Behind this extraordinary race and Hocker’s success is the strong bond between Hocker and Thomas, a connection that began from the moment they met.

Thomas ’92, a Lynchburg native who was a distance runner at Virginia Tech, recruited Hocker during his freshman year as the assistant head coach of the men’s team at the University of Oregon in 2019. Hocker had won every track meet and set numerous records during his senior year at Cathedral High School.

What also impressed Thomas about his recruit was Hocker’s willingness to run relay races with his teammates rather than just focusing on individual events. This showed Cole’s team-oriented mindset, which fit perfectly with Thomas’ approach to building a strong team environment at Oregon.

When Hocker began his freshman season, he was not yet a top athlete, although that was exactly what he wanted: the opportunity to chase and learn from more experienced runners. This attitude of rising to the challenge of improvement rather than expecting immediate success proved to be a key factor in Hocker’s development under the guidance of Coach Thomas.

“That’s another example of why Cole was such a great recruit,” Thomas said. “He never made a fuss about losing. He always got right back to work and didn’t change his approach, but he was able to see the value in his losses and view them as a challenge while also having the patience to get through them.”

Hocker’s rise has been meteoric. In 2021, the 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Oregon defeated Matthew Centrowitz to win the U.S. Olympic trials, followed by a sixth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics. Hocker turned pro shortly after and stayed under Thomas while continuing to establish himself as a world-class runner by improving his personal bests and competing at the international level.