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of a two-day competition, seasoned veterans such as Tom Ballinger ’09 and Kane Bechstein ’09 helped the Carleton men’s track and field team compile 64 points at the MIAC Outdoor Championships. Unfortunately, with that point total, the Carleton Knights finished in seventh place and 119 points behind the MIAC champions, the University of St. Thomas. Although the Coach Ricks’ team did not finish highly on the points total list, there were plenty of impressive performances turned in by the Knights. On a hectic Saturday, Tom Ballinger finished in fourth place in the 110-meter hurdles. Then, with only 15 minutes to rest, Ballinger crossed the line in fourth place during the finals of the 400-meter dash, a race where second and fourth place were separated by only 0.03 seconds. Later, Ballinger finished second in the 400-meter hurdles, and he posted a NCAA qualifying time of 52.64 in the preliminaries. Ballinger capped off his weekend by joining Nick Cesarek ’09, Michael Sanders ’10, and Jack Delahanty ’09 to finish fifth in the 4x400m relay. Yet, Ballinger was not the only Knight to have an outstanding weekend. On Friday, Kane Bechstein was busy earning Coach Ricks’ team a plethora of points. Bechstein started his day running a leg in the 4x100m relay, a race where the Knights put up their fastest time in 10 years (43.17). After that accomplishment, Bechstein qualified for the pole vault finals; then, he hurried to the javelin throwing station where he set a personal best; later, he would finish fifth in the javelin. To top it all off, Bechstein quickly returned to the pole vault and earned a personal record (14’ 5.25”). In the end, Bechstein achieved All-MIAC honorable mention in three events. In addition to Ballinger and Bechstein, senior Quentin Kennedy and freshman John Davis aided Carleton’s efforts at the MIAC Outdoor Championships. Kennedy placed second in the steeplechase and picked up All-MIAC honors, while Davis raced to a sixth place finish, which was enough to earn all-conference honorable. In the long-distance races, Joe Sepe ‘09 finished fourth and knocked 50 seconds of his personal best in the 10,000-meter run. He would later finish fourth in the 5000m with a time of 15.05.32. In the same race, Charlie Gamble ’10 stormed to a sixth place finish and earned All-MIAC honorable mention. Moreover, Jack Delehanty just missed out on All-MIAC honors by finishing seventh in the 800-meter run. Similarly, Nick Cesarek was hundredths of a second away from grabbing a conference honor in the 200m, an event where Cesarek crossed the finish line in seventh place. Up next, select members of the team will compete in the NCAA Championships. This year’s championships will be held from May 22-24 on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s campus. At Oshkosh, the Knights are hoping to build on Ballinger’s strong performance at last year’s NCAA Championships.