<morrow, the men’s track team will host one of the biggest and most exciting meets of the regular season, the Carleton Relays. The action will commence at 10 a.m. at Laird Stadium and continue until 2:30.
In the day’s first event, Colin Sinclair ’11 will have to wait over 9,000 meters to use his devastating finishing kick. He and Pete Samuels ’09 will be racing their first 10,000 meter run.
Eric Hofmann ’09 will provide guidance, as he will be contesting the track’s longest race for the fifth time in his illustrious career.
After an injury-plagued winter that included stepping on a poisonous sea urchin while surfing in Hawaii over break, John Davis ’09 finally returns to the track in his signature event, the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The 110-meter hurdles have been a premiere event for the Knights this season, and tomorrow will prove no different. Two-time All-American Tom Ballinger ’09 and Ty Martin ’11 will both race in the fast heat.
Ballinger will return to the track for his best event, the 400-meter hurdles. He holds the only NCAA provisional qualifier in the field, and a good race would improve his national standing.
Nick Cesarek ’09 will have his hands full in what promise to be extremely competitive 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. His heat of the 100 features eight athletes who have run 11.32 or faster. In the half-lap race, Cesarek and his seven foes have all run at least 22.58.
Carleton will send unleash its big dogs in the 800 meters, as Jack Delehanty ’09 and Michael Sanders ’10 enter as the events top two seeds. Thus far, the 800 is one of the strongest events in the MIAC, and both Knights will look to assert themselves as contenders with strong races.
Tom Brenner ’09 and Chris Marshall ’10 will contest the 5,000 meters what may develop as a crowded race. Of the 20 competitors, 10 are bunched between 16:00 and 16:25 on the entry lists.
The field event action will be spicy as well, especially in the javelin throw. Seven Knights will hurl the spear, including Cesarek and John Hanks ’09, who could surpass the 50-meter mark.
“DJ” Dylan Bothun ’11 and Nick “Big Texas” Smith ’09 will look for conference-qualifying throws in the second flight. Freshmen John Raberg and Famous Johnson will debut in the event.
Raberg and Smith will also contest the high jump. Johnson will run the 1500 meters, and could also see action in the 4 x 800 meter relay.
Evan Franco ’10 will take his first jumps of the outdoor season in the pole vault. Franco shocked the world by finishing third in the event indoors, earning him All-MIAC honors. Franco and two people named Brandon Johnson lead the field.
It would hardly be fair to call the meet the Carleton Relays and not have a plethora of relay events. Carleton will contest the 4 x 100, 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 relays tomorrow. The last event of the meet, the 4 x 400, could witness the first Knights squad dipping below 3:20 this century.