Grinnell College Athletics

John Aerni-Flessner ’01 is the epitome of a well-rounded and successful student-athlete. Over the course of his time as a Grinnell College track and field and cross country runner, Aerni-Flessner delivered incredible and consistent races time and time again. He was a 17-time Conference champion across both sports. He earned All-American honors with a fifth-place finish in the steeplechase at the NCAA National Championships in his senior season, topping the Grinnell record book with his time. Aerni-Flessner is also on the Pioneer top 10 all-time list for the 1500, 3K, 5K, 10K, distance medley relay, and cross country. Though he won many athletic awards, such as the David Theophilus ’51 and John Welden ’58 awards, Aerni-Flessner was just as successful on the academic side, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, earning the History Award for his year and serving as SGA vice president. Following his time at Grinnell, he taught high school in Alaska and in southern Africa on the Grinnell College Lesotho program. In between, he won the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. John then continued his education at Washington University in St. Louis, earning his Ph.D. in African history in 2011. Now he is a professor of history at Michigan State and has written a book on the history of Lesotho. In some ways this is not a surprise, as he completed one of the first Mentored Advanced Projects in the history department. in that project he worked with George Drake and co-authored a book on the history of the Midwest Conference.