The NAIA national indoor shot put championship is nice but it is not the win-all, end-all to his career; Cade VanVleet is not quite done with the sport of collegiate track and field just yet.

VanVleet won the 2026 NAIA indoor shot put title with a throw of 17.73 meters (58 feet, 2 inches) at the national meet in Gainesville, Florida earlier this month, a highlight of his remarkable Frontier Conference track and field career at Montana Tech. The throw matched exactly a year-old facility record for the event.

A 2022 graduate of Noxon High School, VanVleet has been attending Montana Tech in Butte pursuing a degree in electrical engineering, while competing for the Orediggers track and field team ever since, and has been enjoying it greatly.

So much so in fact that he has decided to sit out the second half of his senior season this spring, train up like he is used to by now, and compete again in the 2027 Frontier Conference track and field season for the Orediggers. He plans to compete in meets this spring unattached to Tech, but still attached to the sport he has grown to love.

“I plan on red-shirting this spring. I love the sport and want to keep practicing, keep trying to get better,” the ex-Red Devil athlete said. “I will keep working on the shot, the discus and the hammer throw like I have the last several years.”

VanVleet has enjoyed a record-setting career for the Orediggers so far. He won second place in the shot put and in the discus in the ’24 Indoor Nationals, and placed seventh in the shot put as a sophomore. Cade is also a two-time Frontier Conference outdoor champion in the shot put, and holds a total of eight conference titles, combined indoor and outdoor, from his work in the weight throws (the shot, the discus and the hammer) during his career as an Oredigger.

Cade made the national championship winning throw on his second attempt in Gainesville and watched the rest of the field try but fail to pass his big mark in the qualifying rounds and finals after that.

He certainly loved every minute of his winning performance in Gainesville… well, almost every minute of it. Cade narrowly missed breaking the facility record when he raised his head slightly at the end of a particularly big throw, losing his balance and stepping out of the ring, on what most certainly would have been a new record throw for the Alachua County Sports & Events Center facility where the meet was held.

“I knew it was a very good throw and I raised my head. It could have been a new record,” he said diplomatically, “but I scratched, and I can accept that. I am more than fine with how I did, and proud to be able to represent Montana Tech.”

Cade was a three-sports athlete at Noxon and excelled in football, basketball and track and field during his Red Devil athletic career, minus some time he spent dealing with a couple of knee injuries along the way.

Although he is now a multi-time Frontier Conference champion and now national champion at Tech, Cade never won a State C title for the Red Devils, finishing second twice in the shot put in State C meets.

Family is obviously a big thing in VanVleet’s life.

Cade is the son of Jared and Stephi VanVleet of Noxon and currently lives with his sister Hilary, who happens to be a professor at Montana Tech, in Butte.

Jared and Stephi have spent much of the past several years chasing around Cade, following their son as he competes in track and field events mostly around Montana and the western U.S. but also as far off as Gainesville, where both were cheering on their son earlier this month.