Top Stories of 2024 in St. Olaf Athletics

A lot can happen in 365 days and that was certainly the case for St. Olaf Athletics in 2024. From record-breaking individual performances, to record-setting teams, to individual and team conference championships, and high-level national results, the Oles continued to make plenty of headlines in the last calendar year. To condense a year's worth of accomplishments into a short list is no easy task, but here is our best shot at summing up the year that was!

Men's hockey wins MIAC Playoffs for second time in three seasons

Game Recap | Photo Gallery

For the second time in three seasons, the St. Olaf men's hockey team strung together three consecutive road wins to win the MIAC Playoffs, winning its three games by a combined score of 11-1. After shutting out Saint Mary's University and Augsburg University in the first two rounds, the Oles knocked off No. 15-ranked Bethel University, 4-1, in Blaine on March 2 to claim the MIAC Playoff title for the third time in program history (2006, 2022, 2024).

The run through the tournament made the Oles just the second No. 5 seed to win the MIAC Playoffs, joining Hamline in 2015. Prior to the championship game, St. Olaf had gone 0-2-1 in the three regular-season meetings with Bethel before topping the Royals on their home ice to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

Women's Nordic skiing three-peats as USCSA national champions

7.5K Freestyle Recap | Classic Sprint Recap | 15K Classic Recap | Team Sprint Recap 

The St. Olaf women's Nordic skiing team finished atop the overall team standings at the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) National Championships for the third consecutive season in early March in Lake Placid, N.Y. Led by individual national titles from Amae Kam-Magruder in the 15K Classic and Lily Hubanks in the 7.5K Freestyle, the Oles won three of the four team events to finish well ahed of the University of Wisconsin in the team standings.

St. Olaf won team titles in the 7.5K Freestyle, Classic Sprint, and 15K Classic, while finishing second in the Team Sprint Relay to finish with 58 points, 46 clear of Wisconsin in the 14-team standings.

Haucks inducted in inaugural CSCAA Division III Hall of Fame class

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Head swimming and diving coach Bob Hauck '87 and his father - the late legendary Dave Hauck - were among the inaugural class of inductees enshrined in the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division III Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame in early May. The Haucks were part of a distinguished list of 38 former swimmers, divers, and retired coaches selected to be part of the first class of inductees into the national hall of fame.

Baseball wins outright MIAC regular-season championship, plays for MIAC Playoff title

Regular-Season Champs Recap | MIAC Playoff Recap

The St. Olaf baseball team won its first MIAC regular-season championship since 2007 by going 17-3 and went on to play for the MIAC Playoff title, while recording its first 30-win season since 2009. 

Behind a complete game from MIAC Player of the Year Sam Lavin '24, the Oles clinched the MIAC regular-season title outright with a 12-1 victory over Hamline University on May 1. Later in the month, St. Olaf won back-to-back elimination games to force a decisive game against Bethel University in the MIAC Playoffs before falling one win shy of the postseason championship.

St. Olaf posts top Learfield Directors' Cup finish since 2015-16

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The 2023-24 academic year marked St. Olaf's top finish in the Learfield Directors' Cup since 2015-16, as six teams scored points in the national all-sports competition. St. Olaf earned 297.5 points throughout the year to finish second among MIAC institutions in the Learfield Directors' Cup, getting points from men's soccer, men's cross country, women's cross country, volleyball, men's hockey, and men's track and field.

St. Olaf inducts five individuals, two teams into Athletic Hall of Fame

Full Story | Watch Ceremony | Photo Gallery

On Homecoming and Family Weekend, five former student-athletes and two teams were inducted into the St. Olaf Athletic Hall of Fame as members of the Class of 2024. The class included Jon Campbell ‘00 (tennis), Horace Gant ’08, (football/track and field), Emma Lee ‘13 (cross country/Nordic skiing/track and field), John Schantzen ’10 (track and field/football), and Karen Schwartzbauer ‘87 (soccer/basketball), as well as the 1979 and 1980 women’s cross country teams.

The two national runner-up women's cross country teams were the first teams to be enshrined in the St. Olaf Athletic Hall of Fame.

Men's soccer knocks off Gustavus for historic MIAC Playoff three-peat

Full Story | Video Highlights

The St. Olaf men's soccer team became the first back-to-back-to-back champions in the history of the MIAC Playffs by knocking off top-seeded and fourth-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College by a 3-2 score in St. Peter on Nov. 9. In the third consecutive meeting in the title game between the two programs, the Oles got a game-winnning penalty kick from junior Robi Buzakovic in the 76th minute to win the MIAC Playoffs for the fifth time.

The victory earned the Oles their fourth consceutive bid into the NCAA Tournament and came after St. Olaf won a share of the MIAC regular-season title to do the MIAC double for the second season in a row. The Oles have won six of the last eight MIAC regular-season and playoff titles.

Men's cross country continues dominance of MIAC, finishes eighth at NCAA Championships

MIAC Championships Recap | NCAA Championships Recap

The St. Olaf men's cross country team completed a three-peat at the MIAC Championships with the largest margin of victory (73 points) in the history of the conference meet on Nov. 2 before going on to log its highest national finish since 2015 with an eighth-place performance in Indiana on Nov. 23.

The Oles eased to the MIAC team title on their home course with the lowest score (23 points) since the Oles' 2014 championship squad to claim the conference crown for the 21th time in program history. Later in the month, St. Olaf registered its 10th top-10 national placement by taking eighth in Terre Haute behind All-America performances from junior Kevin Turlington and senior Andrew Skemp.

Women's cross country posts program-best score to win MIAC title, adds another top-20 national finish

MIAC Championships Recap | NCAA Championships Recap

The St. Olaf women's cross country team posted a program-record score (34 points) to win its first MIAC team title since 2021 on its home course on Nov. 2 before recording its fourth top-20 national finish in a row by placing 17th at the NCAA Division III Chapmionships on Nov. 23.

At the MIAC Championships, the Oles had all five of their scorers in the top 15 to knock off reigning national champion and two-time defending conference champion Carleton College to become the first NCAA Division III team to finish ahead of the Knights in a race since the 2022 national meet. St. Olaf went on to finish 17th - edging Carleton on a tiebreaker - at the NCAA Division III Championships in Indiana, paced by an All-America showing from senior Alison Bode.

Here's to more memorable stories in 2025! Um! Yah! Yah!