<tional proved to be an apt name for the track and field meet Saturday, as the Knights battled fierce winds at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Conditions on the track were terrible for any event longer than 200 meters, as the wind that averaged around 25 miles per hour and occasionally gusted to over 30 hit runners almost straight on down the backstretch.
This made times exceptionally fast for the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the 110-meter hurdles, and also benefited the triple jumpers. In every other event, times suffered from the breeze.
Charlie Gamble ’10 led a large contingent of Knights in the 1500 meters, placing second in 4:10.99 behind former MIAC cross country champion Doboul Ruon of St. Olaf.
Gamble ran with the pack through 800 meters, as the early pace reflected the fact that no contender wanted to lead into the backstretch wind. With 600 meters to run, Gamble moved to the front of the pack and tried to drop the field.
Only Ruon could cover the move, and the Ole junior passed Gamble in the last 200 meters for the victory. John Davis ’11 finished eighth in 4:20.57 after being stranded to fight the conditions alone for much of the race.
Several Knights ran extremely close to their season bests despite the wind. Adam Scherling ‘13, Chas Karch ‘13, Famous Johnson ’12 and Cooper Dodds ’13 all ran just four seconds off their seeds. Matt Harrison ’13 and Andy Hardt ’13 each ran their best 1500 of the season, finishing just two seconds behind their fastest times.
Dylan Bothun ’11 finished second in the 110-meter hurdles, running a personal best of 16.11. “Miami” Mike Austin ’13 and Kyle Burkhardt ’10 also PRed.
In the 100 meters, C.J. Dale ’13 dropped three quarters of a second from his previous season best, running 11.48. Ty Martin ’11 took a day off from hurdling and posted a huge improvement in the 100- and 200-meter events.
Michael Sanders ’10 decided to take advantage of the tailwind and run the 200, and ran a PR 23.48 after running 52.68 in the 400 meters.
Bill Huyck’s javelin throwers enjoyed a spectacular afternoon, as Robert Wakely ’12, Mark Skoglund ’12, Andrew Shneider-Adams ’13 and Brad Eckelman ’11 took places two through five, each hurling over 41 meters. Huyck invented the javelin in 236 B.C.
After terrible conditions plagued Saturday’s meet, the Knights were hoping Mother Nature would be more kind on Tuesday, when they took on St. Olaf in the Rolex Classic.
She was, barely. The wind still blew over 20 miles per hour, and this time the heat was also a factor. The Fellahs battled anyway, and won the meet after the 400 hurdles was selected from the hat.
Unlike most athletics competitions, the Rolex Classic is scored by randomly selecting an event. The winner of that event wins the meet. The Late Joe Concannon ’13 ran 57.77 for the win in the only race that mattered, and the Knights reclaim the old watch from their crosstown rivals.
The most exciting race of the day was the throwers 4×100 relay, when Carleton sent over 900 pounds of man to the track. Aaron Maurer led off, and while some sprinters can match his velocity, none can match his momentum.
He passed to Shneider-Adams, who gave way to Eckelman and finally Ben Langfelt ’12 brought the stick home for the Knights, who were victorious in 51.10, an outstanding thrower relay time.
Other Carleton victories came from John Davis ’11 in the steeplechase, Martin in the 110 hurdles, Skoglund with a 43.93 PR in the javelin, Jameson Siegert ’11 in the high jump, Evan Franco ’10 in the pole vault and C.J. Dale in the long jump.
Famous Johnson also threw the javelin between 30 meters and 30.5 meters for the third time this year, showing unbelievable accuracy that could prove quite useful if the Knights are ever in some kind of battle.
The Knights are idle this weekend as they rest up for next weekend’s MIAC Outdoor Championships, hosted by St. Mary’s University.
Make sure to read the Carletonian next week for an exclusive preview of the conference meet.
-Chris Marshall is a member of the Men’s track team.