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Track brothers are two of a kind
Ultra-competitive Koch brothers are a driving force for the SCSU men's track team
By Ben Birnell
Published:
Monday, March 31, 2003
Media Credit: Stefanie Beniek
Jason Koch is a third-year student majoring in secondary education. Koch competes in several events on the SCSU track and field team.
Media Credit: Stefanie Beniek
A second-year student in the computer science department, Ryan Koch is a competitor in multiple events with the SCSU track and field team.
With the successes of the men and women's track and field teams thus far, help and great performances have come from all different areas of both teams.
But two brothers from Madison, Wisc., have teamed up to put SCSU on top of the NCC.
The story of Jason and Ryan Koch, a junior and sophomore, respectively, begins at the tender ages of eight and nine-years-old.
"Our mom signed us up for our first meet," Ryan said. "The first meet that we went to was the Badger State Games in Wisconsin."
The younger Koch said that their dad started a youth program in Madison and that the brothers participated in the program up until the time they graduated from high school.
As with any set of siblings, conflicts and competition do arise. The Koch brothers are no exception to that theory.
"They are very competitive toward one another," SCSU track and field head coach Seth Mischke said. "That's good, but they handle it very well. There are certain times when I have to get between them and pull them apart, but they're really good kids."
The brothers agree, stating that there is a little friendly competition between the both of them.
"Everything we do, we try to do better than the other," Jason said with a smirk. "In a way, it gets a little overdone, but at the same time it pushes us that much farther every time. It's all in good taste and it's kind of how we vent out our frustration."
Ryan said he's glad he picked SCSU's track team with his brother because nothing else would have seemed right.
"The way I see it, we've always been each other's best friend," he said. "Growing up and playing sports together, since we've been really little, we've always pushed each other to do our best."
"We always work out together. I'd say about 90 percent of the time that I've worked out, I worked out with Jason. Just being able to come to SCSU and continue that has been a real benefit to me."
Koch said that when his older brother came to St. Cloud a year before him, SCSU was on his list of schools that he wanted to go to and in the end, chose to become a Husky to continue the fun they had together.
On the track, the brothers have been tearing the blacktop apart. Ryan is a multi-event participant and most recently finished in fourth place overall at the 2003 NCC Indoor Championships with a score of 3,469 points. That included a third place finish in the 1000-meter race.
Jason is also a multi-event participant for the Huskies. He finished sixth in the same meet, finishing closely behind with 3,342 points and winning the shot put event.
However, the eldest Koch's (pronounced coke) strongest event is the javelin throw. He won the event last year at the NCC Championships with a throw of 198 feet, three inches.
The title gave the Huskies back-to-back titles in the javelin event. Mike Jacobs won it in 2001.
"Our seasons are going well, we just have some fine tuning and work to do," Ryan said. "But we're doing OK."
As athletes, Mischke has nothing but good things to say about the brothers.
"They're both very dedicated. They work their tails off and expect good things from their teammates," he said. "That's nice to have around. They're both smart academically and that transfers over well into athletics."
"They do a lot for us. They're very talented and can participate in a number of events. When you have that in track and field, it helps out a lot."
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