ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Carleton women’s track and field team competed at the Pre-MIAC meet hosted by Macalester College. While this was a final tuneup for many of the athletes in advance of next week’s MIAC Championships, the Knights’ entry in the distance medley broke the school record, running the MIAC’s second-fastest time in the event at 12:14.01.
The distance medley was the final event of the competition, and the quartet of racers–feeding off the encouragement of their teammates–notched a NCAA provisional qualifier while winning the event by more than one minute.
Laura Roach (Jr./Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) led off by running the 1200 meter leg and put Carleton in a great position to chase down the school record. Clare Franco (Fy./Brunswick, Maine) followed by running the 400 meter distance as she now has been a part of three school records this winter.
Lindsey Nietmann (Sr./Kirkland, Wash./Juanita) kept the momentum going with her performance in the 800 meters, and Simone Childs-Walker (Fy./Seattle, Wash./Lakeside) raced for 1600 meters to complete the record-setting feat.
Carleton’s time is better than the previous MIAC indoor record and ranks second to St. Thomas’ mid-February showing (11:53.70) at Iowa State.
The distance medley was not the only highlight for the Knights, who established more than 15 season and/or personal bests.
Jill Merkle (Fy./Wayzata, Minn./Hopkins) had the fastest qualifying time in the 55 meter hurdles, then followed that up with an improved time of 8.82 seconds to win the event, her first collegiate victory.
“This is a great way for us to go into the conference meet,” said head coach Donna Ricks. “Our athletes have a lot of confidence that they are ready to compete at the MIAC Championships.”
This year’s conference meet will be hosted by Carleton College, Moorhead. The three-day event starts on Thursday, March 5 with the pentathlon.
