On March 24 senior Kaleb Stoeckmann, a distance runner for the track team, announced his commitment to Marist University track and field via Instagram.
Marist, located in Poughkeepsie, NY has an undergraduate class of about 5,545 students and participates in the NCAA Division 1, Metro Atlantic conference.
“It [Marist] has a really nice campus,” Stoeckmann said, “When I went to visit the team I really liked the guys and the coach seemed like a great guy.”
Stoeckmann has had the idea of running at the collegiate level in his mind since he was a freshman on the team. “It was really around junior year during the winter season when I really started to realize this is a big possibility and something I want to continue doing,” Stoeckmann said.
Watching his older teammates commit also fueled this idea for Stoeckmann. “Watching some of the older guys run and seeing how fast they were going and some of the schools they were going to, I was like okay if I can progress throughout high school then I feel it’s something I could also do,” he said.
As a junior Stoeckmann won the 4×8 relay at Nationals racing with WHS graduates Jimmy Gildea, Alex Valencia and senior Ryan Daly. That same year he placed in groups in the 800 meter.
Stoeckmann’s experience running at these high-level meets has helped his younger teammates as well. Head coach Christopher Tafelski said, “He has got a lot to offer in terms of experience in the things he’s learned over the years.”
Stoeckmann’s experience also helps his teammates, as he was one of the four distance captains. Senior Cole Varner said, “He came from a lot of experience so he was a guy I could ask for advice with running.”
This past winter Stoeckmann ran in the 4xMile with Varner who said, “Running with Kaleb on our relay gave me a lot of confidence as I know that he is a very consistent runner.”
Stoeckmann’s teammates know the baton is in good hands when he steps onto the track even when things might not go his way. “He doesn’t allow setbacks to rattle him,” Tafelski said.
“We ran a relay where the baton got knocked out on the exchange as he was about to run his leg,” Tafelski said, “It was one of those things where he didn’t freak out, he didn’t panic, he just got back to work.”
Looking ahead to next year’s goals Stoeckmann said, “Just keep training hard and keep progressing and mature more as the sport gets more serious.”
