Gus Kasun got reflective.
Understanding his Marquette track & field career is winding down, the senior multi-event athlete tried to sum up why his four years were so meaningful.
“We have something special in the water here at Marquette,” Kasun said. “It’s the closest you can come to a family.”
Kasun was one of the 13 seniors and graduate students honored Saturday night for senior day during the Marquette Invitational, the team’s only meet at the Melvin “Bus” Shimek Track and Field at Valley Fields.
“It’s a special time for me to see it all come together for them,” Marquette head coach Bert Rogers said. “These little moments of recognition for seniors is really nice.”
One of those athletes includes thrower Josh Pirogovsky, who has been a member of the program all four years at Marquette.
“This is the place where we spend all our time,” Pirogovsky said. “Looking around at all of us, we belong here.”
That’s why the meet means more. For the third year in a row, Marquette gets to host one on their home turf. A track that both the athletes and coaches are familiar with.
“It’s good ol’ fashioned home-cooking,” Rogers said. “We are used to the facility, we know what the runways are like, what the circles are like, and what the track is like.”
Athletes also benefit from being able to sleep in their own bed and not spend hours on a bus.
“There is just a different level of calm and peacefulness that comes with it,” Pirogovsky said. “We get to show up when we want, we’re not like the outcasts… the whole thing is ours.”
It’s not just the track that makes senior day special for the Golden Eagles; it’s the connection that they have with each other; which makes it that much harder to leave.
“It’s crazy you spend all your time with this group of people, and then you are kind of gone after that,” Kasun said. “These last couple moments… to be with these people I care so deeply about, that’s what I’m most excited about.”
The connection lies not just between the seniors or position groups, but throughout the whole team.
“Everybody is deeply rooted in the values that we have as a friendship,” Kasun said. “I feel like that’s something that’s very valuable and something that won’t leave me as I go away from Milwaukee.”
This meet is of course very special to the athletes to honor their time as a part of the program, but it’s equally as special for the coaching staff. The ones who introduced the athletes to the program and watched them grow up right in front of their eyes.
“It’s cool to see them kind of come in as kids in a lot of ways, and leaving here as young adults,” Rogers said. “You see a lot of growth in that four or five years.”
The Marquette Invitational goes beyond just the performance on the track but also the support the athletes receive off the track from their families and loved ones. Marquette has 53 athletes including Kasun and Pirogovsky that reside from either Wisconsin or Illinois; which makes the trip to Milwaukee a lot easier for loved ones to come out and watch the meet.
“It’s cool to see everybody else’s families too,” Pirogovsky said. “You don’t really get to see that a lot in college.”
With that hometown crowd behind them, Marquette was able to win 16 different events and record 20 new personal bests on Saturday, proof of how valuable it is to have your biggest fans cheering you on.
“It’s great to see a community that you belong to come out and support in such a good way,” Kasun said. “I think that’s what is especially special about this meet.”
Even though their careers are coming to an end, Marquette will always be a special place to not only Kasun and Pirogovsky, but to the rest of the seniors as well.
“There’s something special about after you’re done competing,” Pirogovsky said. “Just standing on the turf and it says Marquette on it… you never feel quite the same as when you’re at home.”
This article was written by Lukas Schulze. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @LukasSchulzeMU.
