<rleton College’s Men’s Cross Country Coach Dave Ricks said before last Saturday’s meet in St. Paul, “If we place in the top 14, we’ll have done well.” Carleton’s showing at the Roy Griak Invitational, hosted by the University of Minnesota, was far from a disappointment.
It turned out well for the Knights in spikes, who once again posted the best finish in recent memory for a Carleton squad. This continues the trend of positive results they started running at St. Olaf over first weekend.
All indicators show that this squad of Fellahs is the best the school has had in recent years. At Saturday’s meet, all of the top seven (the runners counted in scoring) placed in the top 100 in the team results.
That puts Carleton in the top half of the field, since there were 219 team runners who scored.
More importantly, the team placed ahead of MIAC foes Bethel University (14th), Concordia College (20th) and Macalester College (21st). The Fellahs surprised everyone by placing 29 points ahead of regional powerhouse Grinell College from Iowa.
This bodes well for the NCAA regional race in November that will decide which local teams go to Nationals.
The dynamic duo of Thor and Noah Laack-Veeder ‘15 once again proved to everyone that double brothers and double last names equals quadruple the fun. Running just 7.5 seconds apart, the two finished around 27 minutes and 30 seconds—a pace of 5 minutes and 30 seconds per mile—to post another set of impressive times for first-years.
Senior Kian Flynn snuck in for a bit of the brotherly love by finishing in between the two Laack-Veeders in a very tight pack for the Fellahs. Flynn said after the race, “I just stuck behind Thor (or Noah) ahead of me and I knew I had to keep up because Noah (or Thor) was behind me.”
The handsome Fellahs who didn’t get to race last Saturday are fresh and ferocious, ready to take on all comers today at the Blue-Gold open in Eau-Claire, Wisconsin. If you didn’t get to see your favorite runner in action last weekend, your prayers have been answered.