Contact: Brock Reisler, Assistant Executive Director, breisler@midwestconference.org
 
LA CROSSE, Wisconsin – Cornell College’s Isaac vanWestrienen has wrapped up his illustrious distance career as a national champion. The senior claimed the 10000-meter title at the 2026 NCAA Division III Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday night.
 
Leading the 10K wire-to-wire, vanWestrienen’s personal best and facility record time of 28:51.60 paced the field at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex for his first individual NCAA championship. He owns the eighth-fastest 10K time in Division III history in becoming the 15th national champion in school history.
 
That wasn’t vanWestrienen’s only standout performance of the weekend, as the Conifer, Colorado native became a four-time All-American in the 5K with a runner-up finish in 14:03.28 on Saturday afternoon.
 
vanWestrienen highlighted a number of impressive performances by Midwest Conference student-athletes at nationals. The MWC was represented by three different athletes from three schools in four events: Joshua Martinez Marte (discus) represented Beloit College, while Illinois College’s Melvin Hodge was a hammer participant.
 
Hodge earned the MWC’s third first team All-American honor of the weekend, taking seventh place in the hammer with a high-water mark of 58.89m on Saturday afternoon.
 
On Thursday afternoon, Martinez Marte took 21st in the discus with a mark of 46.86m.
 
The full list of qualifiers competing and their respective finishes can be found below.
 

Student-Athlete	Institution	Classification	Event	Rank	Finish
Joshua Martinez Marte	Beloit	Junior	Discus	21st	46.86m
Isaac vanWestrienen	Cornell	Senior	10K	1st	28:51.60
Isaac vanWestrienen	Cornell	Senior	5K	2nd	14:03.28
Melvin Hodge	Illinois College	Senior	Hammer	7th	58.89m