It’s pretty tough for track and field student-athletes at Central Missouri to shrug off Kip Janvrin when he offers the platitude: You’ll get back everything you put into your sport.
It’s not just because he won the Division III decathlon championship three straight times at Simpson in the mid-1980s. It’s not just because he claimed victory in that two-day, 10-discipline test a staggering 15 times in his home state of Iowa at the Drake Relays – with the last win coming just three years ago, at age 39.
It’s not even because Janvrin competed on the ultimate stage at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 – finishing 21st overall in the decathlon but again flourishing in what he calls his “ace-in-the-hole” discipline by winning the 1,500-meter run – or because he posted a record decathlon score in the 2005 world masters’ championships at age 40.
It’s because he’s always backed up his words with actions, and not just the achievements now written into history books. Throughout his tenure at Central Missouri, where he serves as co-head coach with fellow Simpson alumnus Kirk Pederson, Janvrin has kept putting himself into his sport physically, often training alongside team members.
“When they see me in there running and keeping up, they’re like, wow – coach can still do some things,” he says. “And I really preach to them, you’re going to get back from track and field what you put into it. If you do all the little things, and you’re committed and work hard day in and day out, and take care of your body and treat it well, it’ll respond – and you’ll perform when it matters.”
He recently was undecided whether he’d try this spring to win a third straight master’s 800-meter run at Drake, partly because he’s happily spending more time these days cheering on his athletically active 9- and 11-year-old sons and less time circling the track. But even as he mulled over the question, the competitive fire seemed stoked once again.
“Knowing my competitive nature, I will probably compete – but no guarantee.”
You can be certain Janvrin is putting a lot of thought into it, and he very well might prove once again that the sport really does give back everything you put into it.