<ked off the 2012 season with Katie Richards ’15 demonstrating her ability to manipulate her body while airborne in the pole vault. Megan Erlandson ’12 proceeded to place second in the event with the highest opening height of her career. Following the vault, the Knights proceeded to win five of the eight pure running events and take second in another.
This was kicked off by the 1-2-3 finish of Alison Smyth ’12, Simone Childs-Walker ’12, and Taylor Ffitch ’12 in the mile. Ffitch bested her nearest competitor by nine seconds, so the Oles weren’t even close to these Knights.
Childs-Walker would return to the track later to win the 3000-meter event. Also in that event, Emily Hillmer ’15 and Ahna Weeks ’15 had excellent races for their first collegiate track competition, dipping under the 11:30 mark.
Shortly after the mile, Haley Johnson ’13 settled in behind some other athletes in the 600-meter dash, only to blow by them before the end. Clare Franco ’12 had to run a little longer, leading the Knights’ contingent in the 800-meter race, commenting on how wonderful it was to race again.
Colette Celichowski ’15 showed her stuff, negative-splitting in the race. Moving up to the 1000-meter run, Sarah Trautman ’13 raced Olaf’s Moriah Novacinski.
The Knights have strength in non mid- and long-distance events too, as Ellie Wilson ’15 demonstrated in the 200-meter dash, falling across the finish line to beat a Piper and take first place. Wilson came back later to run the fastest split on the 4 x 400 meter relay, dipping under 60 seconds.
That’s impressive even before you consider that it was the first meet of the season and on the indoor track. That relay made Carleton proud, as they took second in the event and Kaitlin Randolph ’12 would have secured the win had she not been tripped in the last 50 meters. The team ran one of the top ten fastest times indoors in Carleton history.
The team will continue their season by taking on Division II competitors this weekend as they travel to Mankato State University. The 3k is tonight, featuring the 1-2-3 milers, and the rest of the meet will be tomorrow. The Knights should prove to be quite versatile as they try out different events.