Bjorklund Led Calvary Under 6-Mile MR In 1971

For someone who never raced longer than two miles in high school, Garry Bjorklund took an immediate liking to even longer distances when he arrived at Minnesota. 

In his first year, Bjorklund was part of the first freshman 1-2 finish in any distance race in NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships history in the 1970 three-mile. Part of that historical finish of youngsters can be explained by the NCAA first allowing freshmen to compete on varsity squads, but nothing can explain how a frosh 1-2 has never happened again in meet history – in any men’s or women’s race at 1500 meters or longer. 

Bjorklund and that other freshman – Oregon’s Steve Prefontaine – enjoyed fast racing. In that 1970 NCAA three-mile, Pre won over Bjorklund as the first five broke the meet record. Some 10 days later, they ran again in the AAU national championships, Pre just ahead as they finished 5-6. 

The very next day Bjorklund – then still only 18 – jumped in the first six-mile track race of his life at the AAU meet and finished third in 27:30.8 – merely the fastest ever clocked by a collegian. 

The performance amazed even his coach, USTFCCCA Hall of Famer Roy Griak, who told Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Tribune, “There doesn’t seem to be any limit on how good Bjorklund can be.” 

The effort put him on the U.S. team, which traveled Europe for three international dual meets. In the next four weeks he ran three more races – two at 10,000 meters in identical 28:50.4 efforts some 10 seconds off the all-time collegiate best. 

Many looked for another duel with Pre, but it would have to wait. Bjorklund withdrew from the 1970 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships (won by Pre) after an emergency appendectomy – three days after winning the Big Ten title with a “pain in his side.” 

While Pre concentrated on the three-mile in during the 1971 track season, the six-mile became Bjorklund’s domain. In April, Bjorklund set a collegiate record of 27:24.6 at the Drake Relays, then led a fast race at the NCAA, running 27:43.1 as the first eight broke the existing meet record. Bjorklund followed with the second-fastest time by a collegian at the AAU meet in 27:28.2. 

The hoped-for matchup with Pre never came on the track, but at the 1971 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Pre again prevailed, though his seven-second victory there was then the closest of his career in harrier races. Bjorklund almost didn’t start, hampered that fall by back pain. 

That race would end up being Bjorklund’s last national finish near the top as a collegian. A foot injury caused him to miss the 1972 NCAA meet, as well as the Olympic Trials. He missed the 1973 season recovering from corrective surgery. A knee injury hampered him further, but he came back for the 1974 NCAA 6-mile, before dropping out while in third place at the 4½-mile point due to heat exhaustion. 

At the 1976 Olympics, he was the only American finalist in the 10,000 meters, before he began a successful career in road racing. In 1977, he won the inaugural Grandma’s Marathon in his hometown of Duluth, where a half-marathon was added in 1991 and named after him.