If there is one constant throughout Minnesota hurdler Spencer Brown’s athletic journey, it is travel.

After graduating from Immaculate High School in New Milford, Conn., Brown committed to Mount St. Mary’s University, where he received two Northeast Conference All-Rookie Team honors.

His successes at Mount St. Mary’s paved the way for his two stints at SEC schools. Brown competed for Tennessee and Ole Miss as both a long jumper and a hurdler.

The NCAA transfer portal originally put restrictions on transferring. Last year, the NCAA began to allow athletes to transfer an unlimited number of times, should they be in good academic standing.

Transfer restrictions were not the only part of Brown’s life that was being restrained. He was having trouble finding food similar to his Croatian culture.

Brown said the restrictions put on food for quality assurance by the European Union are the main reason he misses traditional Croatian dishes.

“Everything is just better quality,” Brown said. “The fruit tastes better, the meat tastes better, everything just tastes so good.”

Brown’s experiences at his previous schools left a bad taste in his mouth, given his three transfers, but Brown is unfazed.

“I wasn’t necessarily expecting to leave Ole Miss, but it ended up being the biggest blessing in disguise,” Brown said.

Fellow Gophers graduate transfer Christian Martin said a common thread with their smooth transfers to Minnesota was hurdles coach Ibrahim Kabia.

“We were able to find coach Kabia, who really plays a role in making us better athletes and better people at the same time,” Martin said.

Both the character development from coaches like Kabia and the direction of the program made Minnesota feel like home for Brown.

“This is the first program where I feel like I’ve had a coach genuinely care about me as not just an athlete but a person as well,” Brown said.

After transferring to the University of Minnesota, Brown missed the entire 2024 outdoor season due to a string of serious injuries.

“I think there was a real chance I wasn’t going to run again,” Brown said.

Marko Katalinić, Brown’s current hurdles coach in Croatia, said it is particularly difficult coaching an injured athlete with severe injuries, and Brown was no exception.

“Giving up was never an option for Spencer,” Katalinić said. “If there was a 0.1% chance for him to come back from those injuries, he would have taken it.”

Katalinić said Brown would have been an ideal hurdler for Croatia in 2024 had injuries not gotten in the way.

“I’m certain that if he stays healthy, Spencer is a real candidate for the LA Olympics in 2028,” Katalinić said. “That would be a great comeback story for both Croatians and Americans to follow.”

Following a roughly eight-hour flight to Zagreb, Croatia for their national championships, Brown took the gold in 110m hurdles with a time of 7.81 seconds. Brown said the win was its own trip.

“I can’t even begin to explain the weight that was lifted off my shoulders after winning,” Brown said. “I used to be a long jumper, but I’ve been progressing rather quickly in hurdles.”

While Brown said he feels he is underperforming this outdoor season, he thinks the hurdles team is set up for success.

“Ideally, the goal is to get us three hurdlers to NCAA Nationals and to get all three of us as high as possible on the podium at the Big Ten Championships,” Brown said. 

Brown said his favorite Croatian athlete is Real Madrid’s midfielder Luka Modrić, whose skills on the pitch put Croatian soccer in the spotlight. Brown added he wants to follow in Modrić’s footsteps.

“I want to represent Croatia on the world stage by qualifying for the Olympics and World Championships,” Brown said. “I want to put Croatian sprinting and hurdling on the map.”