COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - The first time Lars Molenkamp set foot on the Saint John's University campus was when he arrived as an incoming freshman in August of 2023.

By then, the Dutch and Hungarian native had already decided to uproot his life and move halfway around the world to a place where he could get an education and run competitively at the same time.

"There are no high school sports teams in the Netherlands," he said. "It's all through clubs. But going into college, I wanted to find a place where I could combine athletics and academics more efficiently. The NCAA model is unique to the U.S. and I was drawn to that. So I worked with an organization which helped me reach out to a bunch of different schools. Thankfully, Saint John's was one of the schools that responded and said they'd like to talk to me to see if it would be a good fit.

"I was able to take part in Zoom calls with the coaches here, the professors and some of the guys on the team at that time. I took a virtual tour online. But the first time I actually saw the campus was when I moved in my freshman year."

As daunting as that sounds, though, Molenkamp said his coaches and teammates on the Johnnie cross country team made the adjustment a smooth one.

"Thinking back on it, I really didn't have too many expectations," he said. "I let it come to me. The only view I'd had of Saint John's came from Google Maps. So I had a lot of exploring to do. But it was nice having these guys on the team around. They introduced me to so many new things and got me immersed in community life on campus. That helped make it a great experience and a really fun adventure."

Molenkamp comes from a global background. His father Johannes worked in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for many years. It was while posted in Hungary that he met his wife, Rita Molenkamp-Szucs.

The couple then moved to Brazil, where Lars was born, before returning to the Netherlands and settling in Almere, a city of 229,574 located about 30 to 40 minutes east of Amsterdam.

Johannes worked for the regional water authority, while Rita worked for the municipality of Amsterdam itself. Lars attended Ostvaarders College (high school), the same school his younger brother is a student at now.

"I think my parents' jobs, and the fact that we did a lot of traveling growing up, inspired me to want to broaden my own perspectives on the world," he said. "That's another one of the reasons I wanted to come to the U.S. to study. I like getting to experience new places and new ways of living.

"I'm not someone who enjoys being stuck in the same place for a long time."

Running at the American college level has certainly been one of those new experiences.

"I started running when I was four years old, but it's been quite a change coming here," he said. "I'm used to running in a club with people of all ages, not just my own. And college running has meant significantly increasing my mileage.

"But it's been fun to experience the true team aspect of things. In the Netherlands, my dad would drive me to races. I'd compete and go home. Here you travel to competitions with your team. Everyone roots each other on. There's a lot more feeling of togetherness."

And Molenkamp has steadily improved throughout his time in Collegeville. At the MIAC outdoor track-and-field meet last May, he finished 11th overall in the men's 1,500-meter run (4:02.30) and was part of SJU's 4x800 relay team, which placed third.

He was hoping to continue building on that momentum at the start of his senior season this fall but suffered a hamstring injury over the summer that sidelined him through all of September.

Molenkamp was finally able to return to action at the Running of the Cows on Oct. 3 in Northfield, then dropped over two minutes off his 8-kilometer time at Linfield's George Oja Invitational on Oct. 17 in Oregon.

He'll look to continue that trajectory when the Johnnies compete at the MIAC Championship meet, scheduled for noon Saturday at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

"Lars is a hard worker and is always taking care of the little things," SJU head coach Maxwell Kuzara '17 said. "He's very sharp and never misses a beat. He's like having another coach out there. He's always on top of things. He's just a really resourceful senior.

"He's a great example for the younger runners on the team to learn from, and it's fun to have a someone around with a very different life experience than most of our guys."

Cross country and track-and-field aren't the only areas Molenkamp has explored at SJU. He studied abroad in Japan as a sophomore and spent this past summer working at the National Council of Higher Education Resources as part of the Washington, D.C. Summer Study Program at CSB and SJU.

"It's been awesome to experience all the opportunities open to students here," he said. "I've had the chance to try so many new things I never would have imagined being possible before. I loved studying in Japan, and I really enjoyed working in Washington, D.C. I gained a lot of experience that will be really useful in the future.

"It's those kinds of real-life experiences that help you discover what you're passionate about and what you want to do after graduation."

Molenkamp, an economics major, is currently applying to graduate schools in Switzerland, where he hopes to obtain a master's degree in economics.

From there, he'd like to work in a field with an international focus.

"Maybe in government or at a central bank," he said. "Possibly a nongovernment organization that focuses on international trade and cooperation. 

"That's an area I'm really interested in."

But for now, his attention is focused on cross country and helping the Johnnies run their best races at the end of the season when it matters most.

"I think that's a challenge the whole team is excited about taking on," Molenkamp said. "Our training has been going really well. Everyone has been improving from meet-to-meet."