<thletes from the Carleton College men’s and women’s Track and Field teams earned All-Region awards from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for their performances during the 2017 outdoor track and field season. Donson Cook-Gallardo (Jr./Moscow, Idaho/Moscow) and Ben Withbroe (Sr./Takoma Park, Md./Albert Einstein) represented the men’s team on the All-Region list, while Damali Britton (Jr./Phoenix, Ariz./Desert Vista), Alexa Feeney (Jr./St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) and Trish Hare (Sr./Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) did likewise for the Knights women’s program.
To be named All-Region, an athlete must either be ranked among the region’s top-5 of an individual event or be part of a top-3 relay team according to final Track & Field Results Reporting System data.
Leading the Carleton honorees this year is Cook-Gallardo, who garnered All-Region recognition in three events: the 800, 1500, and 5000-meter runs. Additionally, he was voted by USTFCCCA member coaches as the Central Region Men’s Track Athlete-of-the-Year.
Cook-Gallardo will run the two shorter distances at the NCAA Championships this week, and enters nationals seeded fourth in the 800-meter run and sixth in the 1500-meter run. At the conference meet earlier this month, he won the 800-meter race with a MIAC Championships record time of 1:49.88 to earn distinction as the Outstanding Performance-of-the-Meet.
This is the fourth consecutive year that at least one Carleton Knight was voted as a USTFCCCA Central Region Athlete-of-the-Year for outdoor Track and Field. Amelia Campbell ’16 won the women’s field award in 2014, 2015 and 2016, while Hart Hornor ’16 took home the men’s track honor last year.
Withbroe secured All-Region status with his performance in the 800-meter run at the MIAC Championships, as he turned in a personal-best time of 1:51.56 to grab all-conference recognition. He is currently ranked 17th in the nation and will join Cook-Gallardo at nationals. The Carleton duo will run in the same prelim heat on Friday afternoon.
Hare grabbed All-Region recognition in the javelin for the second consecutive year. She was the runner-up at the MIAC Championships with a toss of 43.75 meters, a distance that ranks eighth in Division III this season. She returns to nationals once again after placing ninth at the NCAA Championships in 2016.
Britton earned All-Region honors in the triple jump after leaping a season-best 11.37 meters at the UW-La Crosse Qualifier last week. Feeney’s region award came in the 100-meter dash where she clocked a career-best time of 12.11 earlier this season. Neither of these two Knights qualified for nationals.