Someone like Coach

A good coach can shape an athletic career. A great coach can shape a lifetime.

According to Cheryl (Westrum) Mishek ’79, Coach Kent Finanger ’54 was a great coach. Her experience as a distance runner under Coach Finanger illustrates how impactful the relationship between a student-athlete and coach-mentor can be. And the ways she’s honored that relationship in recent years have the power to shape generations of student-athletes to come.

Cheryl (Westrum) Mishek ’79 with her coach and mentor, Kent Finanger ’54

A Fateful Encounter with a Coach

When asked to cast his mind back to his youth, 92-year-old Kent says he was ready to attend St. Olaf until the last weekend in August before his freshman year. That’s when Luther coach and athletic director Hamlet Peterson ’54 showed up at his family home in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. “He spent some time with me and my family talking about Luther, what it is and what it meant,” Kent recalls. “At the end of that time, I drove to Decorah in the car with him and never looked back. It unfolded for me four wonderful years as a student and 40 years as a physical educator, coach, and colleague at Luther College.”

Kent started teaching at Luther in 1956. He chaired the health and physical education department from 1964 to 1996. As a coach, he logged 93 seasons in five sports: baseball, basketball, cross country, football, and track and field. He especially distinguished himself in coaching runners:

• He led 17 teams to the NCAA national cross country championships, finishing in the top-10 10 times.
• He coached an NCAA Division II national track and field team to a second-place finish in 1965.
• He coached an NCAA Division III national championship cross country team in 1985.

While Kent loved the competition element of sports and building harmony among a team, the hundreds of students he mentored were the highlight. “I loved the kids,” he says. “I loved them for where they came from, for who their families were, what major they were taking, and what they wanted for their future. I loved being part of that. And it was inspiring to me to be helpful in the molding of that future for them.”

Cheryl (Westrum) Mishek '79 shakes the mayor's hand after placing second in the Chicago marathon in 1978.

A Second Fateful Encounter with a Coach

Cheryl graduated from high school in 1972, right before Title IX was signed into law. She was athletically inclined, but with few opportunities—girls at Waseca (Minn.) Central High were allowed to use the gymnasium one night a month.

As a new student at Luther, she was looking for ways to improve her fitness. She started running the track at night to avoid “fourth meal,” an evening snack service on campus that Cheryl remembers as “piles of doughnuts at 10 p.m.” (Fourth meal came to a grinding halt in 1974—RIP.)

One night, she and Coach Finanger crossed paths. They introduced themselves, and he invited her to practice with the men’s cross country team. Soon, Cheryl and two other women formed the college’s first women’s cross country team.

Despite having never run a marathon, Cheryl ran the race in the Drake Relays—twice. She finished seventh for women in 1977 and fourth in 1978, shaving more than 40 minutes off her time. That same year, she placed second in the Chicago Marathon and won Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, with a time of 2:57:14. She won collegiate races of many distances as a student and still holds the Luther College record for the marathon. “Running cross country for Luther sharpened my foot speed for distance running,” she says.

Cheryl (Westrum) Mishek '79 won the Mercer Island Half-Marathon in 1986.

Cheryl fell hard for road racing and wanted to make it a career, but she heeded her father’s advice to make her money elsewhere and race on the weekends. “I went into real estate, and that worked beautifully with racing because I could make my own schedule,” she says. “I got faster, better, and my real estate practice flourished—so it turned out to be a good decision.”

Cheryl ran major races, like the New York City Marathon. In 1985, she won the Royal Victoria Marathon in British Columbia with a time of 2:56:04. When she won the Mercer Island Half-Marathon in 1986, seven years out of college, she says, “Coach put together a whole poster with a photo of us standing together, with notes written on it like ‘Go, fun, win!’ and ‘Congratulations, Cheryl, you’re a winner!’ Just classic Coach. He never gave up on me. Once you’re one of his coachees, he just wants you to keep going.”

For Cheryl, running has been a lifelong love. At 70, and with a particular zest for running uphill, she says, “Running at Luther is an incredible springboard for people to continue running after college. It gave me a foundation to keep myself on track.”

Cheryl (Westrum) Mishek '79 (standing, far left) invited the Luther women's cross country team to visit her home in Wyoming, train at Yellowstone, and race in Montana in 2019.

Building a Legacy

In 2017, Cheryl and her then husband, the late Dick Bressler, provided a gift of $1 million to establish the Kent Finanger Endowed Chair for Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field. It was the first endowed coaching position in college history. “I really wanted the women to have the dynamic coaching and capabilities that men have for sports,” Cheryl says.

Naming the chair after Kent was, to her, obvious. “He always made sure to lift everybody up,” she says. “Even the people who never scored for the team always felt like their place was critical.”

The chair allowed Yarrow Pasche to move from part-time to full-time coach of women’s cross country and distance running. It also allowed more funding for recruitment and program enhancement.

Yarrow knows firsthand the impact a coach can have on a student. “I see my team members six days a week, through the whole academic year, for four years,” she says. “I have more contact time with them than professors or any other adult on campus. I get to be part of their college journey and their evolution as they kind of come out into the world. The role coaches play in students’ development extends far beyond athletics.”

Yarrow sees this reflected in Cheryl and Kent. “I think Cheryl has that same relationship with Coach Kent,” she says. “His support, guidance, and mentorship made a huge impact on not only her time in college but beyond. She really values the role he played for her. It’s just palpable—you can feel the level of trust, respect, and love she has for what he gave her. That in itself is such a great thing to be a part of, and it’s also super rewarding to know that I could be giving that to my runners now.”

Cheryl (Westrum) Mishek '79 and her husband, Walter Mishek, with Kent Finanger '54 at the inaugurual Coach Finanger Invitational on the Misheks' property

Competing in Community

Cheryl and her husband, Walter Mishek, honored Kent and Luther cross country in another way last fall, when they hosted the inaugural Coach Finanger Invitational on their property, Calonett, in Waseca, Minnesota.

The first time Cheryl visited Calonett, Walter was just retiring from raising champion-level Arabian horses on the 80-acre property. She thought to herself, Wow, what a great place to run. After the couple managed a years-long remodel of the grounds, they wanted to find ways to use it that would also benefit people. A cross country course was a no-brainer. “There was one person’s name I wanted to put on it,” Cheryl said.

Walter, a logistical whiz who’s become a Norse fan in his own right, was fully on board. He and Paul Mullen ’79, former Luther runner and development officer, plotted out a 2.5-km groomed-grass course that ends in a stunning promenade of maples. Walter leveraged goodwill around Waseca to find vendors and services for the inaugural Coach Finanger Invitational. He also oversaw design of the winners’ podium and the distinctive medals that bear Kent’s image.

The T-shirts and medals commemorating the Coach Finanger Invitational featured the legendary coach.

The event, on September 6, hosted six teams and hundreds of spectators for a 5-km race that saw Luther runners crack the top three in the men’s and women’s races. “It was a glorious day,” Kent says. “It warmed my heart, to be very honest. There’s a lot of giving and a lot of terrific feelings in this experience that Cheryl and Walter provided.” Kent’s wife, Lois, and his five kids were there, with his son Mark ’77 announcing the event.

Before the gun went off, Cheryl welcomed the runners and told them she hopes that everyone has a Coach Finanger in their lives at some point. “Whether it’s in a coaching or teaching capacity, or as a friend or business partner, knowing somebody of his caliber would shape their lives too,” she says.

After the event, Cheryl and Walter invited all the teams to a giant picnic overlooking their pond. “It really fostered a sense of community,” Yarrow says. “There isn’t normally the space for that to happen at a meet. Competition is phenomenal—it can raise the bar and get us to invest in something. But when you can do that with a community and work on it together, it’s much greater.”

The 5-km race at the inaugural Coach Finanger Invitational saw Luther runners crack the top three in the men’s and women’s races.

Kent was deeply touched by the event. “I worked because of the fun and enjoyment of being a part of Luther College and its celebration,” he says, “and then all these things have come, not by my design or plan. It’s breathtaking—it’s beyond me, to be honest.”

“I don’t think, when I was in college, that I knew how to say thank you,” Cheryl reflects. “But I figured it out later in life. I learned gratitude, and so as long as it’s not too late, you can always go back and thank those people who were monumental during your formative years.”