<st Friday night, Charlie Gamble ’10 went to the Snowshoe Open, a Division I meet at the University of Minnesota and finished fifth in the mile run, clocking an impressive 4:14.95 and qualifying provisionally for the NCAA Division III Championships.
After running 8:25.44 over 3000 meters, the fastest time in the MIAC since 1985, followed by an NCAA provisional qualifying 14:38.40 at 5000 meters, would you expect anything else?
Gamble faced an extremely strong field that went out very aggressively, and in the first 100 meters he had to choose between running on the inside and running in the middle of the pack. Opting for the rail, he began the race in the rear.
This, of course, would not last long. As the runners in front of him dropped off the torrid pace of under 32 seconds per lap, Gamble passed them one by one until he found himself right in the mix with two laps to go.
His last 400 meters lasted just 60 seconds, and he crossed the finish line more than a second under the “provo” time of 4:16.00. Gamble is currently 19th in the country in the mile.
Word of senior Tom Ballinger’s 400-meter prowess has clearly reached the Twin Cities, as two Minnesota Gopher athletes scratched the event in order to avoid being inevitably humiliated by Ballinger. Even all by his lonesome, he ran a stellar 50.53.
Jack Delehanty ’09 notched a season-best 1:58.43 in the 800 meters, then returned to run 3:23.34 in the 4×400-meter relay along with Ballinger, Michael Sanders ’10 and Nick Cesarek ’09. The time was the fastest indoors at Carleton since 1992.
The Knights full squad was in action Saturday at St. Olaf’s Tostrud Classic. Dylan Bothun ’11 got his first collegiate win in the 55-meter hurdles, running 8.42 seconds in the final after an 8.40 in the preliminary. Ty Martin ’11 ran his personal best 8.41 in the prelim, challenging Bothun to the line.
In the pole vault, two Knights cleared 14 feet at the same meet for the first time in coach Dave Ricks’ career, as Evan Franco ’10 and Kane Bechstein ’09 each jumped 4.28 meters.
Jameson Siegert ’11 won the triple jump in 12.38 meters, and jumped 1.83 meters in the high jump to clear the 6-foot barrier once again.
In the 3000 meter run, Colin Sinclair ’11 showed the boisterous St. Olaf crowd his devastating finishing kick, emerging from a dense pack to finish second in a personal-best 9:14.32. Pete Samuels ’09 also ran a personal record, taking fifth in 9:21.26.
Delehanty, Ballinger, Sanders and Cesarek came back after racing Friday night and turned in solid performances on Saturday. Delehanty finished second in the 400 meters, Sanders was third in the 600 yards, and Ballinger and Cesarek went 2-3 in the 200-meter dash. Cesarek was also runner-up in the 55-meter dash.
The one-mile run provided more excitement as all three Carleton entrants ran PRs. Chris Marshall ’10 finished fourth in 4:37.57 and did not lose to any Oles. Eric Hofmann ’09 was close behind in 4:39.58, and Ben Parks ’11 broke five minutes for the first time, running 4:56.79.
The Knights will compete at Macalester tonight, their last meet before the MIAC Championships next weekend at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.