<rleton College sophomore Jerry Cook-Gallardo certainly appears to be hitting his stride at the perfect time, as the Knights’ middle-distance runner ran to an impressive win in his final MIAC Championships tune-up. Cook-Gallardo won the mile against some stiff conference competition at Friday’s Ole Open Qualifier, with one of the best times in school history. For his performance, Cook-Gallardo was honored Wednesday with the final MIAC Men’s Indoor Track Athlete-of-the-Week award of the 2016 season.
Cook-Gallardo pulled away from the rest of the 38-runner field to post a new career-best time of 4:15.12 and finish first against athletes from MIAC rivals St. Olaf, St. Thomas, Saint John’s, Concordia and Saint Mary’s Friday. HIs time was good for a 12-second margin of victory, and it ranks No. 3 all-time in the Carleton record books. His time currently ranks No. 6 in the MIAC and No. 28 nationally in the conference’s most impressive men’s field. Four of the runners Cook-Gallardo trails in the conference rank among the top 12 in Division III. He also holds the MIAC’s top time in the 600- (1:21.02) and 800-meter runs (2:52.77) and ranks sixth in the 1,000-meter run (2:32.18) this season. This is Cook-Gallardo’s second Indoor Track Athlete-of-the-Week award of the season.
Cook-Gallardo and Carleton’s focus will now shift to the 2016 MIAC Indoor Track and Field Championships, which the Knights will host in Northfield, Minn., on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The multi-event competitions start the action on Thursday, with the individual and relay events taking place the other two days. Friday’s action begins with field events at 4 p.m. and track at 4:30 p.m., and Saturday starts with field events at 11:45 a.m. and track at 1 p.m. Cook-Gallardo is the defending MIAC indoor champion in the 800- and 1,000-meter run events.
