Results

LA CROSSE, Wis. – Six Johnnies competed in seven events at Wisconsin-La Crosse's Last-Chance Qualifier on Thursday, May 14.

The top 22 declared student-athletes in each individual event and the top 16 declared relay teams will participate at the 2026 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships next Thursday-Saturday (May 21-23) at Veteran's Memorial Field Sports Complex in La Crosse, Wis. 

The qualifiers are scheduled to be announced before 8 p.m. ET tomorrow night (Friday, May 15) on www.ncaa.com.

Junior Cole Stencel (Mapleton, Minn./Maple River) broke SJU's program record in the 1,500 meters to finish third out of 18 runners. He entered the day 28th nationally in the event with a time of 3:49.71 and ran a 3:47.29 – which is good for 17th in Division III – to clear Thomas Feichtinger's record of 3:48.86 set in 2015. 

Stencel claimed the MIAC title in both the 1,500 and 5,000 meters last week. 

Junior Cooper Smith (Alvarado, Minn./East Grand Forks) claimed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles' first heat and fifth overall with a time of 52.98 seconds. The time was just behind his season-best time of 52.75 seconds that won him the MIAC title last week and entered the day 19th in Division III.

Sophomore Grady Minnerath (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) placed 19th in the discus (46.13 meters) and 22nd in the shot put with a mark of 14.38 meters on his first attempt. He entered the day 42nd nationally in the shot put (16.09 meters) and 59th in the discus (48.25 meters).

Senior Nick St. Peter (Maple Grove, Minn.) was 15th in the 800 meters with a time of 1:54.62 and junior Lars Molenkamp (Almere, Netherlands/Oostvaarders College) was 25th (2:02.08). The event's time to beat – 22nd nationally – was 1:50.99 (Emory's Ryan McGonigle).

Senior Jacob Malecha (Lonsdale, Minn./New Prague) finished seventh in the steeplechase with a time of 9:39.91. The time to beat for the event at 22nd was 9:09.39 (Middlebury's Solomon McDow). Malecha's season-best was a 9:34.78 to earn All-MIAC honors in third at last week's conference meet.