Receiving a Division I scholarship, particularly to a school in one of the “big six” athletic conferences, is a goal all high school athletes share. But what happens when being at that prestigious Division I school does not work out? If you are Marie Borner, you transfer to Bethel University and go on to win three NCAA individual championships in track and cross country.
Marie received a partial scholarship to the University of Wisconsin. In her second year at Madison, she came to realize she was not in the right place. “Running was not working out for me there,” she said. “I had a series of random, nagging injuries that resulted in my being granted a year of medical hardship. School wasn’t working out either and I was getting caught up in the lifestyle of a big school, which wasn’t me. I was brought up in a Christian family. I realized that I wasn’t living life the way I wanted to, and I decided to change that.”
The ironic part was that, during her first year at Wisconsin, Marie’s opinion of Bethel was not a lofty one. “My first year in Madison, I laughed at Bethel,” she recalled. “When I was thinking about leaving Wisconsin, I talked to my brother, who was on the Bethel track team then, and he told me about the program, school, coaches and team. God changed my heart about Bethel. He got me to want to go to Bethel.”
Since arriving at Bethel, Marie has won three NCAA national championships, as well as All-American honors seven times (in seven seasons). She has won 10 MIAC championships, winning all nine individual events she has competed in as well as a relay.
“Marie is a natural leader because of her abilities,” stated Bethel coach Jim Timp. “The younger women naturally look up to her. She is a great role model, works very hard and is very disciplined, but she’s also fun to be around. I think what makes her such a good leader though is she genuinely cares for everyone else on the team. She never holds herself higher than anyone else. She understands that the team is more than just her. Everyone has a job to do. She works hard to fulfill her job on the team and has to trust that her teammates are doing the same thing. In return, her teammates love Marie - she is really just one of the girls. I have seen other teams where they might have a high caliber athlete on the team who is much better than the rest and they end up not associating with the rest of the team. Marie is not like that at all. Her teammates are important to her.”
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