< victories by Tom Ballinger ’09 and Jack Delehanty ’09, the men’s track team posted a fourth-place finish in a field of 15 teams at the Carleton Relays Saturday. The Knights scored in 12 different events.
Delehanty took the 800 meters out from the gun, covering the first lap aggressively in 56-flat. With a ten-meter lead at the bell, the senior captain was pushed only by his teammate, Michael Sanders ’10, who would finish second.
The one-two punch clocked 1:56.47 and 1:56.89.
Ballinger, as usual, took home the 400-meter hurdle title in an NCAA Provisional time of 54.27. It was later discovered that Ballinger was running from Bethel senior Carl Gladitsch, who was trying to cast a spell on him.
In the short sprints, Nick Cesarek ’09 turned in two personal bests, running 11.07 for third place in the 100 and 22.40 for fourth in the 200. He now sits seventh in the conference in both events.
The Knights’ other runner-up finish came from Evan Franco ’10, who cleared 4.30 meters in his outdoor debut after a stellar indoor season that included his first career all-MIAC citation. Franco also holds the distinction of being the only person named Evan on the track team.
The distance squad turned in solid performances, motivated by the return of John Davis ’11, who missed all of indoors after being viciously attacked by a sea urchin. In his first race back, the sophomore took fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, running 10:04.60.
Chris Marshall ’10 bettered his 5,000-meter personal record by 15 seconds, taking fourth in 15:57.37. He was joined in the 15-second-PR club by Tom Brenner ’09, who was seventh in 16:09.25.
It was Kian time during the second heat of the 1,500 meters, as Kian Flynn ’12 ran a gutsy 4:19.76 to drop his collegiate PR by 11 seconds. A calf injury kept the other freshman distance runner, Famous Johnson ’12, from competing.
Unable to run faster than 10k due to a tight muscle in his butt, Colin Sinclair ’11 was forced to try the 10,000 meters. Unleashing a devastating finishing kick over the last 400, Sinclair broke the mystical 34-minute barrier, stopping the clock at 33:57.85 for sixth place.
The Knights had another near-miss at a sub-3:20 mark in the 1600-meter relay Saturday, when a 49.0 third leg from Delehanty was not quite enough.
Frustrated, the foursome decided to take another shot Wednesday evening at Macalester. Under the lights, the Knight thinclads won the meet in 3:19.27, the first sub-3:20 at Carleton this millennium.
Davis and Flynn also turned in spectacular performances Wednesday, running 15:42.00 and 16:23.79, respectively, at 5,000 meters. Michael Knudson ’11 and Ben Parks ’11, after demolishing two unlucky Oles Saturday, also ran stellar 5k’s Wednesday, clocking 17:16.78 and 17:21.91.
The 4×400 team will compete at the Drake Relays tonight and tomorrow, capping off an extremely busy week of racing. The rest of the team will race at the Drake Alternative tomorrow afternoon at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Then, the Knights will take on cross-town rival St. Olaf at the Rolex Classic Tuesday at Laird Stadium in the final competition before the conference meet.