St. Francis High School Class of 2013 alum Dakotah (Bullen) Lindwurm is headed to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, but before heading across the pond, the marathoner decided to make a stop where her running career started.
On May 20, Lindwurm surprised the Saints boys and girls track and field teams prior to one of their final practices before the conference meet. She spoke to the group with words of inspiration like “as long as you can bet on yourself and believe in yourself, there is no limit, and you can do whatever you want.” Then after answering some questions from the team and taking some pictures with old coaches and current student-athletes, Lindwurm laced up her shoes and joined members of the team on a training run. View photos from her surprise visit.
“My high school coaches, Becki Hanson and Andy Forbort, were really important for me,” Lindwurm said. “They taught me how to love running and at the end of the day, if you’re a marathoner, you have to love it. I think that was so important and I definitely wouldn’t be here without them.”
In the U.S. Olympic Trials in February, Lindwurm raced to third place with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes and 31 seconds to claim her spot on the Olympic Team. She is the first St. Francis alum to qualify for the Summer Olympic games.
“It is so cool to walk in this gym and have people who are so much younger than me be excited to see me,” Lindwurm said. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to really know who I was or care who I was, so it means a lot. I have proud roots here in St. Francis and I'm excited I get to represent them.”
As a Saint, Lindwurm competed on the cross country and track and field teams. She was also a goaltender for the St. Francis/North Branch girls hockey team. Lindwurm started as a walk-on for the track and field program at Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D., but finished as an NCAA Division II All-American.
She joined the Minnesota Distance Elite training group after graduation and was the 2021 and 2022 champion of the Grandma’s Marathon.
The Paris 2024 Olympics begin July 26.