January 19, 2002
Two NCAA qualifying performances, 14 new or better New England Division III qualifying marks and 42 season bests highlighted the first regular season scoring meet of the year. MIT took the lead in the first event and never let up as they defeated Coast Guard and Bates, 204 to 92 to 56 respectively.
The horizontal jumpers, led by freshmen Austin Neudecker and Tom Hoover, put it together to show what MIT jumpers can do. Hoover, winning the Long Jump with a 21-9 1/2 effort, led 6 MIT jumpers over 20 feet, with three of them leaping at least 21 feet to take 6 of the top 7 places. In the Triple Jump, Neudecker led the way with a 43-02 leap to win the event.
The vertical jumpers did pretty well also. The high jumpers held their own with Rick Rajter matching the height of 6-6 of winner Craig Mielcarz for a new personal best. Neudecker had a good day in the High Jump as well, taking 4th with a season best of 6-2. In the Pole Vault, Dan Opila earned 3rd place behind teammate Nate Ball with his first 13' effort of the season.
Despite this seasons top two sprinters (freshmen Zach Traina and Jim Lin) sitting out the meet with slight injuries, MIT still swept the top three places with Robbie Gray out front with a 6.84 performance. Taking up the slack for the missing Traina, Matt Lehman and Yuval Mazor took on the additional duties of the 200 after their primary efforts in the 400 and 600 respectively. Lehman ran a PR of 23.54 for 2nd place and was closely followed by Mazor in 3rd with 23.78.
Both Lehman and Mazor took care of their first events with typical efficiency. Lehman did not get a season best, but took second with a 51.17 behind Nate Swardson of Coast Guard, the winner of the 200 as well. Mazor ran a personal best in the 600 with a 1:23.27 to earn a victory in a race that was taken out in 25 seconds by a Bates College runner.
In the middle distance events, Sean Montgomery took control in both the 1500 and 800 meter events and ran away for easy victories. In the 1500, the first running final, Brian Anderson took the lead with a fast pace, coming through quarter splits of 64, 2:09 and 3:12 before Montgomery took over and cruised home with a 3:58.04 victory, missing provisional national qualifying by .04 seconds. Dan Feldman tried the shorter distance for the first time this season and proved up to the task with a 3:59.65 for second. Anderson finished 3rd in 3:59.86. In the 800, Montgomery took the lead and ran 28 point for each 200, finishing first in a nationally qualifying time of 1:54.93. It was Anderson's turn in the 1000. Even though Brian ran a fast early pace of 61 and 2:02, Matt Dowthit of the Coast Guard Academy took the lead during the 4th 200. Anderson let him take it, but came back with a 30 second last lap to run 2:32.20 for the victory.
Sean Nolan took control of the 5000 at the gun, running mile splits of 4:42, 9:29 and 14:16 to run a PR of 14:50.93 to lower his NCAA qualifying performance. Albert Liu had a good battle for 2nd, prevailing by less than a second in 15:36.69 after a 35 second last lap.
The throws did not go as well as hoped, partially because of the domination by Bates College, particularly in the Weight Throw. The one bright spot was a personal best of 42-3 by Francisco Cruz in the Shot Put. Next week, the Engineers travel to Williamstown to face the Ephs from Williams along with RPI and Westfield State. In order for the men from MIT to come away with a victory in this one, the throwers will have to hold their own against the favored Ephs.