ST. JOSEPH, MINN. – Toni St. Pierre, a trailblazer in women's athletics at the College of Saint Benedict in the 1970s, will be featured in a new book set to be released on December 27, 2022.
 
The 200-page book, Break Point: Two Minnesota Athletes and the Road to Title IX by Sheri Brenden, will be printed by the University of Minnesota Press. On Saturday, Oct. 22, St. Pierre will be among 50 women at the College of Saint Benedict and a trailblazer recognized as part a Title IX honoring event, "Celebrating Saint Benedict Athletics: 1972-2022."
 
Brenden recounts the story her sister, Peggy Brenden, and St. Pierre, two Minnesota high school female athletes who wanted to compete in but were denied the opportunity by "an unequal system of high school athletics," in the early 1970s. In a revolutionary court case that changed the landscape of athletics, the federal court ruled in favor of the two teenagers, who challenged the eligibility rules of the Minnesota State High School League.
 
"This scrupulously reported book is at heart the story of the girls whose pluck and determination—and heartache—led to a victory much greater than any high school championship," the University of Minnesota Press touts in publicizing the book.
 
As a high school junior at Eisenhower High School in Hopkins, Minn., in early 1972, St. Pierre wanted the opportunity to train and compete in cross country running and Nordic skiing, which at the time were boys-only interscholastic sports. At the same time, Peggy Brenden, a tennis player at St. Cloud Tech, had encountered a roadblock when, she too, wanted to compete and sought legal action to remedy the situation.
 
"The stories of Toni St. Pierre and Peggy Brenden are such an important part of the history of girls and women's sports in Minnesota," stated CSB Athletic Director Kelly Anderson Diercks. "Many of our current student-athletes don't know this history and is incredibly important for them to realize how far we have come and yet that there is still work to be done to achieve true gender equity in sport."
 
After the ruling, St. Pierre was able to compete in Nordic ski and track and field as a senior in high school. Later, she continued her competitive career while she attended CSB, competing as part of the Saint John's University cross country team because a varsity program did not yet exist at Saint Ben's. At age 58, St. Pierre lost a battle to cancer and passed away in 2013.
 
Mary Jo Kane, director emerita, Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at University of Minnesota writes: "This engaging and meticulously researched book gives readers insight into a crucial milestone in the history of women's sports – a 1972 federal court decision that changed the lives of two Minnesota high-school girls and paved the way for future generations to fully participate in sports. These two young women believed they should not have to sit on the sidelines, and they challenged the naysayers and courageously fought for gender equity across the sports world. We are forever in their debt."

A story about St. Pierre, a true trailblazer in women's athletics, will be featured in the upcoming issue of fall issue of the College of Saint Benedict alumnae magazine.