NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- The Saints Men's Cross Country team came into the 2026 MIAC Championship men's 8k without their captain, leader, and second-ranked runner on the injured reserve list—a painful start to the marquee event of the season.  Led by freshman standout Cadyn Vanderwal (Ortonville, MN/Ortonville High School), who led the field at the mile mark with two teammates also in the top 10, the early stage of the race looked very hopeful to make up for the loss of top personnel.  The Saints checked in third with 87 points at the mile, but their appetite for a big result slowly met reality with each split score, settling in 7th by the finish line with a team score of 167.

St. John's Cole Stencel blew the race wide open, crossing the line alone in a winning time of 24:56.1.  Vanderwal never wavered despite the audacious first mile, marking the leaders until Stencel forced the pace, finishing sixth as the top freshman in the field, in a personal 8k best of 25:40.4.

Evan Bumgardner (Luverne, MN/Murray County Central HS) finished second for the Saints in 35th in a time of 26:43.1; Austin Matrious (Blaine, MN/Blaine High School) finished 52nd in 27:00.7 and Connor Feldt (Aurora, MN/Mesabi East HS) 53rd in the same step in 27:00.9 to score third and fourth for the team, with Adrian Rausch finishing 75th to close out the Saint's scoring in 27:39.7.

St. Olaf won the team title with five runners in the top twelve and a score of 36, with Carleton finishing second with 88 points, and Macalester third with 115.

The MIAC Championship Men's All-Conference awardees, Honorable Mentions, Runner of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year, will be announced early next week.

The Saints will take their top seven runners to the NCAA North Regional Meet, back at St. Olaf, November 14th.