<rtunately, since the Knights went to a split day meet, they had to endure split-day squads last weekend, with part of the team competing at Gustavus Adolphus and part of the team at River Falls. Despite the division, the Knights excelled in their events, demonstrating wonderful race structure and technique.
One of the more impressive performances of the weekend was that of Kao Sutton ’14, who qualified for the finals in the discus with a throw of 40 m. This toss currently places her third in the conference and 30th in the nation. Also throwing well was Avery Johnson ’15, who managed to avoid hammering someone and place 5th in the javelin with a throw of 31.01 m. She is also ranked in the top ten of the MIAC in the javelin.
The Knights’ middle distance runners also continued to show off. The tone was set with an intelligent race by Julie Besenbruch ’13, followed by Claire Karban ‘13’s season debut in the 1500m. Also turning in her first performance at that distance was Haley Johnson ’13, one of the team’s many strong athletes. She ran a solid 4:53 to place 5th of 60 competitors and is now ranked in the top ten in the conference.
The other half of that workout group raced the 800m and again demonstrated the joys of good race structure. Despite having recently (and cautiously) returned to racing, Becca Herd ’15 ran a 2:24 all by herself to blow her heat away. Colette Celichowski ’15 also chased down the other runners in her heat to finish in 2:21.
Despite running being in a different heat, Sarah Trautman ’13 managed to run a few tenths faster than Celichowski, and the two of tem are quick becoming an inseparable duo.
Not to be outdone by the Celichowski-Trautman pair, Kaitlin Randolph ’12 placed near Johnson, running a beautiful half mile to take 6th in the event, with a time of 2:17. This time also places her third in the conference.
TIn the longest race of the day, Simone Childs-Walker ’12 ran her first outdoor race of the season, winning the 5,000 m in 17:36, the fastest time in the conference to date. Ranked second in the conference is her teammate Alison Smyth ’12, who finished just a few seconds behind Childs-Walker, taking third. with a time of 17:43. With a time of 18:28, teammate Taylor Ffitch took sixth in the race, adding to the Knights’ points.
Despite popular belief, not all of the team is middle and long distance runners. Ellie Wilson ’15 ran a season best time in the 200m, beating St. Olaf’s Dani Larson by a few hundredths of a second and placing 13th overall. Also competing in the 200 m was Anna Persmark ‘15, who finished in 28.49.
In addition to being the Knights’ top finisher in the 200m and the 100m (where she clocked a time of 13.12), Wilson also anchored a blazing 4 x 400 team that beat all of their conference competitors, finishing third overall and earning a spot on the Carleton all-time top ten list with a time of 4:04.76.
he Knights compete in their last home meet on Saturday. With five teams competing, the meet promises to be extremely entertaining.