From One NCAA Champion to Another
A two-time NCAA champion in the 1,500-meter run, Jukka Tammisuo ’87 set the standard for the St. Lawrence track and field program. The Saints current national champion. Nick Lyndaker ’26, who will defend his NCAA title in the mile this indoor season, reflects on his mentor’s journey, how it’s influenced his own, and how learning to “trust the kick” has helped him become a formidable competitor in DIII track and field.
As athletes slept, blizzard conditions dumped inches of snow onto the site of the 1987 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in Holland, Michigan. Within the chaos, St. Lawrence found themselves somewhere they’ve never been before, with a legitimate contender for a national championship cross country runner.
After Jukka Tammisuo '87, the back-to-back NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Champion in the 1,500 meters, graduated, he returned to St. Lawrence with one season of eligibility and a goal to win the cross country individual national title. As a native of Finland, the snowy conditions that day played to his advantage. He hung patiently with the lead group during the race, hoping that his track speed would be the deciding factor late in the race.
As the leaders crested the final hill, Tammisuo was still there. As they bolted down the final stretch, Tammisuo changed the course of St. Lawrence distance running forever.
Tammisuo’s athletic journey began in Finland with soccer, ice hockey, and cross-country skiing. Mine began in Canton, New York, with basketball, soccer, hockey on our backyard rink, and eventually, cross country and track and field. While we started our journeys 4,000 miles apart, we both became NCAA champions at St. Lawrence.
Making Noise at the National Level
American steeplechaser John Underwood, who spent summers racing in Finland, planted the collegiate running seed in Tammisuo through stories and encouragement. His coach added another nudge, too, this one rooted in regret.
“He turned down (a scholarship offer to Oregon),” Tammisuo said. “He told me that I should go because he didn’t.”
So Tammisuo chose to pursue a collegiate running career at St. Lawrence, and word spread quickly through the locker room that a recruit from Finland was coming. At first, not everyone believed the hype.
“When he got here and we saw him in the first couple workouts, it didn’t take long for us to see that this guy’s the real deal,” said Mike Howard ’87, one of Tammisuo’s teammates who went on to coach St. Lawrence cross country and track and field for nearly 30 years. “It was really something special for all of us. We were like, ‘Wow who is this guy?’”
His first race? An 8:19 in the 3,000-meter run.
The locker room questions shifted from “Who is this guy?” to “How far can this guy take us?” A program once overlooked nationally now had a runner who could make St. Lawrence a team others feared.
Before the legendary 1987 cross country season, Tammisuo had already begun making noise on the NCAA stage with multiple All-America performances on the track. In 1986, during his junior year, he captured the NCAA Championship in the 1500-meter run during the indoor season, proving that he was a serious contender in middle-distance events, too. His performance that day was a mix of tactical intelligence and sheer confidence. While some competitors relied on raw speed, he remained calm and timed his final kick to perfection—a signature Tammisuo tactic I’ve learned to incorporate in my own running career.
A year later, in the 1500-meter final at the 1987 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships, he relied on the same tactics and awareness that defined so much of his career. Rather than rushing to the front, he watched, waited, and positioned himself for the decisive kick. Once again, he unleashed a surge late in the race that no one could answer, winning back-to-back 1,500 titles and proving that his first championship was no fluke. Everything must go perfectly to win even one NCAA title. Winning back-to-back titles is pure dominance; that’s just who Jukka Tammisuo was.
“I trained my kick a lot,” Tammisuo said. “I was fairly confident I could take it.”
One Last Shot at Glory
With his last track season behind him and graduation in the spring, he had one more chance. Since he didn’t run cross country freshman year, he came back to St. Lawrence to use his last season of eligibility. The two-time national champion and six-time All-America was ready for the hardest challenge yet: a cross-country title.
After an undefeated season, including the ICAC championship, a second straight New York State championship, and the NCAA Regional Championship, it was time for nationals.
Though he wasn't favored in this race, Tammisuo emerged with a lead pack of about 10 runners. He remained patient as the pack dwindled down to six, then four, then three, with fierce competitor Tom Morris from University of Wisconsin Stevens Point in the lead.
“I remember people asking, ‘Who’s this St. Lawrence guy?’” Howard said. “I told them, ‘If he comes off that hill with the pack, he’s going to win. He’s got a kick you can’t match.’ He knew exactly when to make his move,” Howard said. “He’d hold back, let them do the work, then take over at the perfect moment.”
“He wanted to shake us off,” Tammisuo said about Morris. “But I waited.”
I remember people asking 'Who's this St. Lawrence guy?' I told them, 'If he comes off that hill with the pack, he's going to win. He's got a kick you can't match.'
—Mike Howard '87
Over that last hill, Tammisuo was side-by-side with Morris. The two came flying towards the finish line. The back-to-back 1,500-meter champion, as smart as ever, had saved his speed until it was time to strike and took the championship by three-tenths of a second.
“That was one of my favorite races,” he said, “I really think the NCAA cross country title might have been my best race ever.”
“Jukka’s presence at St. Lawrence put us on the national stage and set up future for Saints distance running in cross country and track and field,” said Deb Lyndaker ’97, the first All-America for the Saints’ women’s cross country and track and field programs, a St. Lawrence coach from 1998-2008, and my mother. “St. Lawrence distance runners view his performances as iconic, and the stories of him are legendary.”
From Champion Runner to the Mentor of a Champion
I have had the privilege to talk with Tammisuo throughout my collegiate career. He’s given me tips multiple times, showing how invested he still is in the program nearly 40 years after he left. We connected over texts, and the first few were simple congratulations after good performances. Our conversations picked up last year when I really started making a splash.
Last year, I ran a 4:03.36 in the mile at Boston University, a time I knew would qualify for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships. Tammisuo reached out again, this time with the most motivating words of encouragement I could hear.
“Nick, you can win Nationals. It will be all about the kick during the last 300 meters. Keep the legs fresh for that,” he told me. “At Nationals, you suit up and start your warmup. You got to remind yourself, that dude did it twice, So, whisper (to) yourself, 'I need this first win,' and then it continues in 2026. Relax (while you’re) cruising and kick. Take it home.”
During the two weeks leading up to the 2025 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, I focused on sharpening those final 300 meters.
“Last 200m (in) 27.37, looking good for the Nats! Keep training and testing the furious kick from different speeds,” Jukka texted after our conference championship. “With your endurance you can probably produce the same kick even from a very high racing speed.”
He was right. At the NCAA Championships, I settled into fourth place and waited patiently, knowing whoever could run the last 300 meters the best would win. As I let the leaders battle it out, I quietly moved to third place with one lap to go and trusted myself to slingshot off the final corner. I took the lead in the final strides of the race, winning by three-hundredths of a second.
“Congratulations Nick,” Tammisuo texted after the race. “Tactically very nice run… You did not get nervous from the movement and concentrated for the kick. Nice. Super proud!!! This is the inspiration the program needs. This will motivate runners for decades. Beautiful!”
Nearly four decades after becoming St. Lawrence’s first track and field national champion, Jukka Tammisuo’s influence is still evident in the program. His encouragement to me shows just how powerful the nation’s No. 1 Alumni Network really is. His racing career at St. Lawrence set a standard for future Saints to follow.
Every generation adds its own chapter, but the process remains the same. Trust the work, trust yourself, trust the kick, and trust that someone before you has already proven that this place, tucked away in the North Country, can produce champions.
