A whim, a lifestyle, and a future at the ready for Bart

When Jonna Bart was a freshman at the University of South Dakota, distance coach Dan Fitzsimmons saw her going over the hurdles one day and not looking like a klutz. It was impossible for a longtime track coach not to notice.

“She did hurdle drills like a hurdler,” Fitzsimmons said. “She says she’s the only one in her family who didn’t do much hurdling, but obviously you could tell she was very familiar with them.”

Bart, a standout distance runner at Aurora (Neb.) High School, told her coach not to get any ideas. She was too slow to ever consider competing. 

“I said ‘Yes, well we have another event where that skill comes in pretty handy,’” Fitzsimmons replied. 

And this is how steeplechase runners are created. Or at least that was how this one was created. 

“We talked about how I was either going to have to run the 10K or the steeplechase to help the team,” Bart said. “I didn’t think I’d be too fond of the 10K so I thought I’d give the steeplechase a try.”

Bart went on to set a school record in the event her freshman season, qualifying for the NCAA West Preliminaries in the process. She qualified again as a sophomore. A few weeks back, the senior broke her own school record in the event at the Drake Relays with a time of 10:14.58.

Going into this week’s Summit League Championships at USD she has the conference’s best time in the event by more than half a minute. At a school that has had some fine steeplechasers over the years, she’s unquestionably the best the Coyotes have ever had. 

It didn’t start out that way, though. Steeplechase, because it’s not a high school event, is almost always going to seem sort of wild the first time out for college runners. 

Bart was no different. Given that the first race for her was at the Texas Relays, that probably added to the excitement.

“What was that first race like? Honestly? It was terrifying,” Bart said. “Especially the water jump. 

“I hadn’t really practiced it much yet. I was super grateful that Madeline Huglen had run the race several times and she was like ‘Oh, you’ll be fine. Just stay calm.’ But it was still an adventure, to say the least.”

It wasn’t perfect but it was confirmation that what started out as little more than a whim had potential to become a very good decision.

“It was the start of something special,” Fitzsimmons said. “She didn’t break 11 minutes that day but by the end of the season she had the school record. By the end of that season it was boom, boom, boom – her times kept falling.”

Bart is a junior in athletic eligibility but is not returning next year.  She has taken a job with Deloitte as an auditor. She will be taking her certified public accountant exam this summer. She’s engaged to Coyote hurdler Zach Renken – yes, he’s an actual hurdler, not just good at doing the drills – and is ready to move on to the occasional 10K race, albeit with vivid memories of the steeplechase. 

In her case, running is part of a lifestyle, not just a sport where you exhaust eligibility and then move on. It is woven into everything she does. 

One of the first things Fitzsimmons mentioned when talking about Bart was that she’s conspicuously bright – not just as a student, but as a person. The glass is full, not just half-full. Her commitment to running is part of that. 

“It’s such a good habit to get into,” she said. “You get time to reflect and really start the day with a positive attitude. When you exercise you’re energized for the rest of the day. Some people don’t get that but it’s a very good way to get up in the morning. I’ve never needed coffee because I’ve always gotten up and run.”

So running in the morning is a better idea than a cup of coffee. Clearly Bart doesn’t think like everybody else who lives on her street. 

Another example of that would be the time one of her New Year’s resolutions was eating popcorn every day for a year. 

“I realize it’s not the kind of New Year’s resolution most people make,” she said. “But popcorn reminds me of home. It reminds me of watching a show with my parents before I went to bed. It’s always been a comfort food for me.” 

She went the whole year eating popcorn every day but she needed collaboration to pull it off. 

“Fitz was so nice about it,” Bart said. “There was one time where we were getting close to home on a trip but it was getting toward midnight. I said ‘Fitz, we have to stop. I have to get popcorn. I’m so close to the end of the year and it would be so sad for this to end.”

They made another stop and she bought some popcorn.

“I don’t eat popcorn every day anymore,” she said. “But it’s pretty close to that.”