ST. PAUL, Minn. – Throughout the duration of the spring semester, cspbears.com will feature its spring senior student-athletes who had their careers cut short due to the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), providing a glimpse into their past, present and future to our followers who were unable to see them compete in 2020.
Due to the ongoing changing legislation with college athletics related to the COVID-19 pandemic, spring student-athletes are expected to retain a year of eligibility. Some of the CSP seniors have expressed interest in returning for the 2020-21 academic year with the goal of competing for their full senior year. Since it's early in the process, cspbears.com will not differentiate between seniors who will and won't return and instead will profile each senior consistently.
Hannah Gustafson is a native to the Twin Cities, from West St. Paul, Minnesota she has been representing the Golden Bears as a thrower on the track and field team since 2017. She has been an extremely well-rounded student and athlete at Concordia, earning NSIC All-Academic honors for the past three years while majoring in Biology and Psychology, while also securing multiple victories in the throwing circle with 41 top-ten finishes and 19 top-five finishes during the indoor seasons, and 46 top-ten finishes and 22 top-five finishes during the outdoor seasons.
Gustafson holds a CSP school record in two events, the shot put and the weight throw. She broke the outdoor shot put record for the first time in 2018 as a sophomore with a mark of 44'4" at the Meet of the Unsaintly where she took fourth place. In 2019, she concluded her junior season by improving that record to 44'11.5" at the NSIC Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
Gustafson has thrived in the weight throw throughout her entire throwing career, but especially during this past season. Her senior season started on a high note as she broke the school record in the weight throw at the first meet of the season (SDSU Holiday Invite and Multi, Dec 9) with a toss of 60'5.9" and placed in the top five. She went on to improve her personal record twice more, her best being at the Minnesota Cold Classic (Feb 21) with a mark of 61'8.5" which earned her a fourth-place finish. She also brought in steady points for the Golden Bears in the discus and hammer throw. Her personal record in the discus is 137'1", attained at the 2018 NSIC Outdoor Championships, and 154'0" in the hammer throw as of 2019 at the Minnesota Women's Twilight.
Her achievements in the weight throw continued at the 2020 NSIC Indoor Track and Field Championships, where she became an All-NSIC thrower with her second-place finish (60'11.25"). She also broke her personal record in the shot put, launching the shot 44'5.25" for ninth place at the meet. Following the conference championships, Gustafson was selected to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championship after her record-breaking season and was prepared to compete as the 11
th seed along side the top 20 DII throwers in the nation. Unfortunately, the championships were soon canceled due to COVID-19. Gustafson has hopes of returning next year and earning another spot at the national meet.
Head Coach Sam Johnson on Hannah Gustafson:
"Hannah was dubbed 'Miss Concordia St. Paul' by a rival conference coach early in her career, and no other nickname could be more descriptive of what she has meant for our program and campus. A natural ambassador of our brand at CSP and leader across several areas of campus, Hannah has impacted countless individuals in her time at Concordia. She set a goal to become a national caliber athlete at the end of last season, and every major decision she made after that point was viewed through the lens of that goal. She achieved that goal. Her story is a testament to the power of vision and committing to the daily habits that breed success."
HANNAH GUSTAFSON – IN HER OWN WORDS
CSP: At what age did you start playing your sport?
HG: I was in 7th grade when I started so 12/13 years old. I originally started track and field to train for basketball, but little did I know how much it would change me.
CSP: Why did you choose to attend Concordia?
HG: I loved how close Concordia was to my home as I still had three siblings in high school at the time and my other siblings were in the Twin Cities. CSP also was one of the few schools that would let me double major in two sciences, offered scholarships, and competitive athletics.
CSP: What is your favorite memory as a Golden Bear?
HG: My favorite memory as a Golden Bear athlete was our first trip this past indoor season to SDSU. The throwers had to stay the night with our guy multis and we had a blast! It was a fun way to kick off the season both with the team during the first day then the throwers on day two.
CSP: What will you miss most about CSP?
HG: The people and the support system – was blessed to interact with so many people that wanted me to not only be the best athlete I could be, but the best person I could be.
CSP: What are your plans after graduation?
HG: As of three pm, March 13th, after finding out my senior season was canceled, I decided to return to Concordia to pursue a master's in leadership and management while I finish out my eligibility. After this, I plan to attend a dual masters and PhD program in behavioral, statistical and psychiatric genetics.
CSP: Where do you see yourself in ten years?
HG: I hope to be starting a family and working in a hospital setting. My dream is to work in precision medicine – specifically within the mental health realm. I want to study how mental health drugs interact with one's genome.
CSP: Who is a staff member or faculty member at Concordia that left an imprint on your experience?
HG: Kirsten Bransford. She has pushed me to be more than I ever thought I could be and has encouraged me as I stepped into various leadership positions. She has always cared about me as a person first and as a student second, which has led to many impactful conversation that I think about often.
CSP: Who is your role model?
HG: My role model is a past track and field athlete, Wakpor Ighovojah. I watched Waka work day in and day out, giving everything she had, to achieve her dreams of being an All-American, no matter the obstacles she faced. She is inspiring, caring and so kind. She took the time to get to know me as a freshman and has kept our friendship alive since then.
CSP: What life lessons did you learn as an athlete on your CSP team?
HG: There are too many to put into words, but some of them would include 1) find your people and let them support you, even on the bad days. 2) Work hard, and then work harder. 3) You can do way more than you think.
CSP: What advice would you give to an incoming freshman about their time at CSP?
HG: Make friends across sports teams – you will find so much family within this community and sometimes it is nice to be outside of your team. Also, give it your all – you only have four seasons. That is it. Don't become a senior and wish freshman you had worked harder.
CSP: What CSP athlete from a different program do you admire and why?
HG: Emily Boyer! [Soccer] She works so hard and walks as a woman of Christ. She stepped onto a new team as a transfer and stepped right up.
CSP: Do you have a final personalized message you'd like to share with cspbears.com readers?
HG: Track and field is so excited for next year. So many athletes are itching for All-American titles!
