INDOOR NATIONALS RECAP
Been a few weeks since Indoor Nationals, but between having to drive back from Alabama due to the snowstorm going through the Midwest at the time and getting going with our outdoor season, I haven’t had a chance to put down some thoughts about Cole’s indoor nationals racing.
Finishing 8th, with 800m splits of 2:19.64 and 1:56.38 in the mile final on Saturday, Cole became our 6th indoor All-American in a distance event and first since Chris Erichsen in 2008! Obviously this was a great result that we were very excited about. Even for Cole to have made the final was a great result after coming in seeded 13th. This was Cole’s first track & field national meet and the first time he has ever even had to race a prelim / make a final now that the 1500m at the outdoor conference meet is just a two section final with no prelims anymore (since 2022). The race in the final certainly presented some tactical challenges when that many talented guys are bunched up together after getting out so slow, but that made for a great learning experience for Cole for the future and it’s hard to ask for much more than a 1:56.38 last 800m in the national final.
Cole does a great job at keeping the race simple — race smart in the early laps, then just compete, believe in himself and go off of how he feels on that day — and try and beat as many people as he can, of course.
Post-race celebrations at the Birmingham Dave & Buster’s were in store, and the guys won some great prizes that will make for even better door prizes at next year’s cross country banquet :)
We are excited for the outdoor season to get going considering how we approach the indoor season and always looking to be at our best in May, not March. Since indoor nationals, Cole and the rest of our squad have gotten back to training and getting some good mileage in, and we are excited for the weather to get better and better each week as we get into the outdoor season.
Saint John’s Indoor All-Americans (distance events):
1972 - Joe Skaja (5th, two mile)
1988 - Joe Bohlke (8th, 5000m)
2003 - John Mathews (4th, 1500m)
2004 - Michael Marschel (5th, 800m)
2007 - Chris Erichsen (4th, 5000m)
2008 - Chris Erichsen (6th, 5000m)
2026 - Cole Stencel (8th, Mile)
PLATTEVILLE 5Ks
Our distance group is split this weekend between the UW Platteville 5K Invitational tonight and Bethel’s Gene Glader Invitational tomorrow.
Platteville has become the go-to place to run a fast 5k the last few years, and this year seems to be no different. They have 11 heats of men and 7 heats of women on the schedule tonight, and the weather looks to be great this year once again. Last year’s group went 8-for-8 on 5k PRs, so hopefully we can keep that trend going.
We will have six guys racing tonight, each in different heats. Racing tonight will be:
Max McCoy (section #2 at 4:55pm)
Lars Molenkamp (section #3 at 5:15pm)
Jacob Malecha (section #4 at 6:00pm)
Nick St. Peter (section #5 at 6:20pm)
Vincent Kaluza (section #7 at 7:25pm)
Cole Stencel (section #10 at 9:05pm)
Each heat has about 30-35 athletes in it whose seed times are only about 10 seconds apart from each other. Year after year it has been a great atmosphere providing some under-the-lights magic, and we are looking forward to seeing how the guys do.
Live results: MileSplit Live Results
BONUS HIGHLIGHT #1
NASCAR racing results from Dave & Buster’s. Sorry Tim.
BONUS HIGHLIGHT #2
Our water pit before the Steeplechase at our home outdoor opener two weeks ago, the CSB+SJU Optimistic Invitational. Nothing like a late-March steeplechase!
