NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College men's indoor track & field team returned to action at the Ole Opener, an 11-team competition hosted by St. Olaf College. The Knights won five events and turned in 16 top-five results overall.
 
"While we had a couple guys compete in December, it was an exciting day to get the whole team in a track meet," said Carleton head coach Dave Ricks.
 
First-year Dashiell Coyier won his first collegiate event with narrow victory in the mile run, clocking a time of 4:26.30 and holding off a senior from St. Olaf by 0.10 second. Coyier ran a smart race and took over the lead in the final two laps. Teammate and classmate Jacob Hopkins placed fourth in the same event with a time of 4:30.16.
 
Senior Daniel Scheider cruised to victory in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:03.51, prevailing by more than six seconds.
 
Senior Gabe Nichols won the 3000-meter race, topping a 25-runner field with a time of 8:46.91. That paced a 1-2-3-5 finish for the Knights as junior Torte Torstenson and sophomore Travis Brown earned the silver and bronze positions with times of 8:51.37 and 8:53.87, respectively. Senior Roy Llewellyn took fifth at 8:55.90
 
Carleton saw another podium sweep, this one in the pole vault. Junior Soren Kaster cleared 4.45 meters for top honors, while sophomore James Gates and newcomer Reed White took second and third, respectively, after soaring 4.05 meters.
 
The Knights concluded the day with a victory in the 4x400-meter relay. Hopkins led off and did his job by keeping Carleton in the race. James Alexander and Asher Nathan closed the gap even more before handing the baton to Scheider for the anchor leg.  Scheider finished with the fastest split of the day, 50.23, while giving the Knights a come-from-behind win. Carleton's 'B' and 'C' entries finished fourth and fifth, respectively, a t 3:46.70 and 3:49.40.
 
The other top-five finishes for Carleton included:
• Kaster placed third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.01.
• Nichols did a rare double, finishing fourth in the 1000-meter race (2:34.08) before coming back and winning the 3K competition
• Sophomore Max Jones as fifth in the long jump after measuring 6.10 meters on his final attempt of the preliminary round.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton heads to the Vanessa Seljeskog Classic to be held at Macaleter College on Saturday, Jan. 24. Competition is slated to start at 11:00 a.m.