<nnon River did its best to take away the cross country team’s training grounds last week, the Knights were not deterred. They kept running, whether through the river or on high ground, and readied themselves for the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota. Many outstanding efforts resulted in an eighth place finish for the Knights. Carleton’s women were the second finishers from the Central Region and the first finishers from the MIAC.
The Knights showed up with their 5/8 spikes ready to take on the course and splash a little mud onto their competition. The individual champion of the race was Alyssa Sybilrud of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, who obviously received her speed from an evening spent in the Myers lounge last fall. Next to cross the line was the Knights’ own Simone Childs-Walker ’12, using her speedy kick to overcome an Oshkosh runner in the last 200 meters. Her performance earned her the distinction of “flotrack star,” as well as a Roy Griak bobblehead.
Twenty-seven places later, Alison Smyth ’12 crossed the finish line. Next up for the Knights was Emily Fritz-Endres ’11, who shaved nearly a minute off her time from the previous season. Following Fritz-Endres was Milana Socha ’14, performing quite well in her first outing on the Griak course. Rounding out the scoring for the Knights was Taylor Ffitch ’12, running her first race of the season.
The key score bumpers, the sixth and seventh runners, were Kaitlin Randolph ’12 and Rachel Kittaka ’12. Randolph bettered her previous course record by 30 seconds and Kittaka thought it would be fun to run with her. Ten seconds later, Julie Besenbruch ’13 made her way through the chute, again cutting a large chunk of time off her previous Griak performance. The course this year was much slower than it was last year, due to the presence of puddles and mud-suction, making these time drops that much more impressive.
One of the Carls’ exuberant rookies, Aly Wisekal ’14, followed Besenbruch by just seven seconds. Adrienne Bruder ’14 was next, the large packs of people preventing her from trying to run the 8k course. Another time-dropper, Haley Johnson ’13, finished next. That involvement with Student Activities has made her so efficient in so many ways. Carrie Harshbarger ’13 followed Johnson, managing to put a few seconds between herself and a Laura Roach-coached athlete—quite a feat.
Sarah Trautman ’13 made it to the van, drove it to the course, and then stayed awake long enough to take some time off her previous course record. She was followed by more excitable first-years, Maddie Halloran ’14 and Claire Wilson ’14.
The Knights’ strong performance evoked an “Oh My Word” from Mexico. Are you worried yet, Oles?
