Women’s Track and Field

The Knights sent three athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships from May 23-25 in South Carolina. Helen Cross `24 qualified as the 21st seed in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:31.71, Mary Blanchard `24 made it into the same event after a late scratch with a time of 4:32.85, Sophie McManus `25 was the 15th seed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase after a solo title run at the MIAC Championships with a time of 10:45.1, and Hannah Preisser `26 will enter as the 19th seed in the 10,000-meter race with her PR of 35:32.83. All four earned All-Region honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), with Blanchard landing herself in the top five in the 800-meter run as well as the 1,500, Cross was third in the rankings in both the 1,500 and 5000-meter run (which she missed out on qualifying to Nationals for by just 2 seconds), McManus was the top of the North region in the steeplechase, and Preisser had the third-best 10,000 meter time in the region. 

All four Knights  had previous experience at NCAA’s on the track, with Preisser qualifying in the 5,000-meter event indoors in the winter of 2023, finishing thirteenth, and setting a PB in the 10,000 that spring to finish seventeenth at the national meet. She is a two-time All-American in cross country, finishing fifteenth in 2022 and fourteenth in 2023. She led the Knights to a historic team victory, in both school and championship history, in the fall. Cross finished twelfth in the 5,000-meter event in the winter of 2023 at the Indoor national meet and has an eighty-ninth and forty-first place finish record in the last two years at the Cross Country NCAA race, while Blanchard finished ninety-second in 2022 and a hundred and fifteenth in 2023. All will hope to take First-Team (top 8) or Second-Team (9-16 place) All-American honors in their respective events. Blanchard finished seventeenth in the 800-meter event in the 2024 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships last season, while Cross took eleventh with a PB and Second Team All-American in the 3,000-meter event and McManus finished twentieth in the 5,000. 

May 23 brought good results for the Knights, with Blanchard finishing nineteenth and Cross claiming Second Team All-American honors with a fifteenth place finish. Both end their careers with the Knights on a high note, beating their seed places. McManus ran to a seventeenth-place finish in the heats of the steeplechase, and Preisser finished seventeenth in a brutal race, passing three athletes in the final few laps for a strong performance.

Men’s Track and Field

The Knights sent two athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships from May 23-25 in South Carolina. Gabe Nichols `26 was the 7th seed in the 1,500-meter run, after breaking his own school record, and Ian Mortensen `24 (the 2024 MIAC Champion) was the 13th seed in the ten-event decathlon with 6,525 points. Nichols and Mortensen claimed All-Region honors from USTFCCCA, Mortensen in the javelin (the second-best distance of the region) and Nichols in the 1,500 (second in the region). 

This was Mortenen’s first national meet appearance while Nichols qualified for the mile Indoors in the winter of 2023 and finished a hundred and thirty-fourth in Cross Country as the team finished twenty-eighth at the national meet. 

May 23 saw Nichols finish seventeenth in the heats of the 1500. Mortensen recorded three PBs, jumping 6.47 meters in the long jump, 1.82 meters in the high jump, and 12.98 meters in the shot put. He was eleventh with 3445 points after the first day of competition. 

Knight Awards

The Knight Awards are an annual celebration of Carleton Athletics and were held on May 21. The Elle Hansen Award, which celebrates female senior leadership, went to Mary Blanchard `24 of Women’s Track and Field and Stelle Dennehy `24 of Volleyball. The men’s senior leadership award, the Andy Engel Award, went to Yuv Kataria `24 of Men’s Tennis. The Pat Lamb Award, which celebrates sportsmanship, went to Helen Cross `24 of Women’s Track and Field, Catie Marvin `24 of Women’s Soccer, and Mary Hose `24 of Women’s Tennis. Ian Mortensen `24 of Men’s Track won the Athlete of the Year Award, and Soren Kaster `27 of Men’s Track won the Rookie of the Year award. 

Women’s Golf

Carter Sichol `26 was named All-Region and All-American by the WCGA. She competed at the NCAA DIII Golf Championships on May 21-24, scoring a 6-over-par 78 on May 21 to tie for forty-eighth, four shots down on the third-best individual entrant in the field. May 22 brought several weather delays due to thunderstorms and Sichol’s start was pushed back more than three hours. She carded a six-over-par at fourteen holes before rain stopped play for the night, resuming at 6:00 AM PST on May 23. She finished out Round 2 at seven-over-par, scoring 157 overall and tying for fifty-sixth, leaving her out of the third round as more than six other individuals from non-qualified teams placed ahead of her.

Men’s Golf

Sam Higaki `27 was named to the PING Golf Coaches Association of America Region 6 All-Region team alongside the National All-First Year Team. 

Softball

Three Knights claimed All-MIAC honors to end their season. Bryanna Schaffer `25 and Megan Smith earned All-MIAC while Adriana Wiggins `26 earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention. 

Ultimate Frisbee

The Knights sent two club teams to the USA D-III College Championships tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the No.-9 ranked men’s team of CHOP finishing tenth and the No.-7 ranked women’s team of Eclipse finishing second on May 19 and 20. CHOP’s record was 1-4, beating No. 16 Claremont 15-7 in pool play and finishing third in Pool D before falling to No. 12 Davenport 12-15 in pre-quarterfinal play, beating No. 14 Rochester 12-8 in the 9th-12th place bracket and losing to No. 8 Lewis and Clark 13-14 in the ninth place bracket. CHOP was the conference and North Regional Champion this season. Eclipse dominated their pool play, going undefeated, then powered through to the semifinals (beating Union 15-6, Lewis & Clark 15-7, and Richmond 15-3) where they beat No. 10 Middlebury 15-13, then fell to No. 1 Portland with a tight score of 13-15 in the finals for a fantastic runner-up run. Cameron Barton is Eclipse’s head coach and Matt Forster and Micheal Massad are CHOP’s head coaches. The two qualified D-I teams will play next weekend.