paris didn't include a guarantee that either Potter or Steele would get to run a heat of the relay at the World Championships.

"We were there for a reason," said Potter, a St. Michael, Minn., native. "There Adam and I were; hanging out with guys that were our idols. Everyone there knew they were good. Adam and I were trying to make a name for ourselves."

And they did just that. Rewarded for their hard work with the opportunity to run in the preliminary round of the relay, Potter and Steele posted splits of 44.3 and 44.7, respectively, the two fastest of the relay. The U.S. easily won the preliminary and advanced to the final.

A tough lesson was learned when neither Potter nor Steele were selected to run in the finals.

"Everyone else had their coaches or agents pleading their case for running in the final," explained Steele. "We were the talk of the team after the prelim race. We had everyone congratulating us when we got back to the Athlete's Village and asking us how excited we were to be running in the final. We had to tell them we weren't running in the final."

Potter and Steele watched their teammates cruise to the gold medal. They were awarded gold medals but didn't receive them on the awards stand. Potter's high school coach was one of the first people Potter showed his gold medal to. The first to wear it was his infant nephew. In fact the first time either Potter or Steele had their golds hanging around their necks was to take the photo that accompanies this story.

"We proved ourselves, but we deserved to run in that final," said Potter. "We have put ourselves in a position to compete in the Olympics next year."

Now a more confident competitor, Steele sums up his experiences this summer in this way. "It has been a dream come true. I knew I could compete at this level, it was just a matter of when. I'm so thankful I had this opportunity. This has been the best summer. I love to run. This is what I want to do as a career. I want to run and see the world."

Potter shares this dream. A year ago he thought about giving up track for the chance to play football and ultimately end up with an NFL tryout but his Olympic dream won out.

"I was running pass routes last summer (2002) during two-a-days and all I was thinking about was running in the Olympics," said Potter.

The next day he left the team and returned to the pursuit of his Olympic dream.

A year ago, the summer of 2002 saw both Steele and Potter living the life a more typical college student, working to earn money for the school year. Steele was an usher at Twins games, worked for Harley Davidson, directed traffic at the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D., and was a carnie at the Minnesota and Iowa State Fairs. Potter was a maintenance worker at General Mills doing everything from welding to painting before having his summer cut short to try out for the Golden Gopher football team.

What a difference a year can make. The only way to top this summer would be a trip to Athens in 2004. Remember those first few days of third grade? The first assignment the teacher would hand out was to write an essay on what we did over the summer. We would all enthusiastically recount stories of a family vacation or going away to camp, always trying our hardest to make our summer sound that much more exciting than any of our classmates had.