Runner Reflects on BV Friends Who Join ‘Race’ of a Lifetime

January 30, 2024

Chris Snowardt ’94 had just finished six months of chemotherapy for colon cancer 10 years ago when he did something a bit uncommon: He trained for a half-marathon.

His suitemates surprised him by showing up and literally running the race with him, having trained for months to join their Buena Vista “brother” on race day in Lincoln, Neb.

“I’ll remember it the rest of my life,” Snowardt says from his home in Omaha. “I was committed to doing a half-marathon and one of my suitemates from BV, Michael Wiegman ’96, was joining me in the race.”

On the day before the 36th Annual Lincoln Marathon and Half-Marathon, Snowardt headed upstairs from his basement, intent on going to the Lincoln Marathon Expo held prior to the races. That’s the time when runners register, get their bib number, and receive final instructions regarding the race.

“I came upstairs and saw 30 pairs of shoes by my front door,” Snowardt says. “All nine of my BV friends had shown up with their spouses and their kids to surprise me. Their families came to Lincoln to support me in this incredible moment.”

Not only that, but they were also there to race. Mark Shea ’94, Brad Schroeder ’94, and Wiegman ran the full marathon. Snowardt, who had a colostomy bag at the time, was limited to a 13-mile half-marathon. He was joined by Scott Hansen ’94, Ryan Schroeder ’95, Dan Follmuth ’95, Doug Truex ’94, David Christensen ’94, and Jim Stockberger ’95.

“My BV friends became a huge part of who I am,” he says. “I wouldn’t change them for anything in the world.”

-Chris Snowardt, 1994 BVU graduate

“They had all gotten t-shirts that said, ‘Team Snowardt,’” he remembers, pausing as he reflects. “I’ve become a little more emotional about it the older I get. Some of those guys weren’t runners, per se. Some of them have never run again. But they trained and trained and trained to join me because running the race was so important to my health and well-being. It was a huge part of my recovery from cancer.”

As were his friends.

Chris Snowardt was born in Maine and lived in parts of the Midwest as a child as the family followed his father’s career. The Snowardts would eventually call O’Neill, Neb., home. Snowardt came to Buena Vista to study corporate communications with an emphasis in public relations. He met Brad Schroeder during freshmen orientation. Schroeder, now a BVU Trustee and Co-Founder of Hartung Schroeder Law Firm, had come to Buena Vista from Remsen.

“Dr. Sandra Madsen (Professor Emeritus) was my advisor,” Snowardt remembers. “My entire freshman year, she was awesome for me. Sandy was the faculty advisor for our freshman seminar group, and she was great about getting students like Brad and me into the college flow.”

“I have often teased these guys that if I had known in 1990 that, decades later, some of my closest friends would be the guys I’d met my first few hours at BV, I would have been a little more selective about who I said, ‘Hi,’ to,” Schroeder says with a laugh.

Henry Hardt, Professor Emeritus of Business Law and Finance, would also be a key faculty influence for Snowardt.

“I got into concepts surrounding people leadership and Henry Hardt taught me how to adjust to different people,” Snowardt says. “He was also my golf coach.”

As freshmen, these men lived in Pierce-White Residence Hall. When the suites opened in the fall of 1991, several formed a cohort and applied to reside in the “new dorm,” or what would become Briscoe Hall.

“I lived with Brad, Doug, Mark, and Scott, one of the first groups in the suites,” Snowardt says. “We had met through the dorms. Speaking for myself, I was lucky to get with these guys. I stayed out of trouble and their grade points helped lift our suite’s application. We got in!”

These friends shared classes, group projects, leadership posts, and co-curricular activities. Truex, Christensen and Snowardt were teammates on Hardt’s men’s golf team for four years. They would go on to earn jobs, attend graduate school and law school, raising families and contributing to their communities along the way.

“I’m in contact with these guys on a daily basis, almost,” says Snowardt, whose bout with colon cancer surfaced on May 21, 2012.

“I had run the Lincoln Marathon two weeks earlier and felt great,” he says. “There is no history of cancer in my family. I was 39 years old and had no health concerns of any type.”

That changed when he discovered blood in his stool twice within that week. He saw his doctor and soon learned he had Stage III colon cancer. Five weeks of radiation and chemotherapy via a pill would follow. 
“That initial chemo regimen saved my life,” he says. “The tumor was the size of a walnut when it was discovered. Five weeks later, thanks to chemotherapy, it had shrunk to the size of a pencil eraser.”

Surgeons removed 12 inches of his colon on Sept. 25, 2012. Snowardt wore a colostomy bag for eight months. Six months following surgery, he says his “hardcore chemo” took place. It’s also when his BV friends began showing up with some regularity.

“In my second chemotherapy session, I heard a commotion behind my right shoulder,” she says. “I look up and see Wiegman, Hansen, and Ryan Schroeder come around the corner of the clinic, all of them wearing Hawaiian outfits and hanging decorations to set a Hawaiian mood.”

A couple of sessions later, friends showed up unannounced and decorated the place in a pirate theme. Two sessions after that, it was a Mardi Gras motif.

“I never knew when they were going to show up,” he says. “It got to be where my nurses were expecting it. They loved seeing those guys come in to support me.”

Brad Schroeder and Stockberger drove from Des Moines to join Snowardt on his last chemotherapy session. They wore NASCAR racing suits and presented their pal a trophy and a checkered flag for finishing his race.

“At the time, both of them knew they were coming back to another race, the marathon,” Snowardt says. “I had no idea.” (Snowardt, incidentally, had spent years trying to convince all his friends to run a race at some point.)

“It was such an easy decision to say, ‘Yes,’ when some of our friends reached out to ask if we wanted to surprise and support Chris by running the marathon with him,” Shea says. “If he could even consider running after receiving chemotherapy treatment, I knew I had to say, ‘Yes.’ I also knew he would do the same for me.”

In the decade since that half-marathon following his diagnosis, Chris Snowardt has kept competing. He skis each December in Colorado with members of this special BV collection of friends. Last spring, he completed another triathlon, one of his many athletic pursuits.

“I thought I was in the best shape of my life back in 2012,” he says. “I can confidently say that, NOW, I’m in even better shape. I’m also 100-percent healthy.”

As he trains and competes, he can’t help but go back to that day just beyond a decade ago when his BV family showed up to join him on a 13-mile road that figuratively led to the rest of his life. He says he has Buena Vista University to thank, remaining ever grateful.

“My mom died in 2023 and one of the last things she talked to me about was all that my friends did for me when I was fighting cancer,” Snowardt says. “She died on a Wednesday and half of those guys took time away from their work and their families to come to her funeral.

“My BV friends became a huge part of who I am,” he says. “I wouldn’t change them for anything in the world.”