< some unfortunate scheduling, the Knights were split this weekend between River Falls, Wis. and Decorah, Iowa.
The weekend’s festivities were kicked off in Wisconsin by two adventurous juniors who dared to try that most exigent of events, the 10,000m. Alison Smyth, ’12 turned in a fabulous initial mark, finishing in an impressive 38:15. Not to be outdone, Shannon Mueller ’12 battled through light-headedness to a solid 42:19. Both runners show potential for great improvement.
Next on the track was a passel of sprinters who were somehow tricked into running the 1500m. Experienced middle-distancers Sarah Trautman ’13 and Milana Socha ’14 guided Clare Franco ’12 and Alex Dunn ’11 through the 3.75-lap race, Trautman leading the Carleton contingent with a time of 5:04. A highlight of the event was the triumphant return to racing of Sameena Ahmed ‘12, who had been sidelined by injury.
In the shortest of shorter distances, Megan Meads ‘14 competed for the first time in the 100m dash, turning in a respectable 14.18.
Racing an unusual outdoor 3,000m, Oregon native Taylor ffitch ’12 enjoyed the rain during her race nearly as much as everyone enjoyed telling her she should enjoy it.
Sami Kemper ’14 turned in two excellent performances, placing third in the triple jump with a leap of 10.68m, and running a peppy 400m hurdle time of 68.06, despite one or two moments of creative hurdle form.
In other hurdle news, Kyla Walter,’11 completed the 100m hurdle race in 18.36 into a stiff headwind. Even more impressively, she achieved a new outdoor personal best in the High Jump, clearing 5’1”.
As their teammates shivered in the unseasonable cold, Carrie Harshbarger ’13 and Laura Newcombe ’13 raced the 800m, finishing in 2:33.80 and 3:01.94 respectively.
Approximately 23 years later, three Carls took the field in the 5,000m, two of them continuing the theme of first attempts. Simone Childs-Walker ‘12, with typical precise race structure, blew away the field to win the event in an NCAA Provisional qualifying time of 17:14.16. Attempting the distance for the first time were track rookies Emily Fritz-Endres ’11 and Rachael Klehm ’13. The two came as close to working together as possible without actually doing it, finishing in 19:06.80 for Fritz-Endres and 19:08.18 for Klehm.
Meanwhile, in far-off, much sunnier Iowa at the Luther Norse Relays, Megan Erlandson ’13 set a good example for her teammates by winning the pole vault with an impressive vault of 10’10”.
The Knights continued to rack up points in the throwing events, despite scheduling overlaps that prevented them from throwing in the finals of the shot put. In that event, however, they still threw well. Kelly Lovett ’11 launched the Shot 37’9 ¼,” followed by Kao Sutton ’14 at 37’7 ¾,” and Elissa Walter ’13, Jessa Youso ’13 and Kelly Soderstrom ’11 at 32’ 1½,” 31’ 2 ½,” and 30’ 7,” respectively.
Not content with that, the Knights proceeded to the discus throw, where they were led by Sutton, who placed second in the event with a throw of 124’10,” or in layman’s terms, a very long way.
In the hammer throw, it was Soderstrom, a latecomer to the world of track and field, who threw furthest for the Knights, turning in a mark of 108’ 4”.
In the Javelin, Kelly Lovett ’11 threw well beyond the NCAA Provisional Qualifying mark with a throw of 134’11”. As an indicator of the stellar performance of the throwers and vaulter, consider that the six of them alone placed fifth in the meet.
The Knights are back in action next week at the Manitou Classic, hosted by St. Olaf.
Taylor ffitch is a member of the women’s track team.