BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

MADISON, Wis. — It's easy to locate the greatest feat in the vast, glorious history of Wisconsin men's track and field.

In 2007, the Badgers won the NCAA indoor title, their only national team championship going back to 1901. They remain the only Big Ten Conference school to hoist that trophy.

Ten years earlier though, Wisconsin did something nearly as rare in the NCAA outdoor meet. It produced three individual titlists in Pascal Dobert (3,000-meter steeplechase), James Dunkleberger (decathlon) and Reggie Torian (110-meter high hurdles).

"Not only three individual champions, but three champions from different event groups," Dobert noted proudly, referring to distance, sprints and multi-event disciplines. "It was an amazing experience."

It's the only time UW has had three individuals win national titles in the same NCAA meet. In 1971, Mark Winzenried triumphed in the 880-yard run and Pat Matzdorf prevailed in the high jump indoors.

Thanks to an eighth-place finish by Andy Bosley in the 5,000 — worth one point — the Badgers finished tied for fourth with Oklahoma and UCLA, all with 31 points in 1997.

That meet touched off a whirlwind of excellence for Dobert, who won USA Track and Field national titles in 1998, 1999 and 2000 in the steeplechase, then earned a berth on the American squad that competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Dobert, who ran track and cross country for UW from 1993 to '97, was a five-time All-American, a two-time Big Ten titlist and a member of nine conference team champions — three in cross country, three indoor and three outdoor — before emerging as the 20th member of the program to compete in the Olympics.

That resume explains why Dobert is part of the latest class of inductees into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame.
 

 

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High Five

One: Dobert, from Washington, D.C., was part of a dynastic achievement by the Badgers, who won three consecutive Triple Crowns in Big Ten competition. In 1995, '96 and '97, Wisconsin swept team titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor track.

Dobert said he still stays in touch with his former distance specialists at UW as well as participating in a vast Facebook group with all his former teammates.

"My fondest memories for sure are the whole team victories and individual accomplishments, sharing it all with people you'll never forget," he said.

Two: Dobert said his most enduring lesson from his time as a UW student-athlete is how to cultivate mental toughness.

"I'll never forget training in the winter outdoors with my teammates," he said. "Honestly, I wouldn't recommend training in a climate like that as a pro athlete, but as a collegiate runner — an 18-year-old kid out of high school — it's great.

"It teaches you mental toughness and discipline. Running when it's minus 10 degrees outside, when that cold wind is coming off Lake Mendota and hitting you in the face, you still have to get your training in. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it, you have to get it done.

"That's an enduring lesson that I've always taken with me. Get the job done. There's no reason not to. When you can get an hour run in when it's minus 10 degrees out — you have ice crystals on your face and you look at your teammates and have a chuckle because their eyelashes are frozen — you develop a really close bond with them through this tough training period together. That's how you really get close to one another. I think that translates well to wanting to bust your butt to help your team to do well together."
 

Three: Dobert said his favorite memory of being a UW student-athlete is how you develop life-long relationships with your teammates.

"The close bonds that you form by being with your teammates almost 24-7," he said. "With track and cross country it's a three-season endeavor, so you're with your teammates all the time. In the summer we're all staying in Madison training for cross country, so spending time with my teammates. Having team dinners. Going to the bars like college kids do. They become like brothers and we're all still close today."

Four: Dobert still owns the second-fastest steeplechase time in UW history at 8 minutes, 24.23 seconds. He is only topped by Randy Jackson, who ran 8:22.81 in 1980.

Five: After leg injuries forced Dobert to retire in 2004, he embarked on multiple projects. He worked in marketing for Nike and eventually teamed up with former UW men's cross country coach Jerry Schumacher as a coach in the Nike-sponsored Bowerman Track Club. Dobert also opened a restaurant in Portland, Ore., in 2014 called the "Wine and Growl" that he ultimately sold amid the pandemic in 2020.

Dobert said one of the highlights of his life was coaching Evan Jager, a former UW runner, and Courtney Frerichs to Olympic silver medals in the steeplechase in 2020.

"I love to coach," Dobert said. "I love to help athletes get better."