Saint John's track and field split for three meets this weekend: Friday at the Wisconsin-Platteville Invitational; and Saturday at Bethel's Gene Glader Invitational and the Division II MSU-Mankato Open. - Platteville Live Results | Gene Glader Live Results 

FRIDAY NIGHT IN PLATTEVILLE: Six Johnnies are scheduled to race in the 5,000 meters on Friday at the Wisconsin-Platteville Invitational. The race on the men's side includes 11 heats. Junior Max McCoy (Bennington, Neb./Mount Michael Benedictine) is set to be the first Johnnie to race in the second heat at approximately 4:55 p.m. He will be joined by:

-Junior Lars Molenkamp (Almere, Netherlands/Oostvaarders College) in the third heat (~5:15 p.m.); 
-Senior Jacob Malecha (Lonsdale, Minn./New Prague) in the fourth heat (~6 p.m.);
-Senior Nick St. Peter (Maple Grove, Minn.) in the fifth heat (~6:20 p.m.);
-Junior Vincent Kaluza (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) in the seventh heat (~7:25 p.m.);
-Junior Cole Stencel (Mapleton, Minn./Maple River) in the 10th heat (~9:05 p.m.).

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS IN MANKATO
Field Events
-Noon: Discus (M/W), High Jump (W/M), Javelin (W/M), Long Jump (M/W), Pole Vault (M/W)
    -Hammer (M/W) after discus, Shot Put (W/M) after javelin, Triple Jump (M/W) after long jump

Track Events
-Noon: 10,000 meters (W/M)
-2 p.m.
4x100-Meter Relay (W/M)
Steeplechase (W/M)
100-Meter Hurdles – Prelims (W)
110-Meter Hurdles – Prelims (M)
100-Meter Dash – Prelims (W/M)
1,500 Meters (W/M)
400-Meter Dash (W/M)
100-Meter Dash – Final (W/M)
110-Meter Hurdles – Final (M)
100-Meter Hurdles – Final (W)
800 Meters (W/M)
400-Meter Hurdles (W/M)
200-Meter Dash (W/M)
5,000 Meters (W/M)
4x400-Meter Relay (W/M)

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's track and field opened its outdoor schedule by hosting the CSB+SJU Optimistic Invitational two weeks ago (March 28) in Clemens Stadium and the Donald McNeely Spectrum.

The unscored meet was a large one, featuring student-athletes from Concordia-Moorhead, Division II Concordia-St. Paul, Crown, Gustavus Adolphus, Division II Jamestown (N.D.), Martin Luther, Minnesota-Morris, Northwestern, St. Catherine, St. Scholastica, Division I St. Thomas, Division I South Dakota State, Division II Southwest Minnesota State, NAIA Valley City State (N.D.), Wisconsin-River Falls and Wisconsin-Superior.

The Johnnies won six events and collected 19 top-six performances on the day. SJU did not have a competitor in the 800 meters, steeplechase, 5,000 meters or triple jump. The pole vault and high jump were held indoors due to wind.

Senior Mitchell Degen (Brainerd, Minn.) took first in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 60.83 meters, his second of four attempts. Sophomore Bailey Evans (Breckenridge, Minn.) followed in fifth (51.97 meters) and freshman Holden Dvorak (Princeton, Minn./Spectrum) was sixth (50.73 meters).

Junior Cooper Smith (Alvarado, Minn./East Grand Forks) won the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 54.09 seconds, while junior Kieran Murnan (Lakeville, Minn./Holy Angels) was victorious in the 100-meter dash (10.79). Freshman Jaden Alexander (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) was sixth (11.08) in the 100-meter dash.

Four Johnnies finished in the top six of the 1,500 meters, led by St. Peter's win in 4:04.49. Molenkamp was close behind in second (4:05.01), while senior Owen Montreuil (Jordan, Minn.) and McCoy followed in fifth (4:07.82) and sixth (4:08.73), respectively.

SJU finished first and second in both relays. The 4x400-meter relay (Derek Guth, Cooper Smith, Wyatt Witschen, Hunter Mohr) blazed to a 3:19.65, while the B relay (Ryan Becker, Zach Olmschenk, Aiden Langheim, Connor O'Brien) was second (3:32.68). The 4x100-meter relay (H. Mohr, Anthony Ferrante, Abdul Sesay, Woody Bien-Aime), meanwhile, claimed first (42.76) and the B (Liam VanRoekel, Witschen, D. Guth, Andy White) was second (43.24).

Sophomore Anthony Sletta (St. James, Minn.) was third, first among Division III competitors, with a mark of 6.78 meters in the long jump.

Sophomore Grady Minnerath (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) claimed fifth, third among Division III throwers, in the shot put (14.39 meters) and freshman Trae Headlee (Billings, Mont./Skyview) was fifth in the 110-meter hurdles (16.56).

Senior Kole Guth (St. Peter, Minn.) placed sixth in the pole vault (4.25 meters) and sophomore Hunter Mohr (Alexandria, Minn.) was sixth in the 200-meter dash (22.84), 0.04 ahead of freshman Derek Guth (St. Peter, Minn.) in seventh.

AT HAMLINE: Nine Johnnies competed at the Hamline Invitational on March 30 at Klas Field. The meet was originally scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, but was moved up two days due to the weather forecast.

A trio of Johnnies claimed the top-three finishes in the 800 meters, led by senior St. Peter's first-place time of 1:57.60. He was 0:00.34 ahead of McCoy in second (1:57.94) and Molenkamp was third (1:58.86). Freshman Nolan Pfeilsticker (Plainview, Minn./Plainview-Elgin-Millville) was 12th (2:05.22).

Freshman Ian Mills (Glenwood, Minn./Minnewaska Area) led a three-Johnnie contingent with a 12th-place finish in the 5,000 meters (16:39.70) and Malecha was 15th in the 1,500 meters (4:12.90).

LAST YEAR'S MEETS

Wisconsin-Platteville Invitational (April 11, 2025)
Eight Johnnies raced within a large field of competitors – eight heats – in the 5,000 meters at last year's Wisconsin-Platteville. Stencel led the way in 88th out of 274 runners with a time of 14:52.53. Eamon Cavanaugh '25 was next in 101st (14:55.32) and Kaluza was 112th (14:57.97).

Bethel Invitational (April 12, 2025)
SJU's pole vaulters, meanwhile, competed at the Bethel Invitational, where junior Andrew Withuski (Wahpeton, N.D.) tied for second out of 23 vaulters with a personal-best height of 4.55 meters. K. Guth was fifth (4.25m).

MSU-Mankato Open (April 12, 2025)
Kevin Arthur '25 won the 100-meter dash in 10.32 seconds, which was 0.01 from his personal best at the time and tied for the fifth-fastest in NCAA Division III. Sophomore Max Reis (West Fargo, N.D./Spectrum) followed Arthur in fourth with a time of 10.56 seconds, which was tied for 18th nationally.

The sprinting duo also contributed to SJU's third-place 4x100-meter relay team (Hansen, Arthur, Murnan, Reis) and its time of 40.83 seconds.

Zach Schaffer '25 claimed fifth with a leap of 7.12 meters in the long jump and Smith was fifth, first among Division III competitors, in the 400-meter hurdles (55.95).

Minnerath took sixth in the discus (44.88m) and seventh in the shot put (14.52m).

IN THE MIAC: The Johnnies currently boast 24 top-10 marks/times in the MIAC this season, including five as the conference's leader.

100-Meter Dash
2. Kieran Murnan, 10.79
9. Jaden Alexander, 11.08

200-Meter Dash
10. Hunter Mohr, 22.84

800 Meters
1. Nick St. Peter, 1:57.60
2. Max McCoy, 1:57.94
4. Lars Molenkamp, 1:58.86

1,500 Meters
6. Nick St. Peter, 4:04.49
7. Lars Molenkamp, 4:05.01

10,000 Meters
8. John Steines, 34:30.78
9. Jack Montgomery, 34:45.75

400-Meter Hurdles
1. Cooper Smith, 54.09 *No. 20 in Division III

4x100-Meter Relay
1. SJU, 42.76

4x400-Meter Relay
1. SJU, 3:19.65 *No. 31 in Division III

High Jump
4. Connor O'Brien, 1.85m

Pole Vault
5. Kole Guth, 4.25m
7. Alex Chirhart, 4.10m

Long Jump
2. Anthony Sletta, 6.78m

Shot Put
5. Grady Minnerath, 14.39m
10. Rylan Turqueza, 13.52m

Discus
7. Grady Minnerath, 41.70m

Javelin
1. Mitchell Degen, 60.83m *No. 15 in Division III
4. Bailey Evans, 51.97m
5. Holden Dvorak, 50.73m
9. Kole Guth, 45.86m