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She was one of those natural athletes with a work ethic that few people could match.
“There’s a story about Kristi Gunderson that I like to tell all my athletes,” former Winona Senior High School girls track coach Lynne Gronert said. “One Sunday my husband and I were coming home from church and we saw Kristi in one of the big parking lots in downtown Winona. So we pulled over and watched her. She was stretching and running sprints in the parking lot on a Sunday during track season.
“She had the natural speed, but her work ethic was unbelievable. She had a great attitude. She didn’t like to lose. That’s what makes champions.”
Russell, a 1982 WSHS graduate, lettered four years on the track team and made the all-Big Nine Conference team her final three years as a sprinter and a high jumper.
She capped her brilliant career by running the anchor leg of the Class AA state-championship winning 800-meter relay. Lori Bollin, Amy Duran, Frani Loftness and Russell combined for a time of 1 minute, 44.6 seconds to beat the second-place team from Minneapolis Central by more than a second.
She also ran on the 1,600-relay team that took third in state that year. Russell advanced to state in the 200 as well, but didn’t make it to the finals. As a junior, she ran on the 1,600-relay team to place fourth at state.
“I just missed going to state both my sophomore and junior year by taking third in the 100 and 200,” said Gunderson, who currently lives in Lakeville, Minn. “We had one of the best times in the state in the sub-region, but if you matched all our individual times with the Minneapolis team, we shouldn’t have won. Our handoffs, we practiced those down to a science. That’s why we won.
“I remembered I had not done well in the open 200. I ran a horrible time. I was extremely disappointed. But we won the relay by a considerable margin. We were really excited.”
As a sophomore at Winona High, Russell fell in love with another sport — basketball. She got moved up to varsity as a sophomore, but didn’t crack the starting lineup until her junior year.
She blossomed her senior season playing alongside of Mary Schultz. Russell averaged 18 points, was named to the all-conference team and helped the Winhawks to a 16-5 season. They made it to the Region 1AA finals that year before falling to Rochester Mayo 50-47.
“If you’re picking teams, she’s one of the first players you’d pick on your side,” said Dave Heise, Russell’s high school basketball coach. “She wanted to win. She had that fire in her belly. She was a very intense competitor. She had outstanding athletic ability.
“She really came into her own her senior year, like Mary Schultz did. She showed potential, but she really didn’t put it all together until college.”
Russell, who ran cross country as a junior and senior to help build her endurance for basketball and track, drew some interest from Division II schools for basketball. She made recruiting trips to St. Cloud State and Mankato State. But they were looking to play Russell at guard, and despite being only 5-foot-8, she wanted to continue playing forward.
She opted instead for Wisconsin-River Falls, where she played basketball just one year. Russell then transferred to UW-La Crosse in 1983 and had to sit out the first half of the basketball season.
Shortly after Christmas, Russell was back playing and broke into the starting lineup. She remained there for the next 2½ years, and put up some mighty impressive numbers along the way.
UW-L made it to the finals of the NCAA Division III Great Regional her sophomore year and finished 19-8.
After basketball, she headed right into the track season, where La Crosse groomed her into a 400-meter specialist.
Russell will always remember the final basketball game she played for UW-L. In a win against UW-Superior, she scored 30 points and pulled down 24 rebounds. That rebound total remains a school record.
“We only had two seniors on that team, and I told the other senior that there was no way we were going to lose our last game,” Russell recalled. “We came back to win.”
Russell averaged 19 points and 11.3 rebounds as a senior and was named to the NCAA Division III All-America team as a second-team forward. She also made the all-conference team and all-Great Lakes Regional squad.
Her name is scattered everywhere in the UW-L record books. She ranks ninth in career scoring (1,114 points), 13th in rebounding (575), fourth in career free throws made (214) and fifth in career free throws attempted (316). And she accomplished those marks in just 2½ seasons.
Russell’s 32 points against UW-Stevens Point is tied for the fifth-most in a game. Her 200 field goals made and 434 attempts in her senior season (1985-86) both rank second in single-season school history, as does her 495 points. Her 290 rebounds that year rank third.
“Achievement-wise, my sophomore year was the best,” Russell said of her college basketball career. “Our senior year, we were better than our record (14-12), but we didn’t get a whole lot of breaks. Every year was fun. We had a lot of fun players.”
After her senior high of basketball, Russell shined on the track as well. She was the indoor conference champion and set a school record in the 400 meters. She also ran on the 1,600-meter relay team that took fifth in the Division III Outdoor National Championships, earning Russell her second All-American honor of the season.
“My senior year of track was great because La Crosse got to host the national meet,” Russell said. “And we took second as a team, too.”
Russell, who graduated from UW-L in 1987, has been married to Winona native Scott Russell for 15 years and is currently a stay-at-home mom with their two sons.
