Connor Del Carmen is not averse to putting his name down in the Earlham College Athletics history books. Having been voted HCAC Runner of the Week on multiple occasions along with the 2021 conference Newcomer of the Year, the sophomore has made his presence felt. The cross country and distance track runner broke his first record in his freshman campaign at the DePauw Indiana Invitational. Del Carmen ran a blistering 14 minutes and 58 seconds to break the outdoor track and field 5K record.

Del Carmen was poised to start his sophomore year where he’d left off last semester, but his plans were quickly derailed. After experiencing some discomfort, a positive MRI showed Del Carmen had a stress fracture in his left tibia, ending his season before he reached his peak potential. Del Carmen, never giving up, started his rehab process to prepare himself for the upcoming spring season. He partook in cross-training, a method in which you train on a bike or underwater to maintain cardiovascular fitness. Once cleared to run, Del Carmen was prescribed a routine of four minutes of walking followed by one minute of running. This experience was “completely new and humbling for a competitor like Del Carmen.” Regardless, he found himself back on the track for the spring season. While still attempting to regain some fitness, Del Carmen struggled in his initial races in 2023. Even though he got a little discouraged, he said, “the biggest thing I bank on is my preparation.”

Del Carmen’s preparation came to fruition in the Mount St. Joseph meet. Del Carmen ran a staggering 15 minutes and one second. To run only a few seconds slower indoors was special for Del Carmen. Despite regulated environmental conditions, the indoor track is 200 meters instead of 400 meters, requiring more turns which slow a runner down. Del Carmen said, “a conservative [estimate] would have my recent race 10-15 seconds faster outdoors.”