Cathedral, coaches celebrate Cole Hocker’s golden Olympic run

In a “watch party” at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis on August 6, fans celebrate the gold-medal victory of Cole Hocker, a 2019 Cathedral grad, in the 1500-meter run in the 2024 Olympics in Paris. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

It was one of those exciting, tense moments in sports that leads a school community to hope, pray and cheer for their own—a moment that also leads a coach to pace in front of the television, yell instructions through the TV and cry in complete joy for what one of his former runners has done on the largest stage in the world.

That moment involved Cole Hocker, a 2019 graduate of Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, surging in the final straightaway of the 1500-meter run of the Paris Olympics to breathtakingly capture the gold medal. (Related reflection: Cole Hocker wins Olympic gold: ‘I just let God carry me to the finish line’)

Hocker’s stunning run set off an explosion of joy at Cathedral High School on Aug. 6 where more than 250 people—teachers, students, board members and parents—had gathered in the dining hall to cheer for Hocker as they watched him race on several television screens.

“It was just beautiful and electric in the dining hall,” said Grace Trahan-Rodecap, the school’s director of marketing. “Then to see him accomplish what he did, I started crying and hugging my colleagues. There was such a sense of pride and such a sense of joy. There’s no greater feeling than seeing a good person who’s kind and humble achieve greatness on a world stage. It was phenomenal.”

As one of Hocker’s coaches at Cathedral, Jason Moyars had a similar reaction.

“I was watching the race at home with my wife Anne Marie and my son Brayden,” said Moyars, an assistant coach in track and cross country at Cathedral from 1999 to 2023. “I was pacing around, yelling at the TV as if I was there coaching him. When he crossed the finish line, I actually cried. People who know me know I don’t show emotion a lot, but it did bring tears to my eyes.

“It was just the overall excitement of the finish, knowing all the hard work he had put in—and just the pure joy in feeling that I was just a small piece of the overall puzzle that he has become as a runner.”

Moyars paused before adding this insight about Hocker, “He is a very down-to-earth person. I’ve never seen him be cocky. He’s very determined and super competitive. I’m not sure I’ve seen anybody more competitive than he is.”

Hocker’s achievement is rare on so many levels, according to John O’Hara, Cathedral’s head track coach who also served in that role when Hocker competed in high school.

“The odds of a high school runner to go on and compete collegiately is extremely rare,” O’Hara said. “Then to go pro is another rarity. To make an Olympic team, another rarity. To make the Olympic finals, another rarity. It just kept going on and on.

“But just knowing the type of person Cole is and the things he keeps important in his life—his family, his faith, hard work and dedication—and just what he and his current coach, Ben Thomas, have been able to do the last four, five years is nothing less than remarkable.”

O’Hara believes the current track and cross-country runners will draw inspiration from Hocker’s victory.

“When you have someone like Cole achieving what he does not only as an athlete but as a person, you have someone the kids can look up to.” †