MIAC 2026 XC

Please leave power behind in 2025...

Glad to see this started. Let's look at the teams returning -

Will be hard to top the Oles in 2026 after the emergence of Garret Seppanen during Outdoor. Before that I thought a St. John's or Macalester could challenge them this year. The other teams will be in a good spot. I'm impressed by the class St. Scholastica and Gustavus have brought in. Gustavus grads some dudes though. Carleton has graduated the big 3, but their freshman were all so good in high school that a big summer of training with the continued improvement of Travis Brown, they could muddy the waters. I'd thought 2026 would be the end of the Ole era, but given that most of their top athletes are young, they may continue to be the team to beat. Not saying they won't be beat, but I think they are the favorite. Will they work hard enough as the favorite? Will the new coach hold the same success? Will his incoming class make an impact or will it take a year to figure it out like the last coach? Time will tell.

Top 7 could be -

Seppannen - 14:35 5K, Cooper Gundersen 11th in 2025 (Alex Bjork 17th in 2026 (25:26 PR), MIAC FOY Connor Hitchcock 14th in 2025 (possibly injured during Track), Noah DuVivier 14:52 as a freshman, Quinn McCabe 8:46 3K and 15:11 5K.

A couple freshman to watch include Ian Guasco 15:24, Evan Goddard 32:31 10K. I'm also interested to see what their transfer can do. Supposedly he ran 3:53 at his last school. The steeple group showed some nice marks too, which should transfer well to XC. Incoming freshman Lev Dougherty (4:19/9:42/15:46) and Owen Riter ( 4:25/9:49/15:52) could challenge for a Top 7 spot, but are not the high profile level of recruit we'll likely see from Mac or Carleton.

Looking at Carleton's roster, I'm intrigued by their rising sophomore Spencer Olson. Judging by the Strava, he is consistently at quite high mileage despite the fact TFRRS shows he hasn't raced the last two seasons. Is Carleton redshirting him? Will he be a weapon come the fall to make nationals on his home course?

Who are the other sleeper agents of the MIAC?

We'll do Mac next.

Ihrke is the obvious frontrunner and if healthy has the no-fear approach to top Stencel and Hootie. Quinn Hoisington had a monster track season, running 14:59 and 3:55. We should expect him to move up into the top ten of XC scorers. Daniel Wiltse (28th in 2025 XC) PR'ed in the 3K/5K/1500 this year. The former 800 specialist is starting to adjust to the longer distances. He'll be a fringe top 15 scorer. The success of the Mac team rides on the development of their strong trio of freshman. Connole showed potential to be an Ihrke running mate early in the season, but injuries appeared to derail his development. His track marks were strong, but most of his success was in the middle distances. The Walton-Scott twins have the high school success and ran 15:44/15:48, which are strong freshman times. Daniel. Rising Junior Caleb Hatleveig continues to improve and will also be fighting for a scoring spot. Classmate Jordan Galloway (30th in 2025) appeared to be abroad or left the team this Spring. He could be the X factor for them.

The ceiling for this team on a perfect day is to scare the Oles into making racing mistakes and allowing Ihrke, Hoisington, and Wiltse into the top 10. This is also the type of school that is prone to land 1-2 impact freshman, so the infusion of such talent would push them over the top. The floor, is no worse than 3rd, perhaps 4th if something catastrophic.

Someone mentioned Saint Mary's landing recruits. Please share info and we'll discover who wins the battle of Hamline, Augsburg, and Saint Mary's. Hamline losing their coach and Augsburg losing Mo are obviously the stories here. A healthy Lucas LiaBratten is a difference maker after his splendid Spring (4:01/15:39) but a lack of a clear training partner is disappointing. Ice Cold XC lists one commit so far. Saint Mary's does bring in a 10:19 TG commit who can learn the Winona Ways of Isaiah Fitzgerald. Isaiah PR'ed in every event this season and along with 800 ace Goi Ruei form a nucleus that merely requires one more recruit to pair with improving frosh Liam Smith. Augsburg didn't have an athlete race above a 1500 during the Outdoor season.

Mac has one Minnesota commit on Ice Cold XC page, Hazel Small. The Como Park grad may be a steal after running 16:25 at State!

The rest of the MIAC is going to have a tough time catching St. Olaf. No school has the depth that they do. Sure, there is a fast runner here and there at other schools but there isn't the depth and consistency that St. Olaf brings to the table. And that is what makes St. Olaf so difficult to beat in a team scoring event where low spread and high placement of groups is the key to victory.

Take a look at the MIAC championships. Correcting for senior runners, St. Olaf wins the 10,000m, the 5000m, and the 3000m SC.

10,000m - St . Olaf 18 pts, Concordia 10 pts, Carleton 8 pts, St. Mary's 3 pts

5000m - St. Olaf 15 pts, St. John's 11 pts, Bethel 6 pts, Macalester 4 pts, Carleton 3 pts

3000m - St Olaf 17 pts, Concordia10 pts, St. John's 8 pts, Carleton 3 pts, Gustavus 1 pt

St. Olaf doesn't take 1st in any of the races but they kill with high groupings. In the 5000m, yeah Cole wins while St. Olaf places #2, #4, #7 in the top 10. The next best runner for St. John's doesn't roll in until #8. Hootie doesn't arrive until #3 and the next Bethel runner isn't until #10. Bottom line, groupings and tight spread kill. This is repeated in the 10k and 3KSC.

Agreed that the Ole depth is impressive and I thought they did a good job running in packs to display that depth. Will be curious to see how the new head coach changes things. The previous coach did trim the roster and had stricter time standards than his predecessor. It would make sense to see Kopnick do that from a budget standpoint, but we'll see. By all accounts he was able to close another large class despite having limited recruiting responsibilities in his previous role. I think he was only a part time coach, so he really only worked the 800 athletes for both teams.

Let's look at another team with an Ole connection - St. Scholastica.

I was really impressed by their young guys this Spring - especially in the middle distances. I'd expect with more seasoning and more time in the double T system, that will pay off for the longer events.

I expect them to move up quite a bit in the teams standings. Saints stalwart Ashton Niemi was 50th in the MIAC championship and will expect to improve after running PR's in the 800, 1000, 1500, Mile and 5000. Evan Bumgardner ran 15:53 twice during the Outdoor season after finishing 74th in XC. Sophomore Ben Westholm improved to 4:02 and 4:22 Indoor! His best XC race was MIAC's with a 75th place finish. I was really impressed with the range displayed by freshman Connor Feldt. He ran a solid 27:34 in his first Fall and strong middle distance marks in the Spring. He seems like another Calvin Boone type. I'm unsure of the eligibility status of Ole grad Nik Stoufis. He ran sub 16 outdoors and would surely help Scholastica given his progression. He skied as Olaf and was famously not allowed to try out for the XC team. He has proven his chops in his first full year of running and could be one to keep an eye on if more eligibility remains.

The posted incoming class for St. Scholastica provides even more hope for the future. It completely rebuild the future and is possibly the best class in the MIAC. It is certainly the most impactful. This is the sort of class that wins MIAC championships as upperclassmen. Paired with an already exciting young nucleus, that timeline could be accelerated.

Austin Matrious - 4:24/9:38

Adrian Rausch - 4:24/9:45

Cadyn Vanderwal - 4:28/10:03

Andrew Shepherd - 1:54/51.3

Cadyn Ellos - 2:01/4:42/16:50

Henry Plummer - 16:37 5K

Andrew Berndt - 4:38/9:31

This is a program changing class for Scholastica. How exciting.
It's exciting to see the Gusties and Scholastica bring in some studs. You can certainly see the impact of programs with older, more comfortable coaches bringing in young, excited and relatable assistant coaches.
Haven't heard much about Carleton or Mac. Anyone know what out of staters they and the Oles are bringing to the MIC?

On paper, Carleton loses a lot. Graduating two national qualifiers and a uber-talented, but often injured additional low stick in Indy has to be scary for Coach Ricks. Carleton has the capability to land 9:00ish 3200m runners so 2-3 top commits could keep them solidly at the top of the MIAC. While Gabe does have a year of eligibility left, but he seems eager to return to the East Coast and leave Northfield behind.

For now, the promise rides solely on the shoulders of Torte Torteston, Travis Brown and several freshmen with loads of potential. Torte will now be the only Torte in Northfield and shows huge potential when healthy. His 9:37 steeple should transfer to a strong cross country mark, perhaps top 20 in the MIAC. Brown was 6th in the conference 10K and also Pr'ed in the 5K the next day. Having a sub 32:00 10K under the belt should translate to a top 15 MIAC XC place that would be a huge jump from 40th in 2025.

Rising sophomore Gus Schaefer ran a 9:53 steeple and 4:25 Indoors, both solid marks to follow up finishing as the 3rd freshman at the MIAC XC championship. The Carleton faithful are eager to see his improvement curve next Fall. Classmate Dashiell Coyier has a fantastic freshman track season, running 15:21 and 3:59. The 5000m time is most exciting given a fall where he was clearly figuring out the 8k distance. Martin Moshfegi is another talented freshman, having run 15:32 and a 3rd place finish in the Carleton Relays High Jump! He appeared largely hurt in XC, so he also has a high ceiling.

As a team, the Carls probably factor into the 3-5 conversation, but if they can add a couple high level recruits, they will move back into the runner-up conversation. As the old saying goes, never doubt a team coached by a man that wears Hawiain shirts in November.

It will be an scintillating year for the Golden Gusties. They return a solid core with Nick Brauer and Evan Pouliot and an exciting freshman class, but graduate stalwarts Will Janzen and Soren Sackreiter, both runners that improved tremendously in their time in St. Peter.

Pouliot is the 9th returner from the 2025 championship and ran 15:30 this Spring. Classmate Camden Cilek almost broke 10:00 in the steeple and will surely be looking for a big year. Brauer is the 8th returner from the 2025 championship and absolutely has the talent to be a top 3 runner in the MIAC after Stencel and Ihrke. He ended the season with an 800 PR and beat several Oles, which is sure to spark his summer training. He is the X-factor for this team after a subpar XC season by his considerably high standards.

For the freshman, the posted class includes one of the top freshmen in the MIAC in Matthew Jenneke (9:29/4:31/15:56). He'll be an immediate impact athlete for the future and is sure to Brendo dreaming up tempo scenarios for his next four years. Avery Nielson is an interesting athlete who doesn't appear to have much of a track history online, but comes from a strong XC program in Eastview. Gavin Greshowalk (9:57/4:36), Thomas Asmus (16:45), and the younger brother of 10K Champion Isaac VanWestrienen, Elliot (16:30) will add depth one of the deeper and most talented classes seen in St. Peter in the last few years.
With a front three of Brauer, Pouliot, and Jenneke finishing in the top ten, the Gusties can be a top 3 team in the MIAC. That's a big reach for a freshman, but the sheer number of seniors that graduated this Spring make it a possibility. While the Gusties have more depth than in past years, an injury or training interrruption could be debalitating and move them from team battling for 3/4 to 5/6. They will likely need Matthew Berge (10:14 steeple/15:54 5K) or Caden Riga/Ray Anderson to make a big sophomore jump.

The margin for a Mac, Gustavus, Carleton to top the Johnnies or Oles will be razor thin, but the Gusties appear to have the advantage of very seasoned seniors and freshman coming from winning programs.

Will the margin be thin between GAC and Olaf? Im wondering your reasoning for this considering they return a lot more based on earlier posts on this thread.

Unlikely. Bad choice of wording here - what I really mean is the chances are slim but a plus is for the Gusties is there top 2 seniors and a stud freshman. I think the battle between Mac & the Gusties could be really interesting. So much of the discussion is based on if those athletes meet their potential. And the Carls or Mac could blow that up by bringing in 2-3 impact freshmen. If Ricks brings in a class with athletes with high school times like Gabe, Roy, and Indy they'll be my favorite regardless of who returns for other teams.

A Fall of injuries marred what could have been an exciting year for the Johnnies. While their second place finish was a more impressive performance than the 2024 championship, where the Oles could have sat some big guns and still comfortably won, the Johnnies surely had higher hopes on both the MIAC and national scale.
There is no doubt that the graduation of Nick St. Peter and Eamon Cavanaugh are huge losses for Maxwell's crew. Eamon finished 10th at the MIAC meet for his highest finish of his career. St. Peter was injured most of the Fall, but was hugely impactful for the Johnnies this Spring, scoring in the 1000 Indoor and tripling at the Outdoor meet highlighted by a 5th place in 1500.
The star of the show for the Johnnies and possibly the MIAC is Cole Stencel. Beating Kevin Turlington to win the MIAC 5000 shows the rising senior is ready to assume the mantle of the top dog in the MIAC. After qualifying for Nationals in all three seasons, he's now a deeply experienced national level runner and may have no peer in the conference unless Ihrke or Hootie take a huge step up. His 14:26 5K PR is lightyears away from what anyone else in the MIAC can do.
The Johnnies are truly an upperclassman heavy team and will count on their experience to top the Oles for their first title since 2007. If the Johnnies can keep seniors Vincent Kaluza and Jacob Malecha healthy, they both can join classmate Lars Mollenkamp as top 15 runners. Kaluza ran 15:16 this year, but boasts a 14:57 PR in a conference of few sub 15 runners. Malecha ran a PR of 15:18 and placed 3rd in the MIAC steeple in 9:34, missing a PR by a few tenths. Mollenkamop is one of the MIAC's steadiest runners. He also completed the MIAC Outdoor championship triple and PR'ed in events ranging from the 800-5000 this season. Like most Johnnies, he peaked at the right time of the season, running a PR to finish 29th in the 2025 MIAC XC Championships. Another athlete with impressive range, Max McCoy (1:54 800/9:46 steepe) will be counted on to help shore up the Johnnies scoring. His best finish at the MIAC championship was a freshman, so he'll surely be eyeing a big summer to prep for their championship efforts. Sophomore Raegan Lopez had a nice freshman campaign, placing 46th at the conference XC meet, but hasn't raced since Indoor. 4:30/15:53 commit, Liam Frank will be a significant boost for the Johnnies depth. One incoming freshman is rumored to be Gabe Nichols/Roy Llewelyn type talent, who would be an immediate training partner for Cole. Maxwell has expressed excitement about his freshman class, comparing it to his senior group, but the Johnnies are still figuring out how to post on social media, so we may have to wait until the Fall to see that class.

They're going to do WHAT?

While many of the Bethel faithful are hoping Sulungaine's younger brother graduates high school early and and counting down the days until Hootie protege Isaiah Rock leaves the ritzy shores of Prior Lake, the Royals return a solid core of juniors fresh off a strong Spring on the track.
Hootie made the big jump we have been expecting this Spring and solidified himself as a MIAC contender and likely national qualifier. He is the second returning MIAC competitor and narrowly missed qualifying for nationals in XC. He ran PR's of 3:53/15:02 Outdoor and 8:45 Indoor.

While the rising junior class is stacked with talent, it may be senior Weston Catton who is the linchpin to the Bethel success. Weston ran 15:40 this Spring a monumental improvement from the last year. If he follows a similar trajectory, the Royal faithful will have something to cheer about.

Even though much of the Bethel track success seems concentrated in middle distances, TJ Strubbe's 15:52 is encouraging after his MIAC XC result was not on par with times at other races last Fall. The other Bethel returners offer as many questions as answers. Thomas Avra was Bethel's second runner last Fall, but had no track results. If he's healthy, that provides a strong training partner for Catton. Rising sophomore Charlie Gundale also dealt with injuries after running in the top 7 last Fall. Can Michael Schultz follow up his spectacular Spring with XC success? Can Gavin Hansen make the next jump? Will Lelinga return to his 26:38 form and provide a dangerous 1-2 combo with Hootie?

From a recruiting standpoint, expect Andrew Tscholl (4:28/9:59) to add scoring depth and Mason Hays (16:39 5K) to continue to progress in their successful middle distance group. Bethel will likely bring in 5-7 more to join them, so stay tuned to see if we see more studs like Tscholl or more projects that Coach Rengo will greatly improve over their four years in Arden Hills.

I have recently learned of two Saint Mary's commits, including one high impact athlete. We previously mentioned Matthew Misko, but have now learned Blake Trembeull (4:44/10:13) and Dayton Clobes (1:54/4:23/15:56) will be running in Winona next Fall. Given how Coach Schneider has developed Mya Slavin, it's no stretch to say Clobes will be winning MIAC titles and racing at the National level soon.
In reviewing commits, it is obvious many Minnesota athletes have chosen smaller programs like St. Scholastica, Concordia, or Saint Mary's where they will have a chance to contribute right away rather than biding their time to make a top seven for an Olaf. Will this change the face of the MIAC in 2-3 years? Time will tell, but I won't be surprised to see the whole Ole staff at the State meet this week so they can rebuild connection to Minnesota recruits in the 2027 class.

Dayton Clobes is going to UMary in North Dakota.

Icecoldxc (bless their heart they are doing something cool) has a school called University of Saint Mary's on their website. They have Clobes listed in there with two other names that could very well be going to SMU.

That’s unfortunate for the Cardinals. Would be huge Bess for them to land a recruit like that.