Students motivate Anoka High School teacher in Fargo Marathon victory
(05/27/2022) Anoka High School - Center for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Music (AHS) physical/health education teacher and coach Sam Westerberg started his marathon training cycle soon after the school’s boys cross country team qualified for the state meet for the first time in 42 years. On May 21 he won the Fargo Marathon and now hopes to inspire his students with his victory.
“I’m motivated by this place,” Westerberg said. “I get to coach two seasons of the year and train with the athletes. Seeing them run down their dreams is inspiring.”
Westerberg has been at AHS for four years and, in addition to teaching, he is the head boys and girls cross country coach and the boys track and field head coach. The Fargo Marathon was his seventh marathon, and he ran the course in 2 hours, 29 minutes and 50 seconds to achieve his goal time by 10 seconds.
While the students’ success has motivated him, he now wants his effort to be an inspiration to the students.
“With a race of this distance, if you are running your goal time you are not going to feel good the whole time,” Westerberg said. “To dig deep mentally and fight through something, I like to be able to talk to them about that. Hopefully they can translate that on the track or in cross country.”
Read the story from the Fargo Forum. View photos of Westerberg from the Fargo Marathon. (Photo of Westerberg crossing the finish line courtesy of the Fargo Marathon).