Ten years ago, Erin Pac was a track and field star here at Springfield College, so it's really not hard to believe that she's now an Olympic medalist. The surprising thing is in which sport.

Jim Pennington got an interesting e-mail about a decade ago. It was an open invitation to try out for the U.S. bobsled team. He immediately thought of Erin Pac.

"I looked at it and I said, here's a perfect kid for it. She thought I was kidding around when I told her to go, and she's like, 'oh, I'll never make it' and I said, 'well, you never know until you do it'," Pennington says.

The longtime track and field coach at Springfield College had to do some convincing, but eventually got his heptathlete to give it a shot.

"You've got to be a con artist, you've got to con them into believing that they can do it. Whether they think they can or not, you've got to get them to that point."

Pac had never even seen bobsledding before, but Pennington says it's not too far off from track and field events.

"The relationships are very similar between the two and I think that's why they really look for those athletes."

Pac just missed out on the 2006 Olympics in Torino, but got her shot this year. Last week, she won a bronze medal. No wonder the college's nickname is the Pride.

"All I did was provide the stimulus, that's all. I recognized something and I said go try it out, supported her along the way as best I could."

Pac is now the third Olympic medalist to graduate from Springfield College, the first to do so since 1984.