Former U of R star Kelly Wiebe reflects on Hall of Fame career

Kelly Wiebe is running into the Canada West Hall of Fame.

The former University of Regina Cougars cross-country runner was named an inductee Thursday.

“It just brought so many memories back and I can’t even come up with the right word for it,” Wiebe said. “It definitely brought a tear to my eye.”

“It’s something that’s pretty close to my heart and all the struggles that I went through and the setbacks and all the experiences I had with my coach and teammates, it all kind of came up to the top.”

The Swift Current-born runner helped the Cougars raise a men’s cross-country banner in 2009 and back-to-back men’s track and field banners in 2010 and 2011.

Wiebe won an individual national title in cross-country in the 2012-13 year and set a record-breaking pace in the 3,000-metre race.

“It was such a long time coming,” Wiebe said. “Anyone that knows me knows I was pretty injury-prone in my first couple years of university.

“I placed third at the national championships two years prior to my gold medal and it was one of those things that was super, super sweet. I remember crossing the line, it was in London, Ont., and I got the course record that hadn’t been broken in a long time. It was the happiest moment of my life.”

While Wiebe ended up having a Hall of Fame career as a runner, he never imagined it would end up this way when he first joined cross-country running in Grade 10 in Swift Current.

“It was mainly just to get in shape for the summer baseball season but I had no intentions to actually keep going with the running but I went out there and really enjoyed it. I went to my first race in Rosetown and ended up winning the race in this farmer’s field and kind of got hooked right off the bat there,” Wiebe said.

However, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Wiebe, who recalled an unusual story from his first provincial meet in Muenster.

“It was in the last probably 100 metres of the race and some guy came flying out of the bushes with a cigarette in his mouth and passed me. I just remember looking at him and getting out-sprinted by this guy in the last 100 metres. It’s so frustrating but it inspired me to try harder, that’s for sure,” Wiebe said.

“I think I placed in the higher 50s of a field of maybe 100 in the junior division. I was pretty successful in other sports like baseball – I was provincial champion – so I was competitive in nature and I wanted to be the best. Placing 50th in a meet like that, I just couldn’t put up with that.”

Wiebe improved every year, which caught the eye of then-University of Regina cross-country assistant coach Ted Jaleta.

“He was the only guy who approached me at the time so I jumped on it for sure,” Wiebe said.
Jaleta ended up stepping down in Wiebe’s first year of university, but that led the way for Graeme McMaster to take over the role.

“He’s the one who coached me to all my successes and I owe a lot to him,” Wiebe said.

All those successes have now landed Wiebe among many of Canada West’s greats. He becomes the sixth U of R student-athlete to get the call to the hall.

He has some advice for student-athletes trying to forge their own path.

“Just be patient,” he said. “Patience is something I’ve had a hard time learning in my life and in my career, but it’s probably the most important thing that allows for consistency to happen. Consistency in sport and any areas of life is what actually allows for progression and ultimate success.”