St. Olaf College Men's Track & Field

John Hartpence is in his second season as an assistant coach for the St. Olaf men's cross country and track and field programs in 2025-26 after being hired in September 2024.   During his first season at St. Olaf, the Oles won their third consecutive Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) team cross country title, placed third at the NCAA Division III North Region Championships, and finished eighth at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships for their highest national finish since 2015. In track and field, St. Olaf was second at the MIAC Indoor Championships and third at the MIAC Outdoor Championships, while producing a total of five national qualifiers, all of whom earned Second Team All-America honors with top-16 national finishes. Hartpence came to St. Olaf with 25 years of experience at the NCAA Division III level, including leading teams to 10 team conference championships and 16 runner-up finishes. Across his previous stops, his programs had produced 14 All-American awards by nine different student-athletes in nine different events. Hartpence guided seven different student-athletes to 12 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Regional Athlete of the Year awards and directed national qualifiers in 16 different events, while coaching over 130 individual conference titles. He is a two-time USTFCCCA Regional Coach of the Year, a two-time Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Coaching Staff of the Year member, and a two-time Empire 8 Conference Coaching Staff of the Year member.   Prior to coming to the Hill, Hartpence was an assistant coach for the men's and women's track and field and cross country programs at Utica University. There, he designed training and competition programs for all student-athletes competing in sprint, jump, hurdle, and multi-events, while supervising three part-time coaches in the implementation of the programs. Over three years at Utica, the Pioneers won 35 individual Empire 8 Conference titles, eight Empire 8 Championship Performers of the Meet, and three Empire 8 Most Outstanding Freshman awards. He coached national qualifiers in the 400-meter dash, triple jump, and high jump, as well as 24 USTFCCCA All-Niagara Region selections. The men's outdoor track and field teams won Empire 8 Conference titles in 2022 and 2024 and 17 school records fell under his watch.   Before Utica, Hartpence was an assistant coach for the men's and women's track and field and cross country programs at Hamilton College for six seasons from 2015-21, working primarily with the sprint, hurdle, jumps, and multi-event athletes. He coached three national qualifiers in the 200-meter dash and one in the 400-meter dash, as well as New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) champions in the 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash, and 4x100-meter relay. While he was at Hamilton, his student-athletes broke school records in nine different events.   Hartpence was also the head coach at Defiance College from 2007-15 and the head track and field coach at Dickinson College from 2000-07. He completed a USA Track & Field (USATF) Level 1 coaching certification course and has been a USATF Level 1 coaching education instructor since 2010. He is a USATF Level 1-certified track and field coach and is Level 2-certified for the throwing and jumping events. Hartpence holds a bachelor's degree from SUNY Cortland and a master's degree in health and human performance from the University of Montana.

Luke VanZuilen is in his fifth season as an assistant coach for the St. Olaf men's and women's track and field programs in 2025-26. He works primarily with the horizontal jumps and javelin event groups. VanZuilen graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 2018 and was the outdoor Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) champion in the triple jump as a senior. He also earned All-MIAC honors in the javelin at the 2017 MIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships by finishing third in the event.

Kendall Mueller is in her fifth season as an assistant coach for the St. Olaf men's and women's track and field programs in 2025-26. She works primarily with the pole vault and high jump event groups. Mueller graduated from St. Thomas in 2019 and was a three-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) champion pole vaulter in her collegiate career, winning indoor titles in 2018 and 2019 and an outdoor title in 2019. In total, she was a seven-time All-MIAC honoree in the pole vault, adding two runner-up finishes and a pair of third-place performances to her three individual conference titles.

Eric Holst is in his third season as the throws coach for the St. Olaf men's and women's track and field programs in 2025-26 after being hired in August 2023. A two-time national champion and three-time All-American, Holst came to St. Olaf after spending the last four years coaching throws at Totino-Grace High School in Fridley, Minn.    At Totino-Grace, Holst coached five state qualifiers and two all-state honorees in the two seasons unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He also holds USA Track & Field Level 1 coaching certification and is a USATF certified official.   During his career at the University of St. Thomas, Holst was the NCAA Division III indoor national champion in the weight throw in 2019 and the outdoor national champion in the hammer throw in 2018, while also placing second in the hammer throw outdoors in 2019. A two-time USA Championship qualifier in the weight throw, he was also a national qualifier in the discus throw and was the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) indoor champion in the weight throw in 2019.   After graduating from St. Thomas with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering, Holst is pursuing a master of science in manufacturing engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Stout while working full-time as a maintenance engineer. His wife - Emily (Jarnigan) Holst ‘20 - was an All-MIAC libero for St. Olaf’s volleyball team in 2019.  

Antone Truss is in his fourth season as an assistant coach for the St. Olaf College men's and women's track and field programs in 2025-26 and works primarily with the hurdles, jumps, and combined events groups. A former three-time national qualifier at NCAA Division III Wilmington College, Truss joined the coaching staffs of head coaches Brian Power and Patti Bayer after spending the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach for the track and field cross country programs at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio.    At Mount St. Joseph, Truss developed and implemented track-specific workouts and strength and conditioning plans for the sprints and jumps squads and was involved with recruiting on a daily basis, in addition to other tasks. The jumps squad included sophomore Justin Dreyling, who earned All-America honors with a fourth-place finish in the triple jump at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships and broke the school record in the event (15.09m).    Prior to his time at Mount St. Joseph, Truss spent the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons as an assistant cross country and track and field coach at Heidelberg University, helping the women’s long jump squad to a national ranking as high as No. 7 in the country and assisting with bringing in two of the largest first-year classes in recent program history. Truss began his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at Hanover College during the 2018-19 season.   During his coaching career, Truss has coached five All-Americans, seven national qualifiers, 19 all-region honorees, two conference champions, and 10 all-conference selections. He was a three-time national qualifier and three-time all-region honoree during his career at Wilmington and was ranked as high as No. 6 in the country in the high jump. He was also a three-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) honoree in the high jump, including winning the outdoor conference title in the event in 2017.   Truss graduated from Wilmington in 2018 with a bachelor of science degree in exercise science. He is certified through the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) and holds ALTIS certifications in the short sprints, pole vault, and high jump.