Football
While the Knights suffered a loss to #8 St. John’s on October 14th, falling 63-7, Ntense Obono ’25 scored a touchdown reception (the 19th of his career) to mark his place at sixth in Carleton’s records. The team rebounded on October 21st, coming back from an early 14-0 deficit to score 42 points to Scholastica’s 21. Obono, Joseph Park ’25, Oryon Hamlin ’24, and Nick Toole ’26 scoring touchdowns in a strong team effort. Isaac Simons ’24 led the Knights defensively with 12 sacks. The team is ranked second in conference rankings, a good seed going into conference playoffs.
Men’s Soccer
The No. 14 (14-1-1) Knights played a scoreless match against MIAC rival Augsburg on October 17th, sending off a conference-high 32 shots, clinching a berth to the playoffs. The team bettered their historic season with a 2-0 shutout of Saint Mary’s, and goalkeeper Daniel Linder ’24 claimed MIAC Defensive Athlete of the Week after having to make only one save the entire game. Carleton outshot their opponents 24-12, with a 12-1 record for shots on goal. Owen Flanagan ’25 and Briggs Priem ’26 (who is now ranked second on the team for goals scored with sevan) scored the team’s goals. Though St. Olaf claims the No. 1 seed in the MIAC playoffs through a tiebreak, the Knights are in a great position and are now in the record books with 14 victories on the season, sixth all time for Carleton.
Women’s Soccer
The Knights have improved their record to 15-1-1 and are receiving votes nationally. Piper Dean ’25 led the team to a 3-0 week, notching MIAC Defensive Athlete of the Week for the second time this season. Highlights included Cate Patterson ’24’s hat-trick, the first of her career, against UW-River Falls in a 6-0 blowout. Casey MacVeigh ’24 moved to third in the Carleton record books with 15 career assists on October 18th against Wartburg, a 4-1 victory. Patterson and MacVeigh celebrated Senior Day by increasing the former’s program record with 20 career assists and helping the team defeat Saint Mary 3-0 and at least a share of the MIAC regular season title, depending on both Carleton and St. Catherine’s results on October 28th. The team is currently second all-time with 15 season victories, hoping for more in postseason play.
Women’s Golf
The Knights traveled to Miramar Beach, Florida, for an extended Fall Break and performed admirably to end their season, placing eighth overall with 916 strokes at the highly competitive D-III Fall Invitational, carding a season-high 296 strokes on the final day. Carter Sichol ’26 finished third over the three-day event, going 71-75-72 for a total of 218 strokes, and tied for the second-most number of birdies with 10 overall . Mindy Zhai ’27 moved up 31 spots after the first day, eventually placing 21st overall with 227 strokes. Sarah Zheng ’26 and Cynthia Lu ’26 tied for 69th overall on 237 strokes, and Natalie Tatar finished in 80th with 239 strokes. The team was second in terms of pars (169) and beat many highly-ranked teams, including MIAC champion St. Catherine.
Volleyball
Since the last issue, the Knights defeated Macalester College in 5 sets on Friday, October 14th, gaining advantage in defense with 13 blocks on the night to the opponents’ 4. Annelise Sokolow ’24 made 30 digs on the night, a career high, while Silvia Dixon ’26 had 11 kills and 13 digs for a double-double, the second of her season. The Knights dropped the next three games to Augsburg, Hamline, and St. Benedict, registering a record of 6-14 overall, 3-6 in MIAC competition. The team has already won more games than the 2022-2023 season and is ranked seventh in the conference, with the top six teams making the MIAC playoffs.
Women’s Cross Country
The Knights traveled to the East Coast on October 14th and beat five nationally ranked programs (including defending NCAA DIII team champion Johns Hopkins) at the Mike Woods Invitational, hosted by then-#4 SUNY Geneseo at an old airfield. A completely flat course allowed for ten out of twelve competing athletes to set personal best times, with Isabel Hoyt-Niemec ’24 dropping the most time with an improvement of close to two minutes. The entire top-five dipped below 22 minutes, an impressive feat, with a placement spread of 5-6-7-10-22. Phoebe Ward ’24 led the team, running 21:06 to drop a minute off her previous best time, Hannah Preisser ’26 ran 21:09 for a 48-second PR, and Sophie McManus ’25 ran 21:23 to break 22 minutes for the first time. Helen Cross ’24 finished in 21:32 while Aliya Larsen ’26 sealed the meet for the Knights by dropping more than a minute off her PR and moving up past SUNY Geneseo’s fifth, sixth and seventh runners in the last 1k to run 21:52. Other personal bests included Mary Blanchard ’24’s 22:21, Alice Cutter ’24’s 23:06, Nora Daley ’27’s 23:13, and Maggie Vortruba ’25’s 24:24. The strong demonstration of depth and improvement jumped the Knights back into the top four in the USTFCCCA rankings and solidified their standing as the top team in both the MIAC and North Region. Next up is the MIAC Conference Championships, a home meet, on October 28th at 12:00 PM on what looks to be a brisk day.
Men’s Cross Country
The Knights traveled to Rock Island, Indiana to compete at the 43-team Augustana Interregional Invitational, a hypercompetitive meet that gave them an opportunity to move up in the regional and national rankings in hopes of qualifying as a team for the NCAA XC Championships. They put together a strong top five and came through, beating four nationally ranked teams and a strong effort from Colorado College, placing sixth behind only five highly ranked programs. They finished behind only #4 UW-Whitewater in terms of regional rankings. Gabe Nichols ’26 led the Knights, finishing 18th with a PR of 24:56. Chris Melville ’24 placed 40th and ran a PR of 25:22, followed 5 seconds later by Roy Llewyn ’26 in a personal best time of 25:27. Henry Bowman ’24 and Indy Lyness ’26 closed out scoring in 74th and 81st, with respective times of 25:44 and 25:46. This excellent performance jumped the Knights back into contention for a non-automatic qualifying spot to Nationals, with an updated ranking of 4th in the region and 23rd in the country. Next up is the MIAC Conference Championships, a home meet, on October 28th at 11:00 AM on what looks to be a brisk day.
Men’s Swim and Dive
The team claimed a decisive victory at the Hamline Relays, totaling 656 points and winning six out of nine events, coming runner-up in the other three. In the 200 fly, 400 IM, 500 free relay, the trio of Warren Kozak ’27, Matthew Krogman ’27, and Sam Glaubitz ’24 claimed victory in a time of 11:46.78. Ethan Tun ’25, Nicholas Chang ’26, Sean Smith ’25 and Josh Wu ’24 won the 4x100m IM in 3:43.91. Krogman, Kozak, John Roessel ’27 and Charlie Ruppe ’26 touched the wall first in a tight race with St. Olaf in a time of 1:34.73. Wu, Smith and Kozak won the 6x50yd fly relay in 2:39.84 while Tun, Jackson Rankin ’27, and Ian Scott ’24 won the 6×50 yard backstroke relay in 2:41.15. Jeffrey Kong ’26 and Aaron Bronstone ’24 joined Wu for a victory in the 6x50m breaststroke relay 3:04.37.
Women’s Swim and Dive
The Knights started their winter season with a tight 670-668 point victory over rivals St. Olaf at the Hamline Relays, claiming victory in four events and coming runner-up in the other four. The event featured unusual relay distances. Highlights included Grace Hou ’27, Emma Yao ’27, Isabelle Riley ’25, and Zoe Morton ’26 winning the 200 yard relay in a time of 1:51.81, Stephanie Baranov ’26 joining Yao, Morton an Hou in a 4x100IM victory with a time of 4:14.25. Baranov also claimed first place in the 6x50m backstroke relay (3:03.14) alongside Lily Wong ’26 and Ava Shaker ’27. Bryn Ashland ’27 joined Jenna Drummond ’25 and Aubrey Tran ’27 to finish first in the 6x50yd breaststroke relay in 3:29.03.