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Those who know Jaret Carpenter would agree that the words flashy, over-the-top or ostentatious do not come to mind. Humble, easy-going and unassuming on the other hand? Now that sounds more like it.
Carpenter is a junior with the Purdue men's track and cross country teams and despite the year and a half he has remaining, he already forged his name among the Boilermaker greats, joining the likes of Matthew McClintock, Donnie Fellows and Jake Waterman. One may even argue he is the best men's distance runner the Boilermakers have ever seen.
The Wayzata, Minnesota, native set the gold standard time after time. Carpenter entered the 2018-19 season with an impressive resume as the Purdue leader in both the indoor and outdoor 5,000-meter run.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Because Carpenter's success took off with the fall's cross country season. He helped the men's team to its highest national ranking in program history. He also earned Big Ten athlete of the week after placing ninth at Pre-Nationals for the Boilermakers' first top 10 finish in the meet, ever.
So of course he rode that momentum into the postseason, beginning with a fifth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships (23:44.1 minutes).
Next were Regionals, where it had been two years since Carpenter last individually qualified for the NCAA Championships. This time he didn't just earn himself a spot, he led Purdue to its first team appearance at the national stage in over 30 years.
Did we mention that he qualified by winning the Great Lakes Regional in just 31:09.5?
"Success is about learning from the mistakes you made and making sure they don't happen again," reflected Carpenter. And by that definition, he surely delivered.
So how would he describe his performance this year?
One word: Progression.
And we couldn't agree more.
Collectively, Carpenter shaved off a whopping 11.62 seconds from his previous bests in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs this year alone. As a freshman, he had no program records. As a sophomore, he had two. Now, as a junior, he holds three.
And his outdoor season is only just beginning.
Take his indoor 5k performances: As a freshman, Carpenter posted a time of 13:57.08. By sophomore year he was down to 13:49.32 and as a junior, 13:43.14. That's an average drop of 6.96 seconds per year.
On February 9, 2018, Carpenter produced his first Purdue record in – you guessed it – the indoor 5k. A few months later, he set the outdoor best in the same event. Then, on February 8, 2019, he shattered his own indoor mark, slicing over six seconds off his time and distancing himself even further from No. 2's Matthew McClintock by a whole 10 seconds. Imagine our surprise when he said his favorite track event is the 5k.
If that's not progression, what is?
But for Carpenter, it's about more than just getting hits, it's about the impact his team has had on him.
"It's bigger than just me. When you have, you know, 13 guys going for the same goal, it's a lot more powerful than just the performance top three," said Carpenter. "When you've got guys who are staying home who still put in the work, it holds you accountable. It makes sure you need to do everything the right way because everyone else is. It makes your team better. It keeps you going."
And now, Carpenter is set to open the outdoor season at the Stanford Invite and while the 2018 All-American prefers to live day-by-day, we're all cheering for him to rack up those Purdue records and get back to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second straight year.
"It's definitely cool to have set those records, but I tend to think of it as that I've progressed as an athlete. A time is a time, but if I would have PR'ed and not set the school record, I would have felt the same way. A record is just something that's there. What I'm really proud of is the progression I've been able to have. If a record falls, that's cool, but that's not my focus. I'm just trying to get better."
Like we said. Humble.
Those who know Jaret Carpenter would agree that the words flashy, over-the-top or ostentatious do not come to mind. Humble, easy-going and unassuming on the other hand? Now that sounds more like it.
Carpenter is a junior with the Purdue men's track and cross country teams and despite the year and a half he has remaining, he already forged his name among the Boilermaker greats, joining the likes of Matthew McClintock, Donnie Fellows and Jake Waterman. One may even argue he is the best men's distance runner the Boilermakers have ever seen.
The Wayzata, Minnesota, native set the gold standard time after time. Carpenter entered the 2018-19 season with an impressive resume as the Purdue leader in both the indoor and outdoor 5,000-meter run.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Because Carpenter's success took off with the fall's cross country season. He helped the men's team to its highest national ranking in program history. He also earned Big Ten athlete of the week after placing ninth at Pre-Nationals for the Boilermakers' first top 10 finish in the meet, ever.
So of course he rode that momentum into the postseason, beginning with a fifth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships (23:44.1 minutes).
Next were Regionals, where it had been two years since Carpenter last individually qualified for the NCAA Championships. This time he didn't just earn himself a spot, he led Purdue to its first team appearance at the national stage in over 30 years.
Did we mention that he qualified by winning the Great Lakes Regional in just 31:09.5?
"Success is about learning from the mistakes you made and making sure they don't happen again," reflected Carpenter. And by that definition, he surely delivered.
So how would he describe his performance this year?
One word: Progression.
And we couldn't agree more.
Collectively, Carpenter shaved off a whopping 11.62 seconds from his previous bests in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs this year alone. As a freshman, he had no program records. As a sophomore, he had two. Now, as a junior, he holds three.
And his outdoor season is only just beginning.
Take his indoor 5k performances: As a freshman, Carpenter posted a time of 13:57.08. By sophomore year he was down to 13:49.32 and as a junior, 13:43.14. That's an average drop of 6.96 seconds per year.
On February 9, 2018, Carpenter produced his first Purdue record in – you guessed it – the indoor 5k. A few months later, he set the outdoor best in the same event. Then, on February 8, 2019, he shattered his own indoor mark, slicing over six seconds off his time and distancing himself even further from No. 2's Matthew McClintock by a whole 10 seconds. Imagine our surprise when he said his favorite track event is the 5k.
If that's not progression, what is?
But for Carpenter, it's about more than just getting hits, it's about the impact his team has had on him.
"It's bigger than just me. When you have, you know, 13 guys going for the same goal, it's a lot more powerful than just the performance top three," said Carpenter. "When you've got guys who are staying home who still put in the work, it holds you accountable. It makes sure you need to do everything the right way because everyone else is. It makes your team better. It keeps you going."
And now, Carpenter is set to open the outdoor season at the Stanford Invite and while the 2018 All-American prefers to live day-by-day, we're all cheering for him to rack up those Purdue records and get back to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second straight year.
"It's definitely cool to have set those records, but I tend to think of it as that I've progressed as an athlete. A time is a time, but if I would have PR'ed and not set the school record, I would have felt the same way. A record is just something that's there. What I'm really proud of is the progression I've been able to have. If a record falls, that's cool, but that's not my focus. I'm just trying to get better."
Like we said. Humble.