<orah, Iowa is home to two things important to members of the Carleton men’s track and field team. First, the Decorah Shale, a middle Ordovician fossiliferous shale deposited after the Platteville Limestone. Second, the slightly younger, less weathered, and more mobile Michael Knudson ‘11. Last Saturday, Knudson led the Knights to Iowa to compete at the Norse Relays, hosted by Luther College.
A pair of Carls won their first collegiate races at Luther. Marcus Huderle ‘14 introduced himself to the steeplechase with a bang, but not the sort of bang that the second-place runner experienced in falling over the penultimate water barrier. Huderle may not have made such a splash, but he kept cool to win the race in 9:58.
After an aggressive start Brian Spisiak ‘13 held on to win the 3200 meters, an event rarely contested in college, in 9:59. Ben Parks ‘11 followed him a solid 10:43.
Ty Martin ‘11 took third in the 400 meter hurdles, while teammate Michael Austin ‘13 ran a personal best 59.55 seconds to finish fifth.
The Carls excelled in another rarely contested event, the 4×1600 meter relay. One team of John Davis ‘11, Kian Flynn ‘12, Colin Sinclair ‘11, and Aaron Hirsh ‘13 took fourth place in 18:19 thanks to Davis’ fierce negative split and Flynn’s closing speed. An additional Carleton team of Guthrie Cunningham ‘14, Michael Knudson ‘11, Michael Tolan ‘14, and Famous Johnson ‘12 ran 19:42.
“Unlike most places in Iowa, the track was the flattest thing around,” said Johnson.
Carleton also entered two 4×800 meter relay teams. Davis, Hirsh, Sinclair, and Dylan Cheever ‘13 led the first Knights team to sixth place in 8:26, while the second team of Cunningham, Flynn, Tolan, and Phil Juda ‘13 ran 8:45.
Although several Carls raved about Luther’s bright blue track, Tolan remained unimpressed.
“Our track used to be blue too, for about a week last September when it was in the Cannon River,” said Tolan.
A shaky handoff slowed the Knights 4×100 meter relay, but Dylan Bothun ‘11, C.J. Dale ‘13, Jordan Soteros ‘14, and Martin still finished in fifth place at 46.21 seconds. The 4×200 meter relay of Robert Wakeley ‘12, Nick Herringer ‘14, Bothun, and Trey Brademan ‘14 ran 1:42.58 seconds.
The most impressive field event performance belonged to Dale, who debuted at the high jump, and although he showed some unpolished form, jumped 1.72 meters, good enough to match Cheever and Lobo James ‘14. Jameson Siegert was close behind in 1.67 meters. Cheever also competed in the pole vault, clearing 3.05 meters for a season best. Dale, meanwhile, placed fourth in the long jump.
Ben Langfeldt ‘12 threw the discus 37.55 meters, good enough for fourth place. In the javelin, Mark Skoglund ‘12 and Wakely took fourth and fifth, throwing 47.74 and 46.68 meters, respectively.
Thanks to the postponement of at least one meet and the possible cancellation of another due to inclement weather, the Knights are not at all sure where or when they will be competing this weekend, but it is likely that athletes will compete at either Gustavus Adolphus or St. Thomas on either Saturday or Sunday.
Colin Sinclair is a member of the men’s track team.