Saint John's cross country starts the 2025 season by co-hosting the Toni St. Pierre Invitational on Friday, Sept. 5, at River Oaks G.C. in Cold Spring. The men's 5k race is scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m., following the women's race at 6 p.m. – Live Results | Course Map

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's returns all but one of its top-seven runners from a team that finished as the runner-up at the MIAC Championship and 11th at the NCAA North Regional in 2024. Three Johnnies finished within the top 20 at last year's MIAC Championships, junior Vincent Kaluza (14th; Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) crossed the line in 25:38, followed by fifth-year senior Eamon Cavanaugh (17th; Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) and junior Cole Stencel (19th; Mapleton, Minn./Maple Grove). The rest of the top five consisted of seniors Aiden Chalmers (23rd; Chaska, Minn./Minnetonka), Nick St. Peter (30th; Maple Grove, Minn.) and Jacob Malecha (33rd; Lonsdale, Minn./New Prague). Joe Gathje '25 was 40th. Kaluza led the Johnnies once again in 42nd at the NCAA North Regional, followed by Chalmers (58th), Stencel (59th), St. Peter (78th) and Cavanaugh (81st). Malecha finished three seconds behind Cavanaugh to finish (85th) and Gathje was 100th.

WHO WILL BE THERE: The Johnnies and Bennies are scheduled to be joined Friday by their alumni, Northwestern (Minn.), St. Catherine (women only), Division II St. Cloud State (women only), Wisconsin-Stout and Wisconsin-Superior. Awards will be given to the top-10 finishers in each race. Food will be available after both races for CSB/SJU student-athletes and their families, as well as for CSB/SJU alumni in attendance.

TONI ST. PIERRE: As a high school junior in early 1972 at Eisenhower High School in Hopkins, Minn., 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. 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.
 
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 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.

THE REST OF THE SCHEDULE: The Johnnies follow Friday's season opener with the MIAC Preview, hosted by Hamline, Sept. 12 at the Highland 9-Hole Golf Course in St. Paul - the site of the 2025 MIAC Championships - and cross the border Oct. 3 for Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Blugold Invitational. SJU races at Augustana's Interregional Invitational Oct. 18 in Rock Island, Ill., before the MIAC Championships Nov. 1. The team hosts its annual Fall Finale Nov. 7 and the NCAA North Regional is Nov. 15 in Colfax, Wis., where the Blugold Invite is held. The 2025 NCAA Division III Championships are the following Saturday – Nov. 23 – in Spartanburg, S.C.