<st Friday evening, the men’s cross country team invited nearly 100 alumni spanning 59 years to celebrate the glorious history of the program.
Hearing stories of Dale Kramer ’78 winning individual national titles, the 1980 team national championship and legendary coaches must have inspired the current Knight harriers, as they ran to a victory of their own the next morning.
The “Fellahs” tamed the challenging upper arb course, scoring just 55 points, 11 fewer than second-place Whitman. Coach Malcolm Dunn ’93 and the runners up traveled from Walla Walla, Washington to contest the running of the cows.
Charlie Gamble ’10 led the Knights with his third-place finish, covering the 8 kilometers of trails in 25:50. John Davis ’11 was the next runner across the line in 26:03. Meeks Brucker ’09 ran 27:33, good enough for 13th while Blake Hansen ’10 finished 25th in 27:38.
Chris Marshall ’10 led the Knights in scoring for the third time this season, amassing 20 points with his 27:41 race. Marshall has scored 330 points this year.
The top 25 finishers won T-shirts, and Colin Sinclair ’11 made sure his efforts were rewarded with some clothing. He unleashed a devastating finishing kick over the last 1000 meters, burying his Winona State rival to finish 24th and sneak into the awards presentation.
Augsburg junior Brent Haglund won the individual crown with an impressive 25:16. Haglund ran second until Matt Hooley ’04 dropped out due to injury near the three-mile mark.
The host Knights claimed the greatest prize of the day, however, an enormous cow statue that served as the team trophy. Carleton’s victory spared Whitman’s team the impossible task of bringing the award back to Washington.
After the collegiate competitions, an open 5-kilometer race concluded the festivities, featuring numerous alumni and many former All-Americans as well as parents and students. Dan Casper ’89 emerged victorious, despite some confusion as to the direction of the course.
The Knights will take this weekend off before heading to Como Park in St. Paul for the MIAC Championships Nov. 1.