BALL AND ORJI START THE SEASON THE WAY THE ENDED LAST YEAR
Three Events, Three National Qualifying Marks
December 3, 2005
Nate Ball and Uzoma Orji were the only two Engineers who made the trip across the river to the Northeastern University Husky Track and Field Carnival run at the Reggie Lewis Center, but they made MIT's presence felt. Orji, having only thrown a couple of times in practice thus far, displayed the spin technique in the shot put for the first time. The result was nothing less than a win with a huge throw of 58-6 3/4.
Before the shot put, Orji threw in the trials in the 35 lb. weight throw and finished the weight throw after the shot. Not quite near his Division III national record of 64-9 1/4, his winning effort of 61-2 was by far his best non championship throw ever. Both the shot and weight marks surpassed the automatic standard for the NCAA Championships in March.
Nate Ball, granted another indoor season on a hardship waiver due to an injury his sophomore year, made the most of his first meet, clearing 15-5 1/2 to claim second place in the pole vault. Ball's mark was a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships.
Ball and Orji earned 9th place as a team at last year's NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship. They hope to do even better this year and are certainly off to a pretty good start.
The Engineer's next meet will be against their own Alumni on January 7.