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JAYHAWK FANS
3. PAGE 2 OF 7
When asked to list the most successful Jayhawks
in history, names such as Wilt Chamberlain,
Danny Manning, Gale Sayers, Lynette Woodward
and several others may appear.
What the average Jayhawk fan
may not know is that one of the most-decorated
athletes in Kansas history currently dons
the Crimson and Blue as he shatters records
and sets world standards in his sport.
Senior hurdler Michael Stigler has garnered
nearly every honor a collegiate track athlete can
attain, however, he has yet to achieve his most
sought-after goal, winning an NCAA title. With
his senior collegiate year in its final stages, he is
looking to cap off his prestigious Kansas career
with a trip to the top step of the podium at the
national championships.
Tapping Future Potential
After watching one of his NCAA-leading
performances one may conclude that Stigler
has been training his whole life in the 400-meter
hurdles; however, track wasn’t always first for
Stigler. Hailing from Canyon, Texas, Stigler’s
primary interest was football. It wasn’t until he
realized his potential did track & field became
his priority.
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4.
5. PAGE 3 OF 7
“I am a perfectionist so I wanted to go out and
make [track] better,” said Stigler. “I feel like that
drove me, because I was better at track than I
was at football. I said, ‘Let’s give this a shot and
try to perfect it.’”
This passion and work ethic is what stood out to
Kansas track & field’s sprints and hurdles coach,
Elisha Brewer, during the recruiting process,
even before Stigler posted his best high school
times.
“His drive was definitely one of the things I could
see that he had,” said Brewer. “We got to watch
him compete and he was a competitor. He went
outthereandcompetedreallyhard. Asarecruiter,
you look at what their competitive drive is like.
What is their attitude like on and off the track? Is
he going to be a good teammate and focused in
school?”
The tremendous trajectory on which Stigler’s
career took off began late during his freshman
year. Throughout the season he averaged 50 to
51 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles, including a
first-place finish at the 2012 Kansas Relays, but
the perfectionist would soon figure out his race.
“I don’t think I was even top five in our conference,
but I kept working and paying attention to detail,
because I knew I had a passion for it,” said Stigler.
into the finals I was thinking, ‘Let’s go out
there and have fun.’ There was a runner
from Texas Tech who was projected to win
it by a long shot. But going into the finals I
figured it out and pulled it off.”
And pull it off he did. Stigler set a then-
school and personal record of 49.45
secondsandclaimedhisfirstoffour-straight
Big 12 titles in the 400-meter hurdles.
That performance was so awe-inspiring,
the league’s coaches voted him the Big
12’s Freshman of the Year. He used that
conference title to springboard himself
into the national spotlight. A month later
he went on to attain first-team All-America
status with his sixth-place finish at the
NCAA Outdoor Championships. In June of
that same summer, Stigler made it official
to the world that he had arrived. At the
U.S. Olympic Trials, the 18-year-old went
up against a handful of the best hurdlers in
the world and advanced all the way to the
event final, coming within two seconds of
earning a trip to the London Olympics with
his seventh-place finish.
I’m a perfectionist,
so if I do something
wrong, I’ll get on
myself and try to
visualize it better.
“I never had an idea of what was to come
freshman year. Once [the Big 12 Championships]
came, I trusted in my coaches and the preparation
they put in and it all clicked after one race. Going
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6. PAGE 4 OF 7
easy since I did so well my freshman year.
The practices were more intense and I was
harder on myself going in. I watched film
on myself trying to correct little things.”
Stigler’s work ethic yielded great results.
Of his nine races in the 400-meter hurdles,
five were run under 50 seconds. Stigler
took first at the Texas Relays (50.00),
John McDonnell Invitational (50.22) and
the Big 12 Championships (49.79). After
qualifying through the rounds of the NCAA
West Preliminary and the semifinals of the
NCAA National Championships, Stigler
found himself once again in the race for
the national title.
“Once nationals came around I knew I
had a shot,” said Stigler. “There was a
guy from USC named Reggie White and
he ran a 49 low, so I knew it was going
to be a battle between us, but I ran my
race. I was runner-up and came out with
a PR of 49.19. I felt like that was a great
accomplishment for my sophomore year.”
Brewer echoed her star hurdler’s opinion
in reflection of his sophomore year.
“We knew he had a good chance of
doing well,” said Brewer. “He was the
young guy in a field of upperclassmen,
but to get second place at the national
championships is a huge accomplishment,
especially with him being so young. He was
actually disappointed, but I was pleased
with the year he had. I think he was still
With the impressive finish to his first full-
collegiate season, it appeared as though the
sky was the limit for what Stigler would be able
to accomplish in his remaining three years in
Lawrence.
Mind Games
For Stigler, the race begins before he even steps
onto the track, before he practices, and even
before he wakes up in the morning. Stigler likes to
imagine the perfect race in vivid detail. How does
each stride look? With which leg does he lead with
going over a hurdle? How is this different than
his last race? This intricate process also makes
the hurdler his own biggest critic and motivator.
“I’d definitely say I’m my hardest critic on and off
the track,” said Stigler. “I’m a perfectionist, so if I
do something wrong, I’ll get on myself and try to
visualize it better. At the same time, I feel if I can’t
be tough on myself how can I expect someone to
be tough on me? Also, if someone isn’t difficult
on me I can rely on myself to motivate myself to
become better.”
It is with this mindset that Stigler entered his
sophomore campaign. He was nowhere near the
perfect 400-meter hurdle race yet, so he buckled
down and put in the work to get there.
“I figured out I had the potential to win nationals
if I put my race together,” said Stigler. “The
preparation for (my) sophomore year was intense.
I was hard on myself and Coach Brewer stayed
tough on me and didn’t allow me to take anything
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8. PAGE 5 OF 7
hungry at that point in his career in wanting to
win. He absolutely wanted to win.”
Lofty Expectations
By 2014, Stigler was no longer going to catch
anyone by surprise. He had established himself
as one of the top hurdlers in the nation and
with that, the expectations began to mount.
For Stigler, this led to new dimensions in his
visualization process.
“Sometimes at the bigger meets the mental
aspect of staying in the meets [became hard],
because you can get so wrapped up with
the hype and let your emotions run wild,”
Stigler explained. “That was something
I was really hard on myself (about).
Sometimes I was predicted top three and
it would get me out of whack and I’d be
so hard on myself to stay within myself.”
Brewer believed that his work ethic and
drive is what made, and continues to
make, Stigler the runner he is and has
helped him overcome any challenge he
has faced.
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9. “He’s always been focused when it comes to
practice,” said Brewer. “You don’t have to worry
about him bringing his ‘A’ game on a day-to-day
basis. I’m not surprised with the success he has
had, because he brings a work ethic that is not
something you can coach. As a coach you have
to build off of that and get him stronger, faster,
technically sound and confident.”
Under this self-afflicted pressure Stigler ran what
could be considered one of the most dominate,
if not perfect, seasons in Kansas track history.
He took the Texas-Kansas-Drake “Triple Crown”
in claiming 400-meter hurdle titles at the Texas
Relays, Drake Relays and Kansas Relays. Stigler
also won his third-straight Big 12 Championship.
That year, Stigler ran 11 races in the 400-meter
hurdles and failed to come across the finish
first in just two of them. One was a third-place
finish that qualified him for the NCAA National
Championships at the NCAA West Preliminary.
The other was a runner-up finish in the final at
the NCAA National Championships… Again.
PAGE 6 OF 7
During the race you
never give up and always
think there is a chance,
but once I crossed the
line and knew that I was
second, I said, ‘You’ve
got to be kidding me.’ I
literally dropped to the
ground and said, ‘You’ve
got to be joking me.’
winning),” said Brewer. “Unfortunately, he
didn’t. I tried to use that as a lesson and
learning opportunity. I feel like he grew a lot
from last year because he was picked to
win and he didn’t. It’s not a given. You have
to put your best race together and perform
on that day.”
Reliving a Nightmare
This time around the national title evaded
Stigler by only .67 seconds. Just two days
before he was the fastest qualifier in the
semifinals with a time of 49.34. The only
way to describe his devastation following
the race is to hear it in Stigler’s own words.
“That was difficult,” Stigler said. “During the
race you never give up and always think
there is a chance, but once I crossed the line
and knew that I was second, I said, ‘You’ve
got to be kidding me.’ I literally dropped to
the ground and said, ‘You’ve got to be joking
me.’ There was a little bit of disappointment
in myself, because I worked so hard for that
moment. I was hurt for a while, but at the
same time I knew I had another season, one
more track season, so I couldn’t let it control
me and get in my head.”
Naturally, Brewer was disappointed as
well, but as any coach would say, she saw
opportunity for growth and improvement in
her star pupil.
“We definitely went into nationals confident
that he had a very, very good chance (of
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11. Better than the Best
Following the disappointment of another runner-
up finish at the national meet, Stigler could have
easily continued to do what he had done the
previous three years in regards to his work ethic.
He certainly proved that his junior year as the KU
record book had been completely rewritten with
his name stamped all over it. That, however, was
not good enough for Stigler or Brewer. Together,
the two have deconstructed and reconstructed
his race over the last year to make even the best
better.
“There was a point where his hurdles didn’t
necessarily improve as much, so we had to talk
about, ‘Why are you still running 49 seconds?’”
said Brewer. “So we went back and looked at
film. We worked on what was uncomfortable for
him, which was using his opposite leg. He was
very comfortable using one leg in the 400-meter
hurdles, but he wasn’t with the other leg. If he
wanted to be aggressive as well as fast, he would
have to relearn and be willing to use the opposite
leg. I’m excited he’s growing and understanding
the event. I think it’s going to make him really
tough to beat.”
This deconstruction and reconstruction of his
race paid immediate dividends. He shaved
almost a full second off his personal best in the
first outing of his senior year. At the 2015 Texas
Relays, Stigler set not only the year’s leading
American time, but the fastest time in the world.
For two months Stigler was the fastest 400-meter
hurdler in the world with his time of 48.44
seconds, which was also a school and personal
best. After numerous victories and more sub
50-second races throughout the season,
Stigler completed an unprecedented four-
peat at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships by
taking the title with a time of 49.67 seconds.
One More Thing
The last item on Stigler’s and Brewer’s
checklists is the NCAA National
Championship. Both have spent countless
hours preparing, practicing, watching film and
doing the little things to turn two-consecutive
second-place finishes into a title. They are
determined, focused and believe that their
work will lead to the success Stigler has strived
for over the last four years.
“[Stigler] has that drive, so I don’t have to
worry about him bringing it every single race,”
said Brewer. “I think now, with him being even
more confident in his abilities, the sky is the
limit. I’m excited to see how the story ends
and hopefully it ends with Michael Stigler
being the 2015 400-meter hurdle National
Champion.”
“[The National Championship] is the only
goal,” concluded Stigler. “I feel like I’ve done
everything. I’ve got the school record. I’ve
been named athlete of the year. I’ve won Big
12s. I made it to NCAAs three years in a row,
but only placed second two years in a row.
There’s only one thing you can do in college
track and field and that’s win nationals. It’s my
goal and the way I want to go out.”
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