Over the years Cotter has seen its share of athletic families, it’s pretty rare to find one where the parent keeps competing as long or longer than the children.

Ken Mogren has been in the  insurance business in Winona for a long time.  He raised three sons that all excelled in sports at Cotter and he is still competing at a national and sometimes world class level.

In responding to questions about his athletic career and his time as a parent of Cotter athletes, it became clear that staying active, competing in the proper way, and finding a way to challenge yourself are all important to him.

Here’s what he had to say.

How long have you competed as a runner or biker?

I was late discovering where I had some natural athletic ability. At Winona High and Winona State I played on the golf team. I also played football and basketball in high school but was done by my junior year. I was not very big, fast or talented.  I started running in  my early 20’s mainly to manage my weight but discovered  a talent I didn’t realize I’d had. My first race was a half marathon at age 28. I started biking and cross country skiing in my late 20’s, too. I’ve always liked to compete, so it wasn’t long until I was racing regularly. I still do 15-20 events per year. Cross country skiing is my favorite sport. I no longer run marathons (I’ve done 15 with a PR of 2:49) because they are too hard on the body. I also stopped bike racing because crashes are inevitable and they hurt . I do ride time trial bike races and am OK when biking is part of a duathlon or triathlon because the danger is far less when drafting is not part of the equation. I don’t swim competitively but do a couple of triathlons each year where kayaking is involved instead of swimming. Otherwise I like run-bike duathlons and do a few short running events.

Are you training for any competitions currently?

I’m always training for something. Having a big race on my calendar motivates me to  keep at it. I just finished my cross country ski season and it was a good one, I won my age division at the National Masters Championship in Anchorage last week and also won my age group at  the Birkebeiner  the week before.  (note: Ken thought he took second at the Birkie for a couple months until a scoring error was corrected.)  My next  “big” race will be the National Masters  Duathlon Championship in July. I’ll do a few events leading up to that.

At what age did you introduce your kids to run, ski or biking?

“My kids Sam ( Cotter “98), Max (Cotter ’99) and Ben (Cotter ’01) gravitated toward my sports gradually. They got exposed to baseball, golf, soccer, football and basketball in grade school and middle school. They  were downhill and cross country skiing by age 6 or 7.  Sam was a  good soccer player and  one of the top scorers at Cotter. He lettered 4 years in cross country skiing. He tried track a couple of years but never really liked it much. He still stays in shape doing  Crossfit .  He’s run  3 or 4 marathons  and bikes a little, but he’s pretty busy with his job and family. He lives in Arizona,  has two young daughters and works as a National Accounts Rep for a company that sells industrial electrical equipment”

“Max was the really gifted athlete in the family. He lettered 5 years in cross country skiing, was All-State twice, He was also All-State twice in both track and Cross Country. Max also played soccer in high school and ran cross country  at the same time.  He  was a good cyclist and and won the Junior World Duathlon  Championship in France when he was 20. He did the running and skiing sports in college at St Johns. He is a writer and adventurer. He lives in Jackson Hole and supports himself as a bartender, writer and has a small on-line business selling outdoor gear. He had a bad ankle injury playing soccer his senior year that still bothers him when he runs. He’s still skiing a lot and prefers back country skiing to all other types. He’s still single”

” Ben also played soccer and ran cross country at the same time.  He also ran track. His best sport was cross country skiing. He went to State 3 times and was All State once. He got a skiing scholarship to UW-Green Bay and skied there all 4 years. He kept skiing another 3 years after college in an Olympic development program in Oregon. While in Oregon, he supported himself working in restaurants and that led to his career choice. When he realized he was not quite Olympic caliber, he went to  culinary school. He’s a chef for the Packers at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. He’s still an avid runner , cyclist and cross country ski competitor. He’s also still single.”

What do you remember about them competing at Cotter?

“I have a lot of great memories of their high school years. Sally and I attended almost every athletic event and music concert. Sam and Max were first chair musicians, Sam on trumpet and Max on baritone sax, Max actually won the Triple A award .  They played in Jazz band which along with sports made for some very busy days.  Ben played trumpet too but really didn’t put the effort into it that he did his sports. Those years went by very quickly. It was a time when we got to know some great  people who were, coaches, teammates and parents and even some coaches and competitors who were opponents. It’s fun to reconnect with those people from time to time.  I remember being very proud  each time  I watched and sharing the joy of the victories and the agony  when things didn’t go our way. I think high school sports help prepare kids for life where it’s important to have discipline, to be part of a team and to bounce back from the inevitable defeats that  are part of sports and life.”

Does anything in your kids high school athletic experience stand out for you?

“My stand out memories generally come from skiing. I helped coach the team as a parent volunteer. It was a thrill Sam’s senior year when Ben was a freshman and the three Mogren brothers were starters on a pretty good team. I especially remember the trips to the State Cross Country Ski meet where I was probably more nervous than the kids because I was waxing all their skis. I also remember a heartbreaking soccer game against Orono  which would have put Cotter into the semi-finals of the State Meet. Orono had a great team and we were extreme underdogs. Sam scored the apparent winning goal in overtime, only to have it disallowed. It looked like he’d knee’d  the ball into the neet,  but the ref said he punched it in with his fist. No one saw it from the stands, but Sam said the ref got it right.  Orono scored the winning goal a couple minutes later, but I doubt any Cotter player or parent will ever forget almost winning that very big game.”