<night, the men’s track team will begin competition at the Meet of the Hearts at the Recreation Center.
The two-day meet features five visiting teams: Augsburg, Hamline, Luther, Gustavus and Hamline, as well as some individuals from Bethel, St. Olaf and Minnesota State-Mankato.
The majority of the meet will take place tomorrow, beginning at 11 am. Tonight, two Knights will run the 5,000 meters, the longest indoor track event.
John Davis ’11 and younger brother Bobby Davis ’13 will each run their first 5k of the season. They will need to run about 15:50 to qualify for the MIAC 5,000-meter race. The gun will sound at 6:30.
Davis the elder has competed just once this season after injuring himself over winter break. He has been wearing some weird-looking blue tape all over his body to help cure his injury somehow.
At 7:30, the faster section of the 5,000 will feature some of the fastest people in the conference, including cross country All-American and MIAC individual champ Dan Greeno of Bethel, who is seeded at a blazing 14:30.
Tomorrow, the rest of the thinclads will take the track. Easily the most anticipated matchup of the day will pit 2009 graduate Jack Delehanty against red-hot Michael Sanders ’10 in the 800 meters.
Delehanty, who now works for Epic Systems in Madison, has had an epic season thus far, running under 1:58 twice with a best of 1:57.39. Sanders has also run 1:57, as well as a 1:15.03 600-yard dash and a 2:38 1000-meter run, both wins.
Expect an aggressive early pace, as neither of these athletes is known for patience. Both will likely cross the 400-meter mark in 56 seconds.
Josh Campbell ’13 will make his season debut at the mile, and will face strong competition. He is joined by Aaron Hirsh ’13, who closed in just 30 seconds in his first mile race two weeks ago.
According to a source close to the Knights but who asked to remain anonymous, Kian Flynn ’12 has scratched from the mile after spilling salad on himself at dinner Thursday evening. Flynn called the incident “embarrassing.”
Ty Martin ’11, who is a great guy, is a favorite in the 55-meter hurdle race. Martin has run 8.32 this season.
In the long jump, C.J. Dale ’13 faces by far the strongest field of the season. He enters the meet with an outstanding jump of 20 feet, 2.5 inches on the year.
The Meet of the Hearts is a fantastic Valentines’ Day date. In past years, roses have been provided to any athlete who brings his mother or significant other to the race. In addition, 32-ounce Gatorade bottles are awarded to individual event winners.
In 2008, someone drank half of a Gatorade bottle and then put it back, leaving head coach Dave Ricks utterly puzzled. An unnamed source told the Carletonian that it was Eamon Monaghan ’08.