Purchasing Tickets for the October 18, Hall of Fame Banquet

On Saturday, October 18, at the Post 98 American Legion Building, the Cumberland school District will be holding their 12th annual Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet. The induction Class for 2025 includes athletes and alumni Kyle Narges,  Amy Nelson Gustom, Abby Nelson Volbrecht, Tyler Odden, Ken Barrows,  Doug Gibson and contributor Mark Mauer.

Tickets may be arranged for the event by contacting Mark Fuller at 715-790-0109 or by email at mfull@csdmail.com. Once arranged, the cost of $25 per attendee will be collected the night of the Induction.

The night will begin with a Social at 6:00 pm, followed by a meal catered-in by Dusty Anderson at 7:00 pm. The Induction will follow the meal at approximately 8:00 pm. “It is a great evening of celebrating over 100-years of Cumberland Athletics and anyone who comes will enjoy the special evening,” said Fuller, one of a five-person Hall of Fame committee.

Anyone with questions should contact Fuller. “We are looking forward to another great night of celebration and thank Superintendent Dr. Barry Rose and the School Board for their support of this recognition of our District’s athletic history.

Amy Nelson Gustom

When Cumberland High School celebrates the Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Class of 2025 on the evening of October 18, distance runners will take a prominent place among those being celebrated. Among those Inductees are twins Amy and Abby Nelson, who together helped lead Cumberland to the only two Women’s Cross Country HON Championships in school history.

Although it is almost impossible to separate the two from their achievements, this week we call attention to Amy Nelson Gustom, with her sister Abby to be featured in an upcoming Advocate.  

To say Amy was busy in high school is an understatement. The 2001 graduate ran four years of cross country, four years of track, and was a three-year member of the Spooner-Cumberland Cross Country Ski Team. In her spare time, she was part of the marching band, received a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and in the summer, taught swimming lessons at the Cumberland Beach.

Amy is quick to thank her parents for the part they played during her busy school years. “Our dad Kelly trained with us in Tae Kwon Do for years, while our mother Paula helped make our busy schedule possible. When Abby and I said we wanted to go out for a sport, she kept us to our word. She paid for the many lessons we had for swimming and Tae Kwon Do and drove us to all our activities. It was the time and money my mother provided to us that I didn't fully appreciate until later in life. Being good at sports had more to do with having incredible parents than just being athletic.” 

Her Cross Country exploits helped lead Cumberland to HON Championships in 1999-2000 and 200-2001. As an Individual, she won eight meets her Senior year and finished second at the HON Meet. She also qualified for the State Meet by running a 17:06 at the Sectional Meet.

Amy said her success was tied in part to her Coach Mike Clay and the other runners.

“Mr. Clay was dedicated to every practice and to training every runner. He always had his bike with him and would cheer us on.” Clay would say of his former athlete, “Amy didn’t just chase medals, she inspired teammates to believe in themselves and work harder. Her coaches and teammates alike, remember her as someone who pushed through pain with a smile, and who cheered the loudest for others, even when her own legs were burning.”

During the winter, she turned her attention towards the Co-op Cross Country Team the Beavers shared with Spooner. “Randy and Vikki Larson from Spooner were the Ski Coaches and we would train November through February in Spooner and Hayward whether there was snow or not,” she would say.

The time Amy spent at the sport proved successful as the Co-op would ultimately qualify for the State Tournament in Minoqua and finish 5th as a team, while Nelson was 11th as an individual. She would use this training to also ski in the 51m Birkebeiner Ski Race her Senior year, finishing third in her age group with a time of 4:16.

Springtime found Amy on the track team, where she had an outstanding career as a distance runner. She would become a Sectional qualifier in both the 1600 and 3200 and would become a School Record holder in the 1600 and 3200m Relay and 1600m Relay Teams. She shared the MVP Award with her sister her Senior year.

Following high school, Amy Nelson attended UW-River Falls where she became a member of the Cross Country Team and quickly set the School Record in the 5000m with a time of 18:42. This earned her the team’s MVP Award as a Freshman.

Her second year of college was interrupted by AIT training for the Army Reserve, which was not completed in time to start school that fall. She had joined the Reserves in 2000 along with Abby. 

She did return to school second semester, but her Unit was activated and sent to Iraq in February of 2003. Upon returning to the States seven months later, Amy decided to transfer to UW-Eau Claire, where Abby attended school.

In 2004, she signed up for deployment to Afghanistan following Abby’s own deployment with a different Unit. She served for one year. While there, Nelson won an Award for Excellence from the Command Sergeant Major of the Combined Joint Special Operation Forces for winning every woman’s race on the base of Camp Kandahar during that year. She received her Honorable Discharge in 2006.

After serving her country in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Amy Nelson would finish her degree and become a nurse in Eau Claire before joining her husband Brandon in a move to Sand Creek where she has been an Emergency Room nurse for the Mayo Health Systems in Bloomer for the past nine years. Married for 13 years, Brandon is a plumber and they have two daughters, Adele (10) and Stella (9).

Amy Nelson Gustom is still active today in running, biking, and skiing events. She has run many half-marathons and has done bike races across Nebraska and Iowa. One would expect nothing different from what we know about her busy high school career. This October 18, we get a chance to celebrate these incredible athletic accomplishments during her well-deserved Induction into the Cumberland Athletic Hall of Fame.