December 16, 2000

Twenty MIT track and field alumni came through the door to the Johnson Athletic Center on Saturday to compete against the young Varsity squad in the annual Alumni-Varsity track meet. Twenty experienced, but slightly older bodies, were no match for a greater number of somewhat younger and fresher undergraduates. The Varsity won all but three events en route to a 83-39 victory.

The scoring was set at the traditional, but no longer used by the NCAA, 5 points for 1st, 3 for 2nd, and 1 for 3rd. Generally, the Alumni have been able to win the meet or keep it close by gaining first place thus winning the event. Bill Singhose '90, Ravi Sastry '99 and company were not enough this year. Just two years ago, Singhose scored 30 points in winning 6 events, and his supporting cast did the rest. This year, the combination of Marc Washington, winner in the 55 and 200, Sean Montgomery, winner in the 1500 and 800 and Rick Rajter, winner in the Triple Jump and 55HH led the Varsity to an unprecedented sweep of first places in all the running events.

On the high end of performances for the Varsity, Craig Mielcarz made good his one event by clearing 6-8 in the High Jump. He had a couple of near misses at 6-9, but still made the provisional qualifying mark for Nationals. Qualifying for the New England Division III Championships were Mielcarz and Brian Hoying in the High Jump, Rick Rajter in the 55HH and Triple Jump, Kalpak Kothari, also in the Triple Jump, Sam Thibault and Dan Kwon in the Pole Vault, Brian Wong in the Weight Throw and Dan Feldman in the 5000 meters.

Alumni competing and scoring were:

Akin Aina, 3rd in the 55 and 2nd in the 200

Lincoln Bonner, 4th in the 55, 9th in the 200, 2nd in the 55HH and 3rd in the LJ

Ravi Sastry, 6th in the 55, 5th in the 55HH and 2nd in the LJ

Neal Karchem, 7th in the 200 and 6th in the 800

Bill Singhose, 3rd in the 400, 3rd in the 55HH, 1st in the PV, 4th in the LJ, 2nd in the SP and 6th in the Weight

Sam Sidiqi, 6th in the 400

Joe Kowalski, 7th in the 400

Reggie Paulding, 8th in the 800

Mike Piepergerdes, 3rd in the 1500

Chris McGuire, 6th in the 1500

Terry McNatt, 3rd in the 5000

Andy Ugarov, 3rd in the HJ and 6th in the TJ

Steve Lefkowitz, 5th in the PV

Morio Alexander, 3rd in the TJ and 8th in the LJ

Pat Dannen, 1st in the SP, 8th in the Weight

Keith Bevans, 3rd in the SP

George Torres, 6th in the SP and 5th in the Weight

Todd Chamoy, 8th in the SP and 2nd in the Weight

John-Paul Clarke, 1st in the Weight

Brian Michon, 9th in the Weight

Others seen cheering on at the meet were Jesse Darley, Jim Garcia, and Karl Munkelwitz, Don Rosenfield and Pat Sullivan.

Results can be seen at http://web.mit.edu/hwtaylor/mtfxc/indoor/00-01/alumni.res.html

There is no question the MIT varsity is far removed from Championship form. However, they appear to be will ahead of last year's pace, which netted them the New England Division III title. As good as they appear for this time of year, eight championship scorers, and two key freshmen missed the competition due to injury, illness and other reasons. All of these athletes hope to be competing in January, which will definitely make the Engineers a team to be respected, if not feared.

MIT's team is in exams next week. They are not back for practice until January 8th when they prepare for the Beaver Relays on 1/13.