Basketball, Track & Field
A two-time All-American in outdoor track & field, Kristi Colbenson was also an all-conference performer for the women’s basketball program at Carleton. At the time of her graduation, she ranked among Carleton’s top 5 in five events, including what was then the school record in the javelin (40.78 meters). Fifteen years later, she still ranks inside the top 5 for the javelin, 400-meter hurdles, and heptathlon, and is within the top 10 for the long jump and shot put. Colbenson displayed a knack for learning and excelling at new and highly technical events, given that of the eight events in which she competed at Nationals—the 400-meter hurdles and the seven heptathlon events: 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin, and 800-meter run—the only one she had done before attending Carleton was the 800-meter run. As a sophomore, she placed fifth in the javelin at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, breaking her own school record with a toss of 40.92 meters (134 feet, 3 inches). She also competed in the heptathlon that year, finishing 12th with 4,327 points. The next spring, Colbenson won the heptathlon at the MIAC Outdoor Championships and followed that up with a seventh-place performance (a personal-best 4,531 points) in the heptathlon at the NCAA Championships, earning her second career All-America Award. Colbenson did not compete in track & field as a senior after sustaining an injury during the basketball season, a rare misfortune to her hoops career that included the Knights capturing back-to-back-to-back MIAC regular-season titles in 2003, 2004, and 2005 as well as winning three consecutive MIAC Playoffs in 2002, 2003, and 2004 to advance to the NCAA Championships each time. Carleton went a combined 93-19 (.830) over that span, including 75-11 (.872) in MIAC play, posting four of the top five win totals in program history. Known for her tenacity and work ethic, she was voted to the All-MIAC team as a senior and earned All-Defensive Team recognition. Colbenson also ran cross country her first year on campus and was an NCAA Postgraduate Scholar.
Colbenson majored in biology at Carleton and received a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. She went on to earn a medical degree from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. After her residency and fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, she returned to Minnesota and serves as Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine & Sports Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. Inducted in to the Mayo Clinic Hall of Fame in 2019, Colbenson also spent time as team physician for USA Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined. She lives in Rochester, Minn. with her husband Nate Rykal and their three children.