The Johnnie track and field team travels to St. Paul for the Hamline Invitational at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 5, at Klas Field. – Live Results

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Field Events
-10:00 a.m.: Javelin (M/W), Pole Vault (M/W)
-11:00: Discus (M/W), Hammer Throw (W/M), High Jump (W/M), Long Jump (M/W), Triple Jump (W/M)
-12:30 p.m.: Shot Put (W/M)

Track Events (M/W)
-10:30 a.m.: 5,000 Meters
-12:05 p.m.: 4x100-Meter Relay
-12:20: 1,500 Meters
-1:17: 110-Meter Hurdles
-1:45: 400-Meter Dash
-2:20: 100-Meter Dash
-3:05: 800 Meters
-3:57: 400-Meter Hurdles
-4:21: 200-Meter Dash
-5:11: Steeplechase
-5:50: 4x400-Meter Relay

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's won seven events and recorded 19 top-five finishes at its outdoor opener – the CSB/SJU Optimistic Invitational – last Friday (March 28) in Clemens Stadium. SJU did not have a competitor in three events - the 800 meters, steeplechase or 5,000 meters – in the unscored meet.

Sophomore Cole Stencel (Mapleton, Minn./Maple River) and junior Nick St. Peter (Maple Grove, Minn.) virtually tied for the win in the 1,500 meters – Stencel in 4:02.065 and St. Peter at 4:02.069 – and four other Johnnies claimed victories.

Senior Jackson McDowell (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe), fresh off his runner-up finish at the 2025 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, won the high jump with a mark of 2.06 meters. Another SJU All-American from two weeks ago (16th in the long jump), senior Zach Schaffer (Chaska, Minn.) won the event Friday with a leap of 6.88 meters. Schaffer's distance was half an inch ahead of sophomore Matt Hansen (Longmont, Colo./Niwot) in second (6.87 meters).

Junior Mitchell Degen (Brainerd, Minn.) placed first in the javelin throw (60.15 meters), while McDowell was fifth (49.99 meters), and sophomore Andrew Withuski (Wahpeton, N.D.) won the pole vault with a height of 4.29 meters.

SJU's 4x100- (42.86; Popoca, Blake, Moberg, Morey) 4x400-meter (3:28.72; Becker, Allen, Langheim, Montreuil) relays took first.

Senior Eamon Cavanaugh (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) was second in the 10,000 meters (31:38.05) and senior Joe Mensen (Hudson, Wis./Hill-Murray) claimed third in the weight throw (47.74 meters).

Senior Kevin Arthur (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) and sophomore Wyatt Witschen (Monticello, Minn.) were third (49.94) and fourth (49.99), respectively, in the 400-meter dash. Freshman Jacob Sterk (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) placed third, first among NCAA Division III competitors, in the 400-meter hurdles (57.91) and senior Pierre Deutschlander (Maple Grove, Minn.) was fourth (59.01).

Sophomore Kieran Murnan (Lakeville, Minn./Holy Angels) finished fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.13 seconds and Hansen was fifth (11.24), 0.01 ahead of junior Aidan Morey (Omaha, Neb./Creighton Prep) in sixth (11.25). Sophomore Bangaly Kaba (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) claimed fifth, third among Division III participants, in the triple jump (12.63 meters).

REGIONAL RANKINGS: SJU debuted at No. 2 in the first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) North Region TFRI released on Tuesday (April 1).

1. Wisconsin-Whitewater
2. SJU
3. Carthage, Wis.
4. Milwaukee School of Engineering, Wis.
5. Wisconsin-Stevens Point
6. Concordia-Moorhead
7. Wisconsin-River Falls
8. St. Norbert, Wis.
9. Concordia, Wis.
10. Martin Luther

WHO WILL BE THERE: The Johnnies and host Pipers are scheduled to be joined on the men's side by Augsburg, Bethel, Carleton, Concordia-Moorhead, Division II Concordia-St. Paul, Crown, Martin Luther, Division I Minnesota, Minnesota-Morris, North Central (Minn.), Northwestern (Minn.), St. Scholastica and Wisconsin-Superior.

LAST YEAR'S MEET: SJU won five events and totaled 35 top-eight performances at last year's Hamline Invitational held on April 6 (2024) in St. Paul.

Two Johnnies - Arthur and Schaffer – won two events each. Arthur took first in the 100- (10.38) and 200-meter (22.23) dashes, while Schaffer posted the best distances in the long jump (6.90 meters) and triple jump (13.81 meters). Witschen followed Arthur in the 200-meter dash in second (23.15), while senior Ryan Conzemius (La Crosse, Wis./Aquinas) was fifth (23.38) and Hansen was eighth (23.55). Murnan and Hansen cracked the top eight behind Arthur in the 100-meter sprint in fifth (11.08) and seventh (11.13), respectively. Witschen also took sixth in the 400-meter dash (50.63).

Elijah Wade '23 was right behind Schaffer in the triple jump in second (13.21 meters), while Kaba and sophomore Noah Rose (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka) placed seventh (12.10 meters) and eighth (11.63 meters), respectively.

McDowell started his outdoor season with a tie for first place with a height of 1.95 meters. Senior Jaeden Frost (Omro, Wis.) claimed second, first among Division III throwers, with a toss of 50.91 meters in the hammer and also placed fifth in the discus (41.30 meters) and sixth in the shot put (14.46 meters). Mensen and junior Tom Kuriscak (Stillwater, Minn./St. Paul Academy) followed Frost in fifth (43.50 meters) and sixth (43.09 meters), respectively, in the hammer throw. 

SJU's 4x100-meter relay team (Emanuel Popoca, Arthur, Schaffer, Kieran Murnan) was second behind Division II Concordia-St. Paul (41.16) with a time of 41.68 seconds and the 4x400-meter relay (Witschen, Montreuil, Tommy Allen, Conzemius) finished fourth (3:27.40).

Sophomore Cooper Smith (Alvarado, Minn./East Grand Forks) claimed third in the 400-meter hurdles (56.41) and Withuski led three Johnnies in the pole vault's top eight with a third-place mark of 4.20 meters. Junior Kole Guth (St. Peter, Minn.) was fourth (4.05 meters) and classmate Josh Johnston (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) tied for seventh (3.90 meters).

Sophomore Vincent Kaluza (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) finished third in the 5,000 meters (15:13.68) and four teammates followed in succession: St. Peter in sixth (15:30.08); Cavanaugh in seventh (15:39.32); senior Aiden Chalmers (Chaska, Minn./Minnetonka) in eighth (15:49.58); and junior Jacob Malecha (Lonsdale, Minn./New Prague) in ninth (15:53.91).

Three more Johnnies finished in the javelin's top eight, led by Degen in third (50.76 meters).

Junior Owen Montreuil (Jordan, Minn.) finished fourth out of 44 runners in the 800 meters (1:58.21) and sophomore Lars Molenkamp (Almere, Netherlands/Oostvaarders College) was eighth in the 1,500 meters (4:09.17), fifth among Division III runners.

EARLY NATIONAL RANKINGS: Four Johnnies are already in NCAA Division III's top 50 for outdoor track.

High Jump
4. Jackson McDowell, 2.06m

Javelin Throw
13. Mitchell Degen, 60.15m

Long Jump
23. Zach Schaffer, 6.88m
26. Matt Hansen, 6.87m