Olympic gold medalist won IHSAA cross country semistate race in Shelbyville in 2018

When a bevy of high school runners take to the Blue River Cross Country Course on Aug. 24 they can say they are following the footsteps of an Olympic gold medalist.

Indianapolis-native Cole Hocker stunned the running world Tuesday when he captured the gold medal in the 1,500 meters in Paris. He outkicked the defending Olympic medalist, Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, and the defending World Champion, Josh Kerr of Great Britain, to clock an Olympic-record time of 3:27.65.

Hocker, a Cathedral graduate who ran collegiately at the University of Oregon, won the 2018 Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) cross country semistate race in Shelbyville. He finished the five-kilometer course in 15:05.2 then won the state championship race one week later in Terre Haute.

“We think that’s kind of cool,” said Gary Nolley Wednesday morning. He and his wife, Michelle, helped build and still operate the local championship cross country course at Blue River Memorial Park. “We’ve been following him ever since he went to Oregon. And we watched him in the Tokyo Olympics.”

Hocker was sixth in Tokyo in the 1,500 and utilized that experience to run a tactical race Tuesday while rivals Ingebrigtsen pushed the pace and Kerr followed closely.

Hocker charged up along the rail in the final 150 meters but had to slow to keep from running into Ingebrigtsen. Also a two-time IHSAA state track and field champion in 2019 in the 800 and 1,600 and two-time NCAA indoor champion in 2021 in the 1-mile and 3,000 meters, Hocker regained his stride and attacked along the rail as Ingebrigtsen moved right to force Kerr outside.

The sprint to the finish saw Hocker take the lead and cross the finish line ahead of Kerr and a hard-charging Yared Nuguse, who captured the Bronze medal for the United States.

In the following hours, videos emerged of watch parties celebrating Hocker’s victory, including a strong gathering of supporters viewing the television broadcast at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis.

“You can tell Indiana is proud of him,” said Gary Nolley.

Hocker competed in three semistate championship races in Shelbyville. In 2016, he finished third as future Purdue All-American Curtis Eckstein, running for Oldenburg Academy, won the race.

Eckstein is now the cross country coach at Oldenburg Academy and he often brings his team to Shelbyville to train on the course at Blue River Memorial Park.

In 2017, Hocker was the semistate runner-up before becoming the man to beat in 2018.

“He was dominant (in 2018),” said Nolley. “We knew coming in he was a good runner but he is a good kid. I spoke a little to him.”

“He always thanked everyone,” recalled Michelle Nolley. “He was so polite and pleasant.”

Local professional photographer Chad Williams, who was working at the 2018 semistate, also expressed his own excitement via social media.

“Now I can officially say that I have photographed an Olympic Gold Medalist. Congratulations to Cole Hocker for winning the Olympics Gold Medal today in the 1500m,” said Williams on his “X” account (@chewilli30) with photos from the semistate championship race in 2018.

The Blue River Cross Country Course has hosted multiple elementary, high school, college and national-level amateur races since its opening in 2014.

This fall, the course will be used by Franklin College and Indiana University Indianapolis to host events. The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and the Hoosier Heritage Conference will use the course again this year for championship races.

The IHSAA has selected the venue for sectional and regional races in October.

And the course will host the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships on Nov. 16.

“We’ve had so many good Central Indiana runners we’ve seen come through here,” said Gary Nolley, “but there is nothing better than an Olympic gold medalist.”

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