<oor Track & Field Championships begin this afternoon at 4:30 at the Rec Center. The Knights have athletes competing in 12 individual events, as well as three relays.
Friday night, the Fellahs closed out the regular indoor season at the St. Olaf Qualifier, their fourth trip across the river in 2010.
Once again, Michael Sanders ’10 turned in the best performance for Carleton, this time moving up in distance to the 1,000-meter event. In a loaded field, Sanders finished third in a 6-second PR of 2:32.72.
In the 55-meter hurdles, Ty Martin ’11 also faced an extremely talented group of competitors, finishing fourth in 8.03 and shaving another .04 off his PR. Martin enters the conference meet as the fifth seed in the event
Evan Franco ’10, the only person named Evan on the track team, finished second in another season best in the pole vault, jumping 4.08 meters. Dylan Cheever ’13 also had a second-place finish in a vertical jump, clearing 1.82 in the high jump.
The 3,000 meters featured a third-place finish from John Davis ’11, who trimmed eight seconds off of his previous season best, and ran fast enough to qualify for the MIAC meet. Davis also finished just ahead of two Johnnies, which is always good.
Kian Flynn ’12 was the top MIAC competitor in the mile run, stopping the clock in 4:36.10 to finish sixth overall. Flynn was also tops among all milers who are from Otis, Oregon.
No team scores were kept for the meet, but Carleton probably would have won.
Looking ahead, the Knights send a strong contingent to the MIAC meet, which began with the pentathlon yesterday and the rest of the events start this afternoon.
Jon Raberg ’12 is the only Knight sprinter in an individual event. Raberg will represent his workout group in heat 1 of the 55-meter dash prelims at 6:25 pm.
Sanders competes tonight in the fast heat of the 800 meters at 8:10. He will square off against top seeds Mike Hutton of St. Thomas and Max Hanson of Gustavus in what promises to be a fierce battle for the MIAC half-mile crown.
The captain from Cedar Falls, Iowa will run the fast section of the 600-yard dash tomorrow at 2:45, where Hanson will again be favored. Sanders finished fourth in the 600 at the 2008 MIAC meet. The mile run will feature five Carleton athletes. First, Josh Campbell ’13 and surprise qualifier Reid McMurry ’13 will race in section 1. Then Chris Marshall ’10 and Aaron Hirsh ’13 will contest section 2. Flynn will race in the fastest heat, section 3.
For the first time ever, someone could realistically score out of any of the three sections. Very few people entered the mile this year, most likely because they are scared of racing against Flynn. The first heat goes off at 7 pm.
At 5:55 pm tonight, Davis brothers John ’11 and Bobby ’13 will race in the meet’s longest event, the 5,000 meters. The 5k is typically one of the hardest events to qualify for in the entire meet.
Both will return Saturday at 2:15 for the 3,000 meters, where they will be joined by Marshall in section 1. Campbell and Hirsh will race 1,000 meters at 3:15.
The 55-meter hurdles have been a strong event for the Knights for the last few years. Even with the graduation of three-time NCAA All-American Tom Ballinger ’09, this year figures to be no different.
Martin is joined by Joe Concannon ’13 and Dylan Bothun ’11, as the Carls will have an athlete in all three preliminary heats.
The Knights send three athletes in field events as well. First-years C.J. Dale and Dylan Cheever have had excellent rookie seasons in the jumping events.
Dale will contest the long and triple jumps this weekend, while Cheever will jump high instead. Jameson Siegert ’11, already a two-year veteran of this meet, will also be in the high jump, where he will impart his wisdom upon Cheever.
Carleton also has three relay teams competing this weekend. Tonight’s distance medley relay will feature Hirsh, Jordan Butler ’13, McMurry and Campbell in what is expected to be a very entertaining race.
Tomorrow, Butler will join James Morrissey ’12, Raberg and Concannon in the 4×200 meter relay. Butler, Morrissey and Concannon will be back on the track for the last event of the competition, the 4×400 relay, where they will be anchored by Sanders.
The MIAC Indoor Championships were last held at Carleton in 2006, and will not be back for at least five years. That makes this weekend your last chance to see the Knights race against the best small-college athletes in the state of Minnesota.
-Chris Marshall is a member of the Men’s track team