The team at Indianapolis-based Hocker Title will be watching the Olympic men’s 1,500-meter races very closely the week of Aug. 2. Owner Janet Hocker’s son Cole Hocker, the NCAA 1,500-meter champion, qualified to compete in the Summer Games after defeating the defending gold medalist at the Olympic track and field trials.
“It’s been a little surreal,” Janet said in an interview with The Title Report, as her son prepared to go to Tokyo.
Cole, a University of Oregon sophomore, has been running competitively since the third grade. As early as junior high he had his sights set on Oregon, a Division 1 school renowned for its running program.
“That’s kind of odd for a kid in the Midwest, but he knew that’s where runners would typically go if they were serious,” Janet said.
Cole hit his stride last year and started winning big during the indoor NCAA season.
“The year of the pandemic just gave him a perfect opportunity to train and grow physically,” Janet said.
Although he has been on a trajectory to make it to the Olympics, few expected Cole to get there this soon. Most recruiters and coaches anticipated if he made an Olympic run, it would be in 2024, she said.
“It was definitely a surprise to us,” Janet said of herself, her husband Kyle, her oldest son Stone, and the 20 other friends and family members who rented a house within walking distance of Cole’s home track, where the week-long Olympic trials took place at the end of June.
“We had a great time, and he satisfied us perfectly because he kept advancing,” Janet laughed.
Cole ran in two qualifying races and then the final. For the first two, there wasn’t much doubt that he would move on.
“He ran pretty much at the front of the pack or close enough that we really weren’t feeling at all during the race that he wasn’t going to be able to get through to the next qualifying round,” she said.
Then came the finals. Cole literally came from behind in the last 100 meters to best Olympic 1,500-meter gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz by six hundredths of a second.
“It was like one of those Seabiscuit races,” Janet said.
For most of the 3.5-minute race, Cole seemed out of contention, trapped in the second-to-last position. He managed to make it only to the middle of the pack as he started the last lap.
“With that caliber of runner, that’s just too much time to make up, too many spaces to make up in the short distance,” Janet said. “We were really down and started having those kind of thoughts like, ‘Well, it’s been a really good run.’”
In the last 100 meters, Cole found an opening.
“He was in fifth place, and then he popped out,” she said. “All of a sudden, he started kicking with less than 100 to go. He really had to make up so much.”
And he did, coming in first place.
“It was thrilling, and we all had chills and tears in our eyes,” Janet recalled. “It was the type of finish that’s just kind of iconic regardless of who the athlete is. It was really fun to watch.”
She is disappointed that family members will not be able to join Cole in Tokyo, as no fans are permitted to attend any events due to the pandemic. Instead, family and friends will gather at watch parties in the States organized around live streams of his races.
Due to the pandemic restrictions, track and field Olympic athletes will not arrive in Japan in time for the opening ceremonies on July 23. Cole will leave the U.S. July 28, begin competing Aug. 2 and, hopefully, make it to the finals on Aug. 7. He will be able to attend the closing ceremonies on Aug. 8.
Regardless, Cole is thrilled about competing in the Olympics, Janet said.
“He’s a very patriotic kid, so he’s very excited to represent the U.S. and is just so thankful for that opportunity,” she said. “He loves competition, but he also wants to represent the U.S. well.”
Janet, an attorney, has been in the title industry since she graduated law school. Her husband’s uncle was in the business and showed her the ropes.
She has owned a title company since 1993 and founded Hocker Title in 2008. Hocker Title has 33 staff members in three offices in Indiana and is preparing to open a fourth.
For as long as she can remember, she wanted to own her own business.
“Part of that was so I could just provide a living for people in the way that I want to provide a living for people. I want people to have flexibility. I want them to have a life outside of work. I want them to have opportunities for promotion that you maybe wouldn’t have in a big corporation, and I’ve really kind of walked that walk,” Janet said.
She was reminded of that when Bowe Digital posted a photo of Cole from the race on the Hocker Title’s social media with the caption, “Dreams really do come true.”
“It was my dream to own my business, and it’s worked out. I’m 55 years old, and I’ve been doing this my whole adult life,” Janet said. “Whatever you set your mind to, if you do have goals, it really makes a big difference. And that’s been validated time and time again for me, and I always want to empower people to think the same way.”