<rleton women’s track and field team showed some heart on the track this past Saturday as they competed at Carleton’s annual Meet of the Hearts. The team’s 163 points fended off Hamline (125 points), Macalester (98 points), and Augsburg (75 points) in team standings, but the meet was truly a story of amazing individual performances on the track. The Carleton distance runner squad was strong once again, as the team won every event 800 meters or longer.
One of the most impressive performances came from senior co-captain Katherine Wingert. In her first competitive race of the year, Katherine blazed to a victory in the mile, leaving her closest competitor almost 30 seconds behind. Her time of 5:08.07 was a personal best time for her, the second fastest time run in the MIAC so far this year, and only 3.07 seconds short of the provisional qualification mark for nationals.
Wingert wasn’t the only senior co-captain to run a personal best time, as Lauren Milne finished the 800-meter run in 2:24.83, to win the event.
“We had a lot of great performances the last two weekends, especially considering how early it is in the season!” said Milne. “I think we are building up a lot of momentum and putting in a lot of work, and it will be fun to see even greater payoffs for the rest of the indoor and outdoor seasons.”
Laura Roach ’10 ran a personal best time to win 1000 meter run, finishing in 3:03.88, which is the second fastest time run in the MIAC this year.
Nikki Reich ’10 ran a personal best time to win the 3000 meter run, coming in in 10:47.29. Heather Hoecker ’08, Irene Koplinka-Loehr ’10, and Laura Sofen ’10 took the top three spots in the 5000 meter run. Hoecker’s time of 18:35.41 is the fastest run in the MIAC this season. The Knights’ 4×400 relay team also cruised to victory, finishing in 4:15.79.
In the field, Amy Elson came away with a pair of wins in the jumps, winning the long jump with a distance of 4.35m (14’3¼”) and the triple jump with a jump of 9.89m (32’5½”).
Other top performances included a second place finish by Kelsey Donald ’10 in the 400 meter dash, a third place finish by Brasil Perez-Lukes ‘11 in the pole vault, a personal best throw and a third place finish by Kelly Lovett ’11 in the shot put, a personal best and a fourth place finish by Alissa Pajer in the 3000.
The women will have this weekend off before traveling to the University of Minnesota Parents Day Open.
