CSC Release

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Six Saint John's cross country/track and field student-athletes were named to the 2025-26 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team on Tuesday, June 23.

The six Johnnies honored, in alphabetical order, were senior Mitchell Degen (Brainerd, Minn.), sophomore Grady Minnerath (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori), senior Owen Montreuil (Jordan, Minn.), junior Cooper Smith (Alvarado, Minn./East Grand Forks), junior Cole Stencel (Mapleton, Minn./Maple River) and senior Nick St. Peter (Maple Grove, Minn.). 

Each institution may nominate up to six student-athletes for Academic All-District recognition in cross country/track and field. Nominees must be a sophomore or older with a 3.5 cumulative GPA or higher. Athletically, nominees must have either finished in the top 50 of their respective NCAA Regional in cross country or achieved a top-50 regional ranking in an individual event in indoor or outdoor track and field.

All six honorees earned All-MIAC honors during the 2025-26 academic year and totaled a combined three All-American honors.

The CSC Academic All-District honor is the second-straight for Degen and Montreuil.

Degen
A global business leadership major with a 3.81 GPA, Degen earned All-America second-team honors with an 11th-place finish in the javelin at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in May. He recorded the seventh-best javelin throw in Division III this spring – 65.87 meters – which was the top mark in the region. The distance garnered him his second All-North Region honor in a row for the two-time MIAC champion in the event. Degen is expected to earn his third-consecutive Academic All-MIAC (min. 3.5 GPA) honor later this week.

Montreuil
Montreuil graduated in May with a 3.98 GPA in finance. He earned All-Region honors as a member of the Johnnies' indoor distance medley relay and finished in the top 20 in the region in both the indoor 4x400-meter relay and the 800 meters. Montreuil finished his career as a six-time All-MIAC honoree and a member of the Johnnies' 2023 MIAC champion 4x800-meter relay team. He collected five All-MIAC honorable mention honors in his senior season (places fourth-sixth) for a total of 10 in his career. He is expected to earn his third-consecutive Academic All-MIAC honor alongside Degen later this week.

St. Peter
St. Peter joined Degen and Montreuil at commencement with a 3.86 GPA in data science. He finished his career as a seven-time All-MIAC (top three at the conference meet) honoree. St. Peter finished 30th (26:11.7) at the MIAC Cross Country Championship in the fall and ran a personal-best 26:04.6 two weeks earlier at the Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational. He earned All-MIAC honors as a member of SJU's distance medley relay at the MIAC Indoor Championships in February and capped his career with a third-place finish with the 4x800-meter relay at the league's outdoor meet. St. Peter will be a six-time Academic All-MIAC honoree (three in cross country and three in track).

Smith
An accounting major with a 3.99 GPA, Smith qualified for his first national outdoor meet in the 400-meter hurdles after running a personal-best and facility-record time of 52.75 seconds to claim SJU's first conference title in the event since 2018. The time ranked fifth in the region and 20th nationally. He was the fourth Johnnie and fifth overall to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the event, and the first since Michael Leither '07 was the national runner-up in 2007. Smith is a four-time All-MIAC honoree and was a member of the Johnnies' indoor distance medley relay that ranked fourth in the region and 30th in the nation (9:56.74) this season. He is expected to earn his third U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic and Academic All-MIAC honors later this summer. 

Stencel
Stencel is a physics major with a 3.82 GPA. He became the first Johnnie since 2015-16 to qualify for the NCAA Championship in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor in the same academic year. Stencel was crowned an indoor All-American with an eighth-place time in the mile in March and 16th to earn second-team All-American honors in the 1,500 meters in May. He broke the program's record in the 1,500 meters a week earlier on the same track with a time of 3:47.29. 

Stencel is a five-time MIAC champion, including two each indoors (1,000 meters and mile) and outdoors (1,500 meters and 5,000 meters) this spring. He is an eight-time All-MIAC honoree – one in cross country, three indoors and four outdoors – and will collect USTFCCCA All-Academic honors in track and field later this summer after achieving the recognition in cross country this past fall. Stencel will also earn his fourth Academic All-MIAC honor soon.

Minnerath
A two-sport student-athlete as a thrower on the track and field team and a defensive lineman as a member of the SJU football program, Minnerath is an accounting major with a 3.87 GPA. He achieved his first All-MIAC honor with a third-place distance in the discus last month. The upcoming Academic All-MIAC distinction is the first for Minnerath, who achieved the honor this past fall on the gridiron.

SJU track and field finished third out of 11 teams at both the 2026 MIAC Indoor and Outdoor Championships. SJU qualified four athletes at the 2026 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships and collected a pair of All-America performances. Stencel was SJU's lone indoor national qualifier, where he became the first Johnnie to earn All-America honors in the mile run.