TWENTY TWO SEASON OR PERSONAL BESTS LEAD WAY TO SECOND PLACE FINISH
MIT Finishes at 12-2
February 5, 2005
Going against five Division I teams can be intimidating if you are a Division III college arguably known as the top academic institution in the world. However, the MIT men's track and field team does not think that way. These guys looked at the competition as an opportunity to compete against great athletes in a great facility at Boston University and show the Division I athletes what team track and field is all about. MIT took this attitude into the BU arena and came out ahead of four of the five teams with 77 points, using a 8-6-4-3-2-1 scoring system. Rutgers finished in first with 131 points, and behind MIT were Northeastern with 62, Providence with 54, BU with 40 and Boston College with 39.
Leading the way with personal bests was Ben Schmeckpeper, who smashed Bob Walmsley's (class of '83) varsity record of 8:27.72 in the 3000 with a third place finish of 8:20.69. Ben followed along with three Providence College runners and John Mortimer running unattached, running along at 67 seconds per quarter to come through the first 1600 in 4:27. Mortimer had pulled out front by a good margin, but the remaining pack of four slowed a bit and Ben took the lead. Ben did not do much with the lead other than keep the pace honest and was outkicked in the final lap, but still managed a 30 second final 200.
Uzoma Orji had season bests in both of his events. He led off in the weight throw, taking a 59-5 to take the lead on his fifth throw to win the event. Adding four points in the weight throw was David Saylor with an effort of 55-6 1/2. In the shot, Uzoma continued to work on his technique and although he threw 55-4 3/4, it was only good enough for a second place, his first loss of the season.
MIT's only other victory was earned by Nate Ball in the pole vault. Nate was clean through 15-6, earning the victory as the only one to clear that height. At 16-0 he had three good attempts but was not able to put it all together. Going through 15-6 with no misses will help Ball's confidence as he enters the championships and the higher starting heights. Supporting Nate's effort in the vault was Nestor Hernandez, who cleared 14-0 for the second week in a row, earning 2 points for fifth place.
Zach Traina, hoping for a 200 varsity record, had to settle for second place with a 22.55. Traina also scored second in the 55 dash and added a great leadoff of 50.7 in the 1600 relay that placed third.
Although he only scored one point, Fivos Constantinou had a great day in the mile and 800 meter races. In the mile, Fivos opened with a high 61 and was at the back of the pack led by sub 4:00 miler Mark Carroll, running unattached. Fivos came through splits of 2:07 and 3:13, showing he was unsure of himself and the fast pace being set by the leaders. Unleashing a 63 final 440, Fivos moved up to sixth place to earn a point for the Engineers and run a personal best of 4:16.19. In the 800, Constantinou raced to another PR of 1:57.74, but this was not fast enough to score.
Makinde Adeagbo had a great effort in his final attemp in the triple jump, decreasing his contact time between phases and jumping to a PR of 43-8 1/2. Makinde's performance earned him third place and four points.
In the middle distances, supporting Constantinou's efforts, Carlos Renjifo and Eric Khatchadourian ran solid 1000's, running 2:34.93 and 2:34.97 respectively. Renjifo, not racing in four weeks as he recovered from a lower back injury, earned sixth place for his efforts. Erik Stafl, even though he did not place, had two very good races, running personal bests in both the mile (4:29.70) and the 1000 (2:38.10).
Next week, MIT will split their squad, sending some back to BU for the Valentine's Fasttrack Invitational to improve their seed performances for the upcoming championships. The rest of the team will be at home to compete in the Coed Invitational.