We wrapped up our indoor conference meet this past weekend with a 3rd place finish as a team. Missing top sprinter and top returning 100m guy in the nation, sophomore Max Reis, certainly impacted our team score, but nevertheless we had some great performances all across the board.
Cole Stencel won his first two individual MIAC titles this weekend with the mile on the first day and the 1,000m on the second day. Both races were new school records — the mile surpassing (by .26) the time that Cole ran earlier this season, and the 1,000m beating the 2016 school record of 2:27.74 by Tommy Feichtinger. Cole’s performance in the mile was also a new MIAC Championship meet record, surpassing St. Olaf alum and 2014 DIII Cross Country Champion Grant Wintheiser’s time of 4:11.94 from 2014. Both were exciting races, and I’ve included the videos of each race below (just the last three laps of the mile — when Cole makes his move). The 1,000m had a particularly exciting finish.
Senior Owen Montreuil also set a new school record in the 600m with his 4th place finish and time of 1:21.52 to beat Michael Marschel’s 2003 time of 1:21.87. Owen ran 1:21.88 last year, missing the school record by just .01, so it was good to see Owen improve on that this year the day after he also finished 6th in what was a loaded conference 800m in a time of 1:54.85.
Our distance medley relay team of Lars Molenkamp, Wyatt Witschen, Max McCoy and Nick St. Peter also put together an All-MIAC performance with their 3rd place finish and time of 10:21.61. Lars and Wyatt ran great 1200m and 400m legs, respectively, handing the baton off to Max McCoy in the lead. Nick St. Peter, who would later also finish 6th in the 1,000m the next day, got the baton in 2nd place just behind St. Olaf and ran a great 1600m leg, only being caught by Carleton’s 3:46 1500m man, Gabe Nichols, on the last couple of laps before finishing 3rd and securing six team points for us.
2026 Indoor MIAC Men’s Mile
2026 Indoor MIAC Men’s 1,000m
LAST CHANCE MEET AND INDOOR NATIONALS (?)
Before making the full transition into the outdoor season, we are going to head down to Wartburg College this Friday for an attempt at a fast Distance Medley Relay. I think we have a good chance at running a time good enough to qualify for the indoor national meet (top 12 relays qualify), but of course there is only one way to find out. Race is at 6:20pm this Friday. Here is the live results link if you want to follow along: Wartburg Qualifier - Mar 6 – 7, 2026 | Wayzata Results
Cole Stencel is also currently sitting 19th in the Mile and 29th in the 3,000m on the national lists as well. The top 20 entrants in each event qualify for indoor nationals, which is next week in Birmingham, Alabama.
Thanks for following along!
