STEPHEN MORTON QUALIFIES FOR NCAA'S IN LONG AND TRIPLE
February 16, 2008
Personal bests and top-10 performances were the rule rather than the exception at MIT's Coed Invitational on Saturday. The majority of Tech's middle-distance and distance runners took the weekend off from racing in order to rest up for the New England Division III Championship next weekend. Similarly, the field event athletes, hurdlers and long sprinters tried to put everything together in preparation for those same championships. Leading the way was Stephen Morton. The sophomore jumped to personal bests in both the long jump and triple jump.
In the long jump, Morton was getting ready to go over to the 200 and asked if he had time to take his last jump. He did and what a jump it was: 23-1 3/4 to move into second place on the all-time MIT indoor list and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship. In the triple jump, there were five jumpers over 45' going into the finals with Morton and James Marcy from Tufts going back and forth for the lead throughout the trials. On Morton's fourth jump he landed just a few feet from the back of the pit, a jump certainly in the 48' range but fouled by about an inch. The same thing happened on his fifth jump as he was an inch out of first place. On his final attempt he put it together, leaping 47-1 1/2 to move into third place on the all-time MIT list and another NCAA qualifying performance. Anthony Teixeira also made it into the all-time top 10 list with his 45-5 leap for fourth place. Just behind Tex, freshman Mattias Flander jumped to a personal best of 45-2 1/2.
Dave Reshef earned the other top 10 all-time list, this one in the 600. Dave's 1:24.45 earned him a number seven showing on that all-time list. Also in the 600, Bill Phipps ran to a second place in 1:25.38 and Peter Mulligan ran a personal best of 1:28.20. There were many other personal and season bests achieved on this day. Omari Stephens hurdled to a 7.93 personal best and then vaulted a season best of 14-2 3/4. Oliver Yeh leaped 40-8 1/4 for a personal best in the triple jump with 40-8 1/4. In the weight throw Adam Mustafa and Mitchell Kelley threw personal bests of 39-5 and 32-3 respectively. Tony McDonald threw a personal best in the shot put with a put of 40-11 1/2. On the track, John Granata stepped down to the 400 for a little speed and won with a best of 51.55. In the 800, Kevin Kleinguetl ran an indoor personal best of 1:58.42 for the victory. Also running a personal best was Richard Prevost with a 2:00.81, an outstanding performance for the distance runner. Last but not least, Jack Bourbonnais ran 8:56.28 in the 3000 for a personal best and New England Division III qualifying performance.
Next week MIT travels to Tufts University for the New England Division III Championship. MIT has not won the championship since 2003 but is poised to have a run at the title this year.