<st Friday the women’s cross-country team took advantage of another opportunity to refine race strategies and get the whole team out racing by heading over to Eau Claire, WI for the Blugold Open. Many strong efforts led Carleton to a 3rd place finish.
The Knights drove off into the storm, taking a myriad of paths to get to the course. Once the team arrived, the rain ended and the sun started peeking its head out—probably for the benefit of the team member who had earned All-American status on that course.
The team headed out for the warm-up, commented on how short the course felt and how small the hills looked, struggled to find an open Cesspool Cleaning Inc. orange box, and then headed off to the more important box, number 12. The Knights got off the line quickly and charged up the gentle incline, establishing their rhythm before turning to the competitors and racing.
Per usual, Simone Childs-Walker ’12 led the team. She spent some time in the company of a few Golden Gophers and a familiar face, Alyssa Sybilrud, and somehow found it in herself to make a move at the right point in the finish to cross the line 3 seconds before Sybilrud, securing the victory.
Next for the Knights was Alison Smyth ’12. Following Smyth was Taylor Ffitch ’12, Emily Fritz-Endres ’11, and Milana Socha ’14. That trio has become quite a sight—that’s a lot of yellow to be looking at! Next was Rachael Klehn ’13, running an impressive 24:13 in her 6k debut. She was followed shortly by Kaitlin Randolph ’12, who used the energy from anticipating her mother’s cookies to drop 49 seconds off her previous course best.
Next for the Knights was Lauren Chow ’14. Reading in the ice bath leads to extra time in the water leads to better recovery leads to faster times? Rachel Kittaka ’12 continued to impress with the fastest finishing kick with the most arm movement. Aly Wisekal ’14, Adrienne Bruder ’14, and Julie Besenbruch ’13 were another impressive pack of yellow to cross the line together with a great display of enthusiasm. Haley Johnson ’13 was closing in on the pack, but she unfortunately empathized with her competitors and thought that seeing four Carls together would be too many, so she put a gap of a few seconds between her and the others.
Carrie Harshbarger ’13 had an excellent race, running under 25:30, as did Sarah Trautman ‘13, who went under 26 for the first time. Running without her buddy Maddie, Claire Wilson ’14 managed to run an excellent race for the both of them, posting a personal record time.
These efforts combined to earn the Knights a 3rd place finish behind the University of Minnesota and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. They edged regional rival Luther College by one point and were able to score fewer points than UW-La Crosse after La Crosse bested the Knights at the Roy Griak Invitational. Not too shabby.
Having had such an excellent outing, the Knights have decided they need a break, and will use this weekend to recover following an impressive week of speed-producing practices.
-Alison Smyth is a member of the women’s cross country team.