<st Friday and Saturday the women’s track and field team hosted a number of competitors at the Meet of the Hearts. The team surprised many by putting together enough points to place second in the team competition. It was quite a feat, made possible by the number of first and second places the team recorded.
The action kicked of with the pentathlon and 5k on Friday night. Amy Elson ’10 took advantage of her opportunity to put all of her skills together in competition before conference. Most notable were her high jump technique and her improved race structure in the 800 meter run. During the course of the pent, Nikki Reich ’10 and Shannon Mueller ’12 took to the track and took on the challenge of the 5k. Reich had a spectacular race, taking command early and running close to her outdoor PR.
Following these two women was the “faster” heat of the 5k. Containing a number of competitors attempting to hit national qualifying marks in the 25 lap event, it was quite fun to be a split-taker during the event. Laura Roach ’10 ran the event indoors for the first time, bettering her PR by 5 seconds, although she unfortunately missed the provisional qualifying mark.
Slightly ahead of her was Simone Childs-Walker ’12, who broke the Rec Center record with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 17:14, currently ranked as the 5th fastest time in Division III.
The next day began with the 4×200 m, as the Knights won their heat. This was followed by a great race by Sameena Ahmed ’12 whose time was good enough to pull her from the slowest heat all the way to 7th place in the final standings.
Other notable performances include those of Clare Franco ’12 and Kaitlin Randolph ’12 in the 600 m. Randolph ran an impressive 1:40 (5th in the MIAC) while Franco ’12 broke her own school record by over a second in 1:36
In that slightly longer event, the 800 m, Laura Roach ’10 recovered enough from her 5k effort to place 2nd and edge in front of Franco’s spot on the Carleton All-Time Top 10 list. Another second placer, Brooke Granowski ’13 ran 61.68 in the 400 m, her season’s best time.
Off the track, Kyla Walter ’11 won the high jump, clearing a bar resting just under 5 feet in height. In other jumping events, Elson placed second in the triple and Franco took fifth in the long.
Franco had one other spectacular performance that day, as anyone watching the Carleton 4×4 will attest. Granowski, Haley Johnson ’13, and Randolph put Carleton in excellent position before handing the baton off to Franco. Franco took charge and passed a certain rather talented Gustie to give Carleton the win in the 4×4, in a time much faster than Carleton has had recently in the event.
The success will continue this weekend as the team heads up to the University of Minnesota to enjoy some fierce competition.