GMLOKS' Tate Goergen is an 800 star, but basketball comes first

GRAND MEADOW, Minn.

Tate Goergen may write Jayce Kiehne a thank-you note before this track and field season is done.

Kiehne is a freshman football player at Winona State University.

Goergen, a Southland student, is a sophomore track and field star for Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland/Southland.

ADVERTISEMENT The thank-you stems back to early June 2024, when Kiehne, then competing for Lanesboro/Fillmore Central/Mabel-Canton, provided Goergen the inspiration to go from good to truly great in track and field.

He did it by running 800 meters faster than hed ever run it before, while Goergen valiantly attempted to catch him.

Goergen then a freshman just about did.

Kiehne won the Class A 800 state title in a personal-best 1:53.11.

Goergen finished right behind him in 1:54.81, about 5 seconds faster than his prior best.

Just like that, a future star was born, Tate Goergen.

Thanks Jayce, Goergen offered, if only in his mind.

Jayce was a fun guy to try to chase, said Goergen, who went up against Kiehne four times last year, landing second to him each time.

I enjoyed running against him.

He was super good.

I would have liked to have beaten him, but I never did.

But he definitely pushed me to get a better time.

He also allowed Goergen to become aware of something.

Its that his track potential is enormous.

There is no way that Goergen would have been tagged as a future star had Kiehne not pushed him.

ADVERTISEMENT There is also no way hed be thinking as he is today, that a Class 1A and possibly an all-time state-meet record could be in his future.

Maybe as soon as this year.

Stewartville graduate Jason Owens is the Class 1A record holder, timed in 1:50.72 in 1996.

Minnesotas all-time record regardless of class is 1:49.69, by Buffalos Zach Mellon in 2008.

By the end of this year, Id like to get 50-flat (1:50) in the 800, Goergen said.

The Class 1A record would be super cool.

But sometimes I like winning more than I like records.

Im a super competitive guy.

Goergen is a super competitive guy who happens to like track, but not love it.

At least not yet.

He has a clear-cut favorite sport.

It involves dribbling and shooting, and dashing up and down the court.

Yes, basketball is No.

1 for the Southland sophomore, and as much as he does it, it keeps him in shape for track.

A 6-foot-1 guard with speed and can dunk, he was a key component this past season for a Rebels team that finished a sparkling 28-1, its only loss coming in the Section 1, Class 1A semifinals to Rushford-Peterson.

Goergen averaged 14 points per game for that team and was a primary ball handler.

Basketball gets most of his athletic attention.

He plays AAU pretty much whenever the high school season isnt going on and has spent oodles of time in the Goergen family driveway playing basketball, often joined by Southland senior brother Noah, a Rebels star this past season who set a school record for points in a game with 47.

ADVERTISEMENT Basketball is the family game.

Their father, Neal Goergen, is also a former Southland player.

I always grew up around basketball, Tate said.

We always had a basketball hoop outside.

I started when I was in fourth grade, doing youth basketball.

I only do track when its track season.

A 1:54.81 last season, which hes trimmed to 1:53.75 this season, and he only does track for about 212 months of the year? Well, yep.

Its exactly what has folks wondering what this guy could turn into if he ever got really serious about track.

GMLOKS middle and long-distance coach Lisa Glynn knew that Goergen had a chance to be special when she first laid eyes on him when he was a seventh grader.

Goergen was running for her cross country team at the time, something he abandoned as a freshman in order to work on his basketball game in the fall.

When he first started out with us, I could see that he could run a 2-mile really well or a 3 mile; he would have been a great cross country runner, Glynn said.

As an (800) runner, he has everything you would want.

He also has competitiveness and a will to win.

There isnt much holding him back.

ADVERTISEMENT That includes having the raw sprinters speed required to be elite in the 800.

Goergen has run a 51-second 400, almost fast enough to qualify for state in the event.

And hes one of the top members of the GMLOKS 4x200 relay team.

About the only thing missing for Goergen is the kind of laser focus in track and field required for super-stardom.

My grandpa is always telling me that I should run in the summer, Goergen said.

He tells me how much better Id be if I ran in the summer.

But its just not my passion at least not yet.

But it might be once college comes around the corner.

My success does inspire me.

Id like to see how far I can go with it..

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