MIT Accomplishes Goals in Home Invitational

1/23/2010

The MIT Engineers had three particular goals in mind for their non-scoring MIT Coed Invitational I. Those goals were to rest those athletes who needed either a weekend off from racing or a lighter load for this meet, try some people out in different events to provide more options come New England Division III championship time, and to focus on one event and get a solid championship qualifying performance for those athletes who needed it.

Most of Tech's distance squad got their run in early and helped at the meet, giving themselves a weekend where they did not have to race so that they would be better prepared for the final weeks of the season. They will certainly need the rest as the upcoming weeks have the Engineers at Bowdoin for a challenging multi-team meet and then at home against rival Williams and Coast Guard before going to Boston University for the opportunity to run some very fast times at the Valentine's Invitational with the championships starting the following weekend.

Since there was no scoring, there was not the same intensity to the meet, which seemed to affect the desire for some of the engineers. However, most took advantage of the opportunity and competed very well. Instead of racing for points and the victories, many of the competing Engineers were instructed to try and hit certain splits. In a few of these cases the athletes went out too fast and paid the price.

Jacqui Wentz '10, and Brooke Johnson '13, gave the best performance of day. Both were entered in the 1000 meter run. Johnson was supposed to run 36 second 200 splits for a 3:00 overall time and Wentz was supposed to help out at the end of the race and get the victory if possible. Johnson instead went out in 34s for the first two 200s. While she paid the price, she showed just how talented she is as she still ran 3:00.77, just missing the freshman record by .09. Wentz did her job, taking the lead after the 400 and pulling Johnson along while finishing in 2:57.68 to set a new MIT record in the event and looked very comfortable doing so.

The race that was the most exciting to watch was the leadoff leg of the 4x800. Richard Prevost '11, fresh off of a 4:25.10 mile effort, battled the leadoff runner for UMass Lowell for the entire race, finally taking the lead with 100 meters to go and holding on for a 1:56.5, a very impressive split for the steeplechaser.

Hazel Briner '11, was the only MIT athlete on the day to gain an NCAA qualifying mark. Briner improved her pole vault mark to 11-7 3/4 in winning the event. An easy day for Briner is a season worth of competition for some. All she did on this relaxing day was run the 55HH in 9.16, long jump 15-2 3/4 and run a 62.6 leadoff leg for the 4x400.

Stephen Morton '10, also had a very light day but he nevertheless put in a 22-8 winning long jump. Brian Djaja '13, continued to set a new PR with each hurdle race, this time winning in 7.98 as he dipped below the eight second mark for the first time.

For the MIT men, the best events were the 600, 1000 and the two throwing events; the 35lb. weight throw and the shot put. In the 600, David Way '13, and John Granata '11, gave chase but were not able to catch Peter Najem, an unattached runner who won in 1:21.97, but their respective times of 1:24.22 and 1:25.62 were quite impressive. Kyle Hannon '13, showed a little of what he is capable of as he also fell victim to Najem, who won the 1000 in 2:31.31. Hannon finished in 2:34.75, just ahead of a fast closing Gil O'Neil '13, (2:35.76) and Bill Phipps '10, (2:37.65). Tony McDonald '10, broke the 50' barrier for the first time in the weight throw, releasing a 50-10 bomb. Teammate CK Umachi '12, also had a personal best with a throw of 49-6 1/2. In the shot put, James Oleinik 'G, showed he is coming into form after recovering from a year off due to shoulder surgery, with his 48-0 put.

Moving to different events, a couple of the women found success. Portia Jones '12, sprinted in the 55 meter dash, running 7.63 for the first time running the event. Martha Gross '12, raced the 200 in 27.69 after winning the 400 in 62.15. Kirsten Aarsvold had a nice personal best in the 400 with a 63.37 clocking.

Next Saturday, MIT competes in their first away meet as they travel to Bowdoin College. The men will compete against Bowdoin, Colby, Springfield and Tufts, while the women will go up against Bowdoin, Colby, Mt. Holyoke and Tufts. MIT men have won this meet every year since 2005, although each meet has been a difficult battle and with Bowdoin, Tufts and Springfield all showing very strong teams the outcome will likely depend on which team brings it on that day. The women lost to a very deep Bowdoin team last year. The addition of a strong Tufts team will certainly make the meet even more challenging as both Bowdoin and Tufts have a lot of depth and top talent.

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