Stingers cross-country and track and field team changes leadership
Q&A with Justin Pfefferle, the new Stingers Cross-Country and Track and Field head coach.
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Already the co-head coach of the Dawson College Blues cross country team, Justin Pfefferle has now been appointed head coach of the Concordia Stingers XC/TF team and has great plans for the collective. He has worked as an educator in the English department at Dawson College since January 2018 and currenlty runs Dawson's cross-country team jointly with co-head coach Joanne Wedlock.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
You’ve been running for a long time and you’re a former University of Saskatchewan Husky. How did you first get into running and what made you so passionate about it?
Growing up in Saskatoon, like every kid, I wanted to be in the NHL. It quickly became clear to me that that was not going to happen. I loved the sport of track and field and I was lucky that in Saskatoon, there was real infrastructure for that. In elementary school, there were events that happened alongside large university events. My window into the sport was through the 4x100m relay team in the school, but I never knew it could go beyond there. I had a math tutor who was also a track and field coach, and he told me about this club that catered to people my age; I was 12 at the time.
After that first year, it became clear to me that I wanted to become a University of Saskatchewan Husky. It’s kind of the main reason I went to university, I wasn’t a particularly good high school student. University track and field was really my gateway to school, to ideas, thinking about the future, making a contribution and thinking about how I can make a difference.
Are there any achievements of yours as a Husky that you’re particularly proud of?
I can’t claim much ownership over the fact that we did win a national championship. The thing that I think of with pride is that I was a good teammate. I was a team-first guy, a motivator, and I pride myself on being a guy who worked very hard in practice. I made it a fun environment and contributed to making the team a good place. I was not a star, I was not the guy that everyone was relying on to win or score big points.
But now, when I think about teams, especially the team I have now and the team I was a part of then, you can’t win championships without top athletes. But also, you can’t win without people with the right attitude, who are always asking themselves what they can do to make the team better. It opened my eyes that everybody on the team has a way of making a difference.
Could you tell us what your relationship with the Concordia XC/TF program was before becoming the head coach and what other places your coaching career has taken you?
The Dawson program came about during COVID. I saw a lot of young students who had their years almost entirely cancelled. It wasn’t lost on me that extracurricular activities, as well as school events, were just erased from the lives of young people. It occurred to me in early 2020, when COVID hit, that the only thing people could do was go outside and run. So, I explained my idea to the athletic director, but no athletic director was thinking of starting a new program in the middle of COVID. I told him, “OK, but you’re going to hear from me again.” I asked again later, and he again said this wasn’t the right time, but true to my persevering nature, after reaching out one more time, he agreed.
We’re now going into our fourth year competing. Me and my team inherited the idea of a track and field program, and now we have two all-Canadians and two top finishers at nationals in three years. We’re really proud of this program and of all we’ve accomplished. For Concordia, it turns out that my coach, who I’d reached out to during COVID when I was training for a marathon, was the head coach of the Concordia track team.
This is former Stingers XC/TF head coach John Lofranco you’re talking about?
Yes, John and I really clicked. He’s an English teacher as well so he was a really important mentor for me. I was around the group as an athlete and also as a coach for [the Dawson College Blues], and over time we kind of integrated the groups. Last year, when John broke his patellar [tendon], I was the interim head coach of the track team. So yeah, I’ve been around the Concordia team for about three years.
What kind of culture are you looking to bring in and what are your objectives in this upcoming first part of your tenure?
In terms of the strategy, I’m all about the team first. We want to go all in on the relays, that’s where you get the team vibe, the camaraderie, the accountability. As soon as athletes start thinking of themselves as a collective instead of individuals, the more you will see our team make headway on the scoreboard, where the competition is concerned. It doesn’t happen overnight. You want to make incremental improvements, but you know there will be ups and downs. If we can get our athletes in events all year—in the summer and in training camp—that’s when we’ll have our earliest opportunity to be competitive. I hope that within five years, we can be a top three team in the Réseau des sports étudiants du Québec and send some athletes to the nationals.
Anything you want to say to Stingers fans?
I want to turn people into fans of this team. I want us to be an exciting team. Come to an indoor track meet and tell me that you’ve had more fun. See what it’s like to be a spectator of an event where you’re right on top of the track: it’s loud, it’s crazy. I want to encourage people to come see us, but not just us, there are phenomenal athletes in this conference. So come on out and support us!
CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this article, coach Justin Pfefferle was listed as hte head coach of the Dawson College cross-country track and field team. Dawson College doesn't have a track and field team. Additionally, the team is co-run by Justin Pfefferle and Joanne Wedlock. The Link regrets this error.
This article originally appeared in Volume 44, Issue 9, published January 30, 2024.
