<r Hart Hornor (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) made his NCAA DIII Outdoor Track and Field Championships debut on Thursday and turned in an All-America performance by finishing third in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 30:51.74. He is one of three members of the Carleton College men’s track and field team slated to compete at Nationals, which runs through Saturday.
Hornor is the first Knight to secure All-America distinction on the track since hurdler Tom Ballinger placed third at the 2009 NCAA meet.
Hornor and the rest of the 20-runner field completed the first 5,000 meters of Thursday’s race at 16:01. That’s when the Carleton junior shook up the race.
Seeded 14th entering the day, Hornor ran the final 5K in 14:50, and he seemingly took command with five laps remaining. At the time he made his move, 10 runners were still in contention, but 800 meters later only two others were still keeping up with Hornor. That duo was able to out-kick the Carleton junior over the final 200 meters. Ian LeMere of UW-Platteville edged Bijan Mazaheri of Williams College at the finish line by 0.007 seconds to win the race at 30:45.151.
“I had so many athletes and coaches talk to me after the race, telling me how impressed that they were with Hart taking command of the race,” said Carleton head coach Dave Ricks. “He showed everyone that he belonged here.”
This was the best showing by a Carleton distance runner at Nationals since Steve Harris placed third in the indoor 5000-meter run in 2006.
Additionally, Jerry Cook-Gallardo (Fy./Moscow, Idaho/Moscow) continued his stellar rookie campaign by earning a spot in the finals of the 800-meter run at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. He finished second in his heat with a time of 1:51.08, the second-best mark posted by a first-year in the field of 20 student-athletes.
In the finals, Cook-Gallardo ended a fantastic first year racing for the Knights as he took part in the finals of the 800-meter run, finishing ninth in 1:56.38.
He took the lead at 200-meter mark, and at the race’s midpoint barely one second separated the field. Cook-Gallardo stayed up front until about the 600-meter mark but lost some momentum on the final turn as he was pushed a bit while runners jockeyed for position.
He came away from the trip to Nationals with a personal-best time of 1:51.08 that he ran during the prelims, leaving him No. 2 all-time at Carleton behind Dan Virnig’s 1:50.51.