MIT PLACES 9TH IN ALL NEW ENGLANDS
Traina and Rosche Set New Records
February 25-26, 2005
MIT's Men's Track and Field team visited Boston University for the NEICAAA (All Division) New England Indoor Championship on Friday and Saturday, coming away with 30 points to place ninth and first among Division III teams. Uzoma Orji led the way individually with 13 points while Zach Traina and Kenny Rosche set MIT records in the 200 and 400 respectively.
On Friday, Orji led things off in the weight throw. He produced his best series of the year with nearly every throw being over 58'. His best throw was 59-8 1/2, good for second place and eight points. David Saylor, seeded seventh, was unable to put together a good throw. Apparently leaving his best efforts in practice, Saylor only threw 52-4 1/2 and did not make finals.
At the same time, Nate Ball was soaring high in the pole vault with an opening clearance at 15-0 and a second attempt make at 15-5 3/4. At 16-0, fatigue from a hard week in the machine lab getting a project ready for competition began to show. Ball was not as sharp or emotionally charged. Failing at three average attempts at 16', Ball had to settle for second based on his miss at 15-5 3/4.
Fivos Constantinou competed in the mile hoping to improve his national provisional mark. Constantinou followed along in the trials through quarters of 63, 2:08 and 3:12. Unable to kick with the leaders, Constantinou maintained the pace, finishing in 4:16.42, not good enough to make finals.
In the 400 trials, Kenny Rosche was trying to see if his recent improvements could continue. Going out in a fast, but relaxed 23.0, Rosche was able to finish strong despite continuing his bad technical habit of leaning back in the last 150. Rosche's final time was a remarkable 49.78, a new freshman record. Rosche's record replaces the 49.8 run by Lance Parker in 1981.
Shortly after the 400 trials, Zach Traina and David Blau took to the oval in the 200 meters. Traina, going after Mark Dunzo's elusive varsity record of 22.17, was physically and mentally ready to finally put the record down. Drawing lane five, Traina knew if he got out well the record would fall. Traina came off the final curve and sprinted down the bank to place second in his heat - the time: 21.98 - a new varsity record. David Blau, setting his blocks up in lane six, was at least going to try to give Traina some competition. Running a personal best of 22.56, Blau just missed making the finals.
Wrapping things up on Friday night, Ben Schmeckpeper lined up for the 5000. Seeded fifth, Schmeckpeper was going for the victory. Most of the Division III runners were more in the race to improve their position on the national qualifying list than worrying about placing. With that in mind, one would think the pace would be quick but mile splits of 4:44 and 9:29 showed no one really wanted to take the lead. Fed up with the slow pace and sensing a good opportunity to gap the other runners, Schmeckpeper took the lead. Running 2:17 for the next 800, Schmeckpeper opened up a 20 meter lead. Coming through the third mile in 4:38, Schmeckpeper began to slow a little and lost his lead. Only able to finish the final 200 in 35 seconds, Schmeckpeper had to settle for third place and a time of 14:42.36. Although the race was a disappointment to Schmeckpeper, it was a great effort as well as placing two spots higher than he was seeded.
MIT completed the first day with 22 points and in second place behind the University of Rhode Island. On day two, MIT only had Orji in the shot put and Traina in the finals of the 200. Orji began the shot seeded fourth. Trying to fix a technical flaw of not getting his left foot far enough to the left of center and not getting his right foot far enough under him, Orji was determined to break out of this bad habit. Opening up with a 54' effort, Orji guaranteed his place in the finals. Once in the finals, Orji raised his emotional effort but was still unable to fix the position of his feet. His best throw was his fifth, a 54-5 1/4 effort that secured his fourth place position.
Traina again was favored with a good lane draw, lane six. Lining up in the slow section of the two section final, Traina did not appear to be as "fired up" as the night before. Not accustomed to competing in two day events and having to "bring it" both days, Traina left most of his effort on the track on Friday. Nevertheless, Traina sprinted around the track and ran a very strong 22.02 to finish third out of five in his section. In the fast section, three athletes beat Traina's time, placing him in sixth.
Defeating all the Division III teams was a nice reward after last week's fourth place in the Division III Championships. Next week, Orji, Ball, Saylor and Traina will be back at Boston University to compete in the prestigious IC4A Championship.