Q&A with Mika Laaksonen: Bringing Conference USA Track and Field Championships to El Paso
UTEP track coach Mika Laaksonen arrived in El Paso from the University of Technology in Lappeenranta, Finland in 1992 and has spent the 34 years since in the Sun City.
He transitioned from national championship athlete in the hammer and weight throws to assistant to head assistant and then in 2010, head coach. In the 2022 World Championships, UTEP was one of two schools (Texas A&M was the other) to have two alums win world titles.
Historically, UTEP has won 20 national championships in men's track, indoor track and cross country, with six of the titles (the last in 1982) in outdoor track.
When UTEP hosts the Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Friday through Sunday at its venerable Kidd Field, it will mark the fifth time the Miners have hosted the championships and the third since Laaksonen became head coach.
UTEP will be hosting eight other Division I schools and an estimated 500 athletes with their coaches.
What does it mean for El Paso to host this meet?
It's a great honor to host the championship meet. It's a new Conference USA, new teams, it will be exciting to see how we can do here on our home turf.
How did UTEP come to get this for the first time since 2017?
That a process where the coaches don't have direct control, that's something our administration takes care of. They asked if we were interested in hosting and we said yes.
What goes into hosting this for a coaching staff?
Right now the biggest challenge for us is getting the facility ready for this type of event without sacrificing our resources maintaining this facility like it's supposed to be. When you have to get ready for a championship you have more to do. It's beneficial for our program, the city and the facility to do this more often. It's been seven years since we've had this.
What are some of the things you have to do?
We coach, we watch the track, we fundraise — pretty much everything. Whatever you can imagine, we're part of it.
More: What to know about the Conference USA track and field championships
UTEP hasn't had a regular-season home meet in several years; they used to be regular. Does this get UTEP back in the business of regular-season home meets?
We'd have to have funding for those home meets. It's not in the budget right now, it takes a lot of money to run a track meet. The other thing, this used to be a place to come when you qualified (for nationals) based on time. Everybody likes to run at altitude (which is beneficial in the sprints and field events) on a fast track.
Now that there is a preliminary round (for nationals) with 48 runners, no one is going to bring their 55th-ranked 100-meter runner here to get in the top 48. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just saying for our perspective it makes it tough to get teams to come.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Q&A with UTEP track coach: Bringing CUSA championships to El Paso
