World champion wife carrier to take on Brady Street Sprints

Tonight, he will finally get around to doing a race that has been a Quad-Cities staple for the past quarter century.

Roesler, a 40-year-old runner from Waukesha, Wis., is the top qualifier in the men’s masters division for the 25th running of the MercyOne Genesis Brady Street Sprints. He recorded a qualifying time of one minute, 8.8 seconds and will be aiming for the $500 first prize in the annual quarter-mile charge up Brady Street Hill.

It’s not the most unusual race that Roesler has run. It’s probably not even close.

Last summer, he and his wife, Justine, won the Wife-Carrying World Championships in Sonkajärvi, Finland. He carried Justine on his back through a 253.5-meter obstacle course that included multiple hurdles and a pool that was about 4 1/2 feet deep. They broke the course record and became the first non-European champions in the 28-year history of the event.

The Roeslers’ first prize was Justine’s weight in beer.

“We fly home, so you can’t really keep it,’’ Roesler said. “So you just give it to the crowd.’’

It wasn’t his first attempt at that event. Caleb and Justine won the North American wife-carrying championship in Maine the previous three years.

Caleb has had his eye on the Brady Street Sprints for nearly as long. He and Justine have five children — a 10-year-old, 4-year-old twins, a 2-year-old and a 2-month old — and Caleb also works as the financial manager for a software company.

He just never found the right time to do the Davenport race, but he always thought it would be “cool’’ to take a day trip down there and run a quarter-mile uphill.

“For various reasons, this just seemed like the time to try it,’’ he said.

Roesler, a former track and cross-country runner at Wisconsin-Oshkosh, has been nursing a sprained hamstring this summer and found that running uphill in the neighborhood around his home reduced some of the impact on his leg.

He gained new respect for those who compete in the 25-year-old race when he took part in the final night of qualifying on July 9.

“It’s incredibly hard,’’ he said of the Sprints. “I’ve run a few 400 meters on the track, and that’s a very hard race. But to run that going uphill is just excruciating. It’s just an absolute beast of a race.’’

Four of the six defending champions from a year ago are in the field, and three of them are the top qualifiers in their divisions by a wide margin.

That includes 10-time champion Jen Barker, who won her age group every year from 2013 through 2019 and again in each of the past three years. Her qualifying time in the women’s masters division is eight seconds better than anyone else’s.

Allanah McCorkle of Rock Island, a former All-American long jumper at Iowa State, is back to defend her title in the women’s 30-39 division after winning in her first attempt at the race last year.

So is Aaron Stockstell, who won 11 Iowa state championships at Mid-Prairie High School before going on to run at Alabama and Northern Iowa. He is the top qualifier in the men’s 30-39, ahead of his old friend and teammate Ryan Krogmann, a local ear, nose and throat doctor. Another former champion, James Raabe, is entered in that division.

The one defending champion who is not the top qualifier is David Thompson, whose time in the men’s masters division was five seconds slower than Roesler’s. Also qualifying in the men’s masters division were Phil Young, a long-time Bix 7 runner who will be one of the Beat the Elite runners in Saturday’s Bix 7, and 2023 champion Curtis Rosen.

Two Brady Street newcomers were the top qualifiers in the 29-under divisions. Tatum Miller, who recently graduated from Bettendorf High School with the school record in the 400-meter hurdles, had the best qualifying time in the women’s 29-under and St. Ambrose University runner Chris Miserendino had the top time among men in that age group.

The event will also include high school relay races for both boys and girls. Pleasant Valley is the top-seeded group for girls, with Central DeWitt a slight favorite for boys.

Brady Street Sprints qualifiers

Women’s masters: 1. Jen Barker 1:37.36; 2. Mandy Lantelme 1:45.84; 3. Katrina Jennings 1:48.25; 4. B Diaz 1:50.15; 5. Jennifer Massey 1:57.69; 6. Sunhee Stopyra 1:59.22; 7. Carol Windmiles 2:00.74; 8. Sarah Goodin 2:20.94; 9. Amber Kirchgesner 2:35.73

Men’s masters: 1. Caleb Roesler 1:08.80; 2. David Thompson 1:13.72; 3. Phil Young 1:17.20; 4. Curtis Rosen 1:18.08; 5. Fred Hoopes 1:18.65; 6. Christian Beard 1:20.82; 7. Zhassulan Amirov 1:24.35; 8. Nicholas Cunningham 1:31.35; 9. Andrew Thompson 1:36.58

Women 30-39: 1. Allannah McCorkle 1:23.04; 2. Emilie Lawrence 1:26.05; 3. Abby Berntgen 1:32.44; 4. Lindsey Gidel 1:33.15; 5. Nora Bosslet 1:37.79; 6. Brenna Gray 1:39.66; 7. Grace Carlson 1:41.47; 8. Jeanine Link 1:43.90; 9. Morgan Skopec 2:10.50

Men 30-39: 1. Aaron Stockstell 1:04.54; 2. Ryan Krogman 1:09.13 2; 3. Taylor Ashman 1:11.30; 4. Steven Arvanis 1:12.00; 5. Zachary Gray 1:13.72; 6. Andy Lehman 1:22.28; 7. DeMykhal Teague 1:22.65; 8. James Raabe 1:26.61; 9. Jay Gates 1:40.27

Women 29-under: 1. Tatum Miller 1:17.24; 2. Morgan McEnroe 1:25.59; 3. Arielle Johnson 1:26.57; 4. Amelia Heine 1:28.13; 5. Sydney Mosley 1:29.53; 6. Vivian Ohsann 1:30.44; 7. Payton Creger 1:36.83; 8. Anika Duns 1:43.09; 9. Khloe Hamilton 1:51.43

Men 29-under: 1. Christopher Miserendino 1:01.81; 2. Elijah House 1:02.28; 3. Dean Geiger 1:04.48; 4. Nolan Raabe 1:05.11; 5. Josh Pestka 1:05.86; 6. Kyle Sellers 1:11.76; 7. Oscar Cline 1:13.70; 8. Tim Regan 1:30.60; 9. Keegan Ayers 1:31.52

High school girls: 1. Pleasant Valley 47.86; 2. Rock Island 48.85; 3. Bettendorf 49.75; 4. United Township 49.79; 5. Sherrard 50.40; 6. Dav. Central 51.24; 7. Dav. North 53.06; 8. Clinton 53.57

High school boys: 1. Central DeWitt 42.46; 2. Geneseo 42.47; 3. Bettendorf 42.63; 4. Pleasant Valley 42.79; 5. Rock Island 43.21; 6. Riverdale 44.08; 7. Clinton 44.37; 8. Sherrard 44.58

High school 4x100 seeds are based on 2025-2026 official times from Bound (Iowa) and Athletic.net (Illinois).