Carswell served as captain of the cross-country team during his junior year. He earned All-Ivy status with a first-place finish at Heps in the 5,000. The win made him the first Harvard male to win a Heps race since John Murphy in 1979.

Climaxing his cross-country season, Carswell placed 17th in the 5,000 at NCAAs, which helped him earn All-American honors. Not since Gompers finished fifth at the NCAA Championships in 1986 had Harvard boasted a male All-American in cross-country.

Carswell, his feet blistered and bleeding and a hole in the sole of his "lucky" sneakers, weathered a stiff, 30 mile-per-hour wind during the race. His time of 31:18 was second among IC4A harriers and led all Ivy runners. Carswell's finish trailed only that of Gompers in Harvard history.

Carswell was then ready to write his own history.

In one of his most memorable meets, Carswell and roommate Killian Lonergan each set school records in the 3,000 and 5,000 respectively, at the Terrier Classic on Jan. 27, 1996.

"We broke the records within an hour of each other," Carswell recalls.

Both performances automatically qualified each runner for the NCAA Championships. With a first-place time of 7:59.92, Carswell bettered the record he had set one year earlier at the same meet.

Carswell continued his dominance at Heps, where he won the mile and was on the winning distance medley relay in another All-Ivy performance.

"I was ready to run and do well in the NCAAs," Carswell says. "I thought I could be in the top three, definitely top five."

However, Carswell was tripped in the heat in the 3,000 at the NCAAs, finishing eighth.

He rebounded with a solid outdoor season. Carswell set another school record, this time in the 5,000, with a 13:51.96 finish in the NCAA qualifying heat. Carswell was named All-Ivy at the Heps, where he won the 5,000.

Carswell earned All-America honors by finishing seventh in the 5,000 in the NCAAs (14:03.5). He had now received All-American status for each of the three track seasons.

Entering the fall of his senior year, however, Carswell realized that his mental edge was blunted. That summer, he had tried to gain a spot on the Olympic team, but did not qualify. His efforts left him in a lull.

"When you're gunning for something for so long, even if you succeed and especially if you fail, you kind of have a little down time," Carswell says. "I made the realization that mentally I just wasn't ready to compete at that time and that level."

Carswell spoke with his coach, Frank Haggerty '68, and the two agreed that a temporary leave of absence might benefit in the long run.