<st St. Olaf College elected not to keep team scores at Saturday’s Tostrud Classic—the result would have been too devastating for the Oles. The Knights ran, jumped, jumped with the assistance of a pole and threw perhaps their best meet of the season as a team.
Michael Sanders ’10 continued his dominant season with a commanding victory at 800 meters. Taking the lead from the gun, the captain came through the quarter-mile in a ridiculous 56-flat en route to a 1:56.58 clocking and a 2.22-second victory.
Up one distance the story did not change. At 1000 meters, Josh Campbell ’13 notched his first collegiate win, taking the field by storm at the 400-meter mark and racing the clock for the final three laps of his 2:38.61 effort. Aaron Hirsh ’13 chased Campbell the whole race, finishing second in 2:41.41.
The highlights did not end in the middle distances for the Knights. Ty Martin ’11 clipped two hundredths off of his PR in the 55-meter hurdles, running 8.07 for second place in the final, trailing only coach Ben Dillow’s 8.00. Martin returned to the track to finish eighth in the 200-meter dash.
Joe Concannon ’13 and Dylan Bothuun ’11 finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
C.J. Dale ’13 ran 7.03 in the 55-meter dash preliminaries, qualifying him for the final. Unfortunately for those who enjoy watching Dale run, he was too busy playing in the sand to return to the track. For yet another week, Dale showed off his jumping skills, wining the triple jump in 11.86 meters over perhaps the strongest field he has seen so far this year.
In the long jump, Dale finished third with a 6.03-meter leap. Assistant coach Ben Dillow won his second event of the day, jumping 6.17 meters. Some guy called Adam Horkey, who is apparently a student at Augsburg College, finished second in 6.08.
Head coach Dave Ricks surprised the long jump aficionados with two surprise entries, freshmen Jordan Butler and Dylan Cheever. Butler finished fifth in the 600 yards in a 1:18.49 PR before heading over to the runway.
Cheever is allegedly preparing for some sort of pentathlon, as he competed in the 1000, the long jump, the high jump and the shot put, with varying degrees of success. In the high jump, Cheever used his unbelievable back flexibility to clear 1.85 meters for another victory (the exact count has been lost). Unable to clear 1.85 was Isaac Thor of Augsburg, who was vacationing from his post as the god of thunder.
After taking the pace out for the first two laps, Cheever ended up sixth in the 1000 meters in a PR 2:44.55. He fared decently well in the long jump, with a mark of 5.32 in his first ever competition. In the shot put, Cheever was a surprise champion in the yelling contest, letting out a roar that reached the far corners of the field house. Unfortunately the shot did not travel quite as far, stopping after 7.29 meters in flight.
Aaron Maurer ’11 won the 35-pound weight throw with an 11.44-meter personal best toss, but did not yell nearly as loud as Cheever.
The pole vault saw another season best for Evan Franco ’10, who finished in a four-way tie for second with a 4.05-meter jump.
In an exciting two-lap race, Ezra Velazquez ’10 and Michael Austin ’13 finished first and second in heat one of the 400-meter dash. Neck and neck for most of the run, Velazquez prevailed down the home straight in 55.60, three tenths ahead of Austin’s 55.90.
St. Olaf coach Phil Lundin had the brilliant idea of having 16 competitors in a single heat of the mile run. The three Knights all ran personal bests. Chris Marshall ’10 stuck with the leaders for a while before settling for fifth in 4:36.07.
First-year Jon Kittaka’s newfound efficient running form combined with him being an overall baller to led to a 4:45.68 race. Chas Karch ’13 was close behind in 4:48.31. The pair returned to the track just 45 minutes later to run a gutsy 800, both running collegiate PRs.
The people of Otis, Oregon collectively breathed a sigh of relief as Kian Flynn ’12 returned to competition. Moving to the lead just before two kilometers, Flynn held on for second in 9:16.21 behind Ole sophomore Matthew Perkovich, who may be related to cross country runner Perkovich Perk.
The afternoon’s final event was among the most exciting for the Fellahs. In the first heat of the 4×400-meter relay, “Carleton C” beat all odds and ran 3:45.66. John Davis ’11 ate his words after cautiously predicting 3:50, citing an unproven second leg of Reid McMurry ’13.
McMurry is now officially proven, after a blazing 55.5 carry. His leg began with one of the ugliest handoffs ever witnessed, as Hirsh attempted to windmill the baton, finding McMurry’s hand in some unknown position, but the first-year from Massachusetts more than made up for the miserable exchange with some really fast running.
Josh Campbell ’13 anchored the C team with a 55.5 of his own, nearly catching a St. Olaf B squad composed of actual long sprinters.
The fast heat of the 1600-meter relay featured a season best 3:32.33 for the Knights, who ran without James Morrissey ’12. Concannon split 53.5, his fastest leg of the season. There is some debate over whether Butler broke 52 seconds in his leg, but this reporter had him in 51.9 and now it’s in the newspaper so it’s official. Sanders closed out the meet with another solid anchor leg of 51.5.
Tonight, the Knights return to the track, and return to St. Olaf’s Tostrud Center. For some, this will be the final competition of the indoor season. For others, this will be the last opportunity to improve their MIAC qualifying marks.
The MIAC Championship meet begins Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Rec Center with the pentathlon. The other events take place Friday and Saturday, also at the Rec. Carleton will not host another MIAC meet until every current student has graduated, so this may be the last opportunity to watch the Knights in the most important meet of the season.