ORJI CARRIES THROWS DOMINATION AT ALL NEW ENGLANDS WITH WINS IN SHOT AND WEIGHT
February 28, 2004
MIT Men's track and field team took six athletes to the All Division New England Championships and came away with an 11th place finish and the top Division III finish in the meet. Leading the way for the Engineers was Uzoma Orji. Orji, who won the Shot Put and Weight Throw last week at the New England Division III Championship, came away with the same results against the Division I competition in New England, scoring 20 of MIT's 23 points.
In the 35lb. Weight Throw, Orji was in fifth going into the last round of the finals. With a throw of 58-5 3/4 he moved to first place and was able to hold it for MIT's first points. In the Shot Put, Orji threw 57-3 1/2 on his first throw and that was enough for the win. MIT has not had a double winner in this meet in recent history, if ever. Chris Khan, throwing with both a back and toe injury in hopes of making the NCAA Division III Championship, managed to place eighth in the Shot Put with a throw of 49-3 1/2.
On the track, Brian Anderson wanted to try the double of the Mile Run and 800. The trials and finals of both are setup the same as they are at the NCAA Division III Championships in two weeks. This would give Anderson a feel for what that would be like if he decided to pursue both races. Unfortunately he developed a cold after the entries were in, committing him to the double. In Friday's trials, Anderson showed no signs of the illness as he ran just hard enough in both the mile (4:14.41) and 800 (1:53.73) to qualify for the finals on Saturday. In the mile, Anderson looked good through 800 meters then seemed to totally give up as he faded to last, which is where he finished. It appears he let his physical problems affect his mental preparation in a negative way. Anderson got his act together in the 800 as he ran a good race even though the leaders went out in a furious pace. Anderson stayed in the back even with splits of 54 and 1:22. The top four finishers were all under 1:50 and Anderson finished in eighth with a 1:53.19.
Ben Schmeckpeper also scored a point, placing eighth in the 5000 with a new personal best of 14:39.81. Schmeckpeper stayed with the main pack through mile splits of 4:40 and 9:20 before slowing slightly in the third mile, coming through in 14:06. Even as tired as he was, he managed to close with a 33 final 200 to give himself a 12 second PR. Schmeckpeper's performance ranks him 13th among Division III runners nationally, which is not likely good enough to get him to nationals but did move him to third on the MIT top ten list for that event.
Not placing, but running personal bests in the 200 were Zach Traina and David Blau. Traina ran 22.38, one position out of making the finals and Blau ran 22.78, moving him into fourth on the all-time MIT indoor list.
Next week, Orji and Khan will throw at the IC4A championship being held at BU on Saturday and Sunday. Anderson, who has qualified in the 800, 1000 and 1500 may run one of those or may take the weekend off to rest up for nationals. Schmeckpeper, who has also qualified for this prestigious meet, may try to improve his chances for making nationals by running the 5000. Nate Ball and Josh Chartier will try to make a national mark in the Pole Vault up at Bowdoin College in the ECAC Division III Championship.