Wife provides inspiration to keep athlete from running on empty
Associated Press
Track and Field News Wire

ABERDEEN, S.D. -- Jeremy Van Veen is one of the hardest-working college student-athletes you'll ever find.

The Northern State student's 17-hour days include:

-- Running cross country and track and field for the Wolves.

-- Being a father to three children and husband to wife Kelly.

-- Working 20 to 30 hours a week at Casey's General Store in Aberdeen.

"I really have to credit my wife," Van Veen said. "Without her, running track at this point in my life wouldn't be possible. She works full-time at Bethesda Nursing Home, and when she's not working, she's taking care of the kids while I'm working or at practice. She's a big inspiration to me."

Van Veen joined the Wolves for the 2005 cross country season. The Milbank native transferred from South Dakota State, where he ran competitively for the Jacks in 2003-04 following a five-year layoff from live competition.

"I got married after high school, and my wife and I had a baby," Van Veen said. "At that point, I kind of needed a break from running. I didn't do any running for about two years. I started running again because I basically needed to shed pounds. I started out slow, and eventually got back into competitive shape. I arrived at SDSU in the spring of 2002 and just pretty much worked out on my own. Then in the fall of 2003, I ran in cross country and competed in the (NCAA Division II) national meet with the team. The following spring I was a provisional national qualifier in the 10k (10,000-meter run) in outdoors."

The Van Veens now have three children: Allison, 6; Stephanie, 3; and David, 3 months. Van Veen and his family enjoyed living in Brookings, but decided that SDSU wasn't the right fit for their future plans.

"My major there (SDSU) conflicted with what I wanted to do," said Van Veen. "I want to coach and teach, and I couldn't major in that there. My wife and I are both originally from Milbank, and we both wanted to stay fairly close to home. Coach (Jim) Fuller originally recruited me when I was at Milbank, and he made a pretty good impression on me at that time. Plus Northern is a good fit for me academically because it offers my major. The university and the community of Aberdeen have turned out to be a perfect fit for us."

Van Veen's transferring to NSU also has been a blessing for the Wolves. In his first indoor meet of the season on Jan. 13, Van Veen won the mile in 4:17.84 to break a 35-year-old NSU record. It was one of the school's oldest records.

Van Veen also was one of the top runners for the men's cross country team this past fall. He placed third individually at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships, leading the Wolves to a runner-up finish. He also came in 36th at the North Central Regional, which is NSU's second-highest individual finish ever.

Van Veen, however, was not satisfied with his cross country season.

"This fall I got it handed to me," Van Veen said. "I don't like running cross country as much as I do track. I just have more of a track mentality. When you're running track, you have lap counters for most of your races. It's a mental thing with me. I just seem to get more motivated when I'm in a track setting."

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Information from: Aberdeen American News, http://www.aberdeennews.com