< whistled as warm-ups rustled and Ben Levy’s hamstring hummed in St. Paul. A group of navy-clad Fellahs clustered in a fairway at Como Park preparing for their race.
First one, then a two, then three gold figures came flying down a gentle hill 200 yards away. The gold haze focused into maize with blue accents and that same word, Carleton, was written on the jerseys of the lead pack in the women’s race.
“Is Simone leading?” queried Andy Hardt, his squint piercing the cool autumn air. “No way! That’s Simone then…Rachel then Allison!” someone shouted.
All the Fellahs’ bearded faces snapped in the direction of the race like a coterie of prairie dogs. They hadn’t lied—three Carleton ladies were leading the MIAC championship race and a fourth was not far behind! The Fellahs broke into a premature stride, whooping and hollering cheering their female counterparts onto a 1-2-3-7 finish and a stunning winning score of 33!
The women’s team threw down the gauntlet and, although it was a hard act to follow, the Fellahs fought hard. The male harriers paced well through the race before finishing in no less than sixth place. Only 13 points behind St. Thomas, the Knights scored 163 points, four fewer than last year.
Phil Juda ‘13 made four points look like chump change when he finished 47 places better and 193 seconds faster than last year. Juda ferried with his pack of fierce freshmen to their best races of the season.
Gustav Danielsson ‘15, Ben Levy ‘15 and Oliver Heywood ‘15 finished within nine seconds of Juda, running impressive times for their first conference race.
Bill Grimm ‘15 didn’t let the other freshmen have all the fun, running 29:01, which was the fastest time in his collegiate career or personal record (PR). Faculty Club fraternizers Matthew Fitzgerald ‘14 and Ryan Lawrence ‘14 put their names up on the PR plaque finishing in 28:20 and 27:34 respectively.
Lawrence said after the race “I was really pumped today because I got to run with Noah (or Thor) Lacck-Veeder—something I haven’t been able to do this season. Now I think I can tell them apart, maybe.”
Senior Kian Flynn broke a streak of subpar races at Como to finish fifth on the team and score the most points. He will lead eight of the Fellahs against foes from all across the region in the NCAA qualifying meet next Saturday.