The 5-foot-9, 140-pound senior won the Class 5A state meet title this past season, breaking the tape in 15:49.80 to lead the Saints to a third straight state championship as a team. Cole went on to finish 17th at the Nike Cross Nationals Heartland Regional championships with a personal-best 5K time of 15:29.50, becoming the highest-placing Kansas finisher at the event and earning Third Team All-Heartland Region. He also ran the fastest three-mile time of the cross country season by an in-state competitor with a 15:08.20 at Iowa's Heartland Classic.
Cole has maintained a 3.83 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to run cross country on scholarship at the University of Notre Dame this fall.
A peer mentor and a Student Ambassador for St. Thomas Aquinas, Cole has volunteered locally on behalf of Ronald McDonald House charities and the Gable Senior Living Center and Uplift, which helps serve the needy. He has also donated his time as a youth soccer official in addition to serving as part of his school's Key Club and STAPLES Club, which plans and celebrates masses. "Will is the vocal leader of a very strong team and has been a driving force in our program that has won the state meet three years in a row," said St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Justin Wrigley. "He is also very much a student of the sport. He follows running on all levels and seeks to learn more about it all the time. His passion and care for his team as well as his deep and burning desire to succeed also separate him from others."
