Last weekend, the track and field team at the University of Missouri-St. Louis had one of its best meets—notching six top-10 placements. On Tuesday, the university informed the team it was shutting down the program at the end of this semester.
The decision blindsided the approximately 45 team members. UMSL launched the program in 2020 and recruited members with the idea that they’d be building something that would last. Now, says Benjamin Vandenbrink, a star distance runner, much of that feels in vain.
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“Everybody’s thought process throughout the past five years has been that we’re building something and that this is just the beginning, that we’re laying a foundation for our program,” says Vandenbrink, who opted for UMSL after graduating from Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, a magnet school within the St. Louis Public Schools. “So to hear that it was being shut down while we all thought we were just in the beginning stages, I think was particularly shocking.”
UMSL has said in a release that the shutdown was triggered by “a thorough evaluation of multiple factors, including lack of facility, budget considerations, and program enrollment trends.” Up until recently, Vandenbrink says, the university had high hopes that St. Louis County would be building a track and field facility in North St. Louis County—something that was part of negotiations around a convention center expansion. At one point $40 million was earmarked for the project, and council members representing North County have sought to hold County Executive Sam Page to building it. He has said the county cannot afford to make good on the previous promise.
Vandenbrink suggests the facility was long key to UMSL’s ambitions, “They started the program when that was announced, with the idea that we’d have things up and running right as the facility was ready to go.” Instead, he says, the team has made good with the track at Lutheran North High School, which works fine for practice even if they can’t host meets.
Stephen Walentik, the university’s director of public relations, says the county’s aborted plans were just one factor. “This decision was not directly connected to the fate of the proposed North County Recreation Complex, but the lack of facilities needed to make the track and field program a success was a factor that contributed to it,” he says. “UMSL has been renting off-site locations so our athletes can train, but that is not sustainable.”
In UMSL’s release, athletic director Dr. Holly Sheilley was quoted as saying that the priority was “providing our student-athletes with the best possible academic and athletic experience.” She continued, “By streamlining our offerings, we can enhance support for our cross-country teams while uplifting our 15 total sport programs, ensuring they remain competitive and well-resourced.”
Students like Vandenbrink have taken umbrage at that statement, saying the university never asked them about their experience—and that, given the chance, they would have praised the program and coach Steve Picucci. “If you talk to any of the athletes, you would get a very different idea of what we think our experience is,” he says. “Because everybody that I know that’s part of the program loves it, but she’s telling us that our experience isn’t good enough.”
A freshman runner who talked to SLM on the provision that his name not be used agreed. “They need to understand that we’re not just tools they can just dispose of without considering our actual thoughts,” he says. “They said a lot about us, what they think we believe and none of it’s true. We’re all happy with our experience.”
The team members also scoff at UMSL’s assertions that only 8 student-athletes are affected; even if some students could run cross-country only, they say, they won’t: They need the year-round training that indoor and outdoor track provide for top runners. (Cross-country, which has a fall season, includes middle and longer distance; track, which has a winter indoor and spring outdoor season, also includes field events and shorter distances.)
The team’s head coach, Picucci, moved here from Kentucky to start the program. He will continue to coach cross-country (an assistant coach who focused on shorter distances was laid off). Picucci declined to comment on the details, saying, “I’m really devastated for the student-athletes right now. This is obviously not what they came to the university for, but my main focus right now is just supporting them through this transition and figuring out what the next step is for our program.”
Vandenbrink is a fifth-year student who will earn his MBA this spring. He’s ready to move on. “I had a great time,” he says of his time at UMSL. “I made some of the best friends that I’ve ever made. I was mentored and coached very well. But this makes me regret putting faith in the athletic department that they were on the same page, that we were building something that was going to last.
He can’t help but be annoyed that UMSL has retained sports that draw from abroad (like tennis and golf) while axing a program with many local participants.
“UMSL very much pretends to be the school of choice for St. Louis residents,” he says. “But the athletic department seems to be prioritizing sports with rosters full of people from either Europe or other parts of the country, and then divesting from the one program where 55 percent of the roster actually comes from the St. Louis region. There’s something there that just feels wrong, or a little double-sided.”
