MEN EXCEL AT NEW ENGLAND DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP, EARNING TEAM TITLE

Morton Scores 34 points and Sets Two MIT Records to Lead the Way

February 20, 2010

MIT entered this year's New England Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship, hosted by Bates College, as the number one seed with a predicted 107 points. The University of Southern Maine was seeded second with 96, Tufts University third with 83 and Williams fourth with 72 points. MIT knew that if they did not score more than their seeded total they would likely lose as it was clear Williams had a lot more than 72 points in their arsenal.

With no pentathletes in the field, MIT gave up 11 points to Williams and 10 to Tufts on day one of the championship. Beginning the second day, the trials in the 55 dash, 55HH and 200 had to be settled prior to any of the running event finals. MIT was not seeded to score in either the 55 or 55HH, despite having numerous entries, due to the very fast competition. The hurdles were first and Brian Djaja '13, ran a personal best of 7.96 to make the finals. Andrew Musacchio '11, ran a huge personal best of 8.03 to miss the finals by .01. In the 55 dash, both Stephen Morton '10, and Rene Peters '13, made it into the finals with times of 6.63 and 6.65 respectively. In the 200, both Morton and Josh Duncavage were expected to place and both made it through to the finals with Morton having the fastest time of 22.60. At the very least, provided they finished the finals, MIT was up four points.

The first field events were the 35 lb. weight throw and the long jump. In the weight throw, MIT was seeded to score four points. Fortunately, the Engineers are accustomed to making things better, not believing anyone who says it cannot be done, as Ken Cooper '13 and CK Umachi '12, proceeded to throw 53-3 and 53-1 3/4 respectively to earn third and fourth places and Tony McDonald '10, supported with a 51-8 1/2 personal best for eighth place, putting MIT up eight points in the first final. Cooper's throw was not only a personal best, but also a freshman record for MIT.

In the long jump, Morton was seeded second, but on the first attempt, he hit the board perfectly, flying 23-9 to take over first place and set a new MIT record, replacing MIT's oldest record on the books, held by Stanley Johnson from 1936. Knowing Morton had a long day, the coaches shut him down in the long jump, having him warmed up and ready in case anyone passed his mark, which never happened. MIT was up two more points.

On the track, the first final was the mile run. Kyle Hannon '13, was seeded fourth, but appeared to let his nerves get to him. The pack did not follow the leader, preferring to hold back in 64 for the quarter. Hannon went with the leader but did not continue after the 400, allowing the pack to catch him. He never responded after that and did not place. MIT gave up five of the 10 points they had gained.

Djaja got his chance in the 55HH final and took full advantage of the opportunity. After the third hurdle he was in third place, but then hit the fourth hurdle, nearly fell and stumbled over the final hurdle. Somehow he still managed to place fifth in another personal best of 7.93. Djaja's finish made up four of the five points lost in the mile.

In the high jump, Matt Falk '12, was not expected to score, but he and his coaches believed he could. Clearing 6-2 on his first attempt and only having one prior miss, Falk took advantage of the day and the field, placing fourth to put MIT up 14 points on their seeds.

The next event on the track where MIT was expected to score was the 600. Seeded to take 10 points, the Engineers were actually hoping for more. However, shortly into the start of the race John Granata '11, hurt his hamstring and Pat Marx '13, learned a little about running with and trying to get around a championship field. Marx managed a freshman record of 1:22.86 to place fourth. So, Tech lost five more expected points and was back to nine points up. This entire time, Tufts and Souhern Maine were not taking advantage of opportunities but Williams College was having a great day, keeping pace with MIT.

In the 55 dash, Morton and Peters were able to secure fifth and sixth with times of 6.59 and 6.66 respectively, giving MIT seven more unexpected points.

In the shot put, MIT thought they could score more than their seeded 11 points, but it was not to be. James Oleinik 'G, was not able to overcome first place, settling for his expected second place seed, throwing 49-8 1/4. Mitch Kelley '11, was seeded sixth, but was not able to overcome his nerves and did not make finals. However, McDonald, came through big again with a new personal best of 46-3 1/2 to earn the sixth place given up by Kelley.

The 1000 was supposed to be a big event for MIT. Seeded to score 13, MIT once again thought there was a possibility of more points, having three runners in the fast section. Richard Prevost '11, quickly put himself with the leaders, as did Bill Phipps '10, and Logan Trimble '13. After the 600 mark, coming through in 1:31, both Phipps and Trimble fell back. Prevost took the lead and nearly held on for the victory, just losing out by .4 of a second, but running a personal best of 2:31.10. Phipps fought hard to hold onto sixth place, earning MIT 11 points.

The big break for Tech came in the pole vault. Expected to score five points, the eight qualified vaulters from MIT jumped amazingly well. Cyrus Vafadari '12, cleared a personal best of 14-11 to claim seventh place in the talented field. Nathan Peterson '12, also cleared his personal best, qualifying provisionally for nationals with a vault of 15-3 to tie for third. Greg Tao '10, out much of the season with a hip flexor injury, shook off some of the rust and cleared 15-9 1/4 to win the event, giving MIT 17.5 points.

The 200 did not go as well for MIT as seeded, but nevertheless quite well. Morton had to run his best, a 22.38 to win the event while Duncavage failed to run the first turn, placing eighth, missing sixth by .1 seconds.

The 3000 and 5000 both went better than expected for Tech. Hemu Arumugam '10, held onto a quick pace to earn fourth in 8:44.03 to gain one point on the seeds in the 3K. In the 5K, Paul Welle '11, ran a personal best of 15:22.85 to place fourth and Dan Harper '12, sprinted a 32 second final 200 in the slow section to earn a surprising seventh place in 15:34.57.

Just before the relays were getting underway, the triple jump was wrapping up. With Granata being out with his hamstring and David Way '13, also missing the meet with a hamstring strain, the fourth seeded 4x400 was hurting quite a bit. MIT was up on Williams by 18.5 points and was even up in the triple jump at the time the distance medley relay was starting. The decision was made to boost up the DMR by moving Marx from the decimated 4x400 to run the 400 leg and scratch the 4x400, thinking the 4x800 had a reasonable chance of winning and holding off Williams despite their performance in the relays.

Fortunately, the DMR of Prevost (1200), Marx (400), Dawit Zewdie '13 (800) and Hannon (1600), ran great splits of 3:10, 51.7, 1:57.9 and 4:21.2 to finish first in 10:21.06. Morton, being the clutch performer that he is, moved from second place (to Tomas Kearney '12, from Williams) to first with a monster last attempt of 49-4 1/4 to smash his own MIT record and post the top jump in the country for division III this year. Mattias Flander '11, supported Morton's effort well, jumping 44-6 3/4 for sixth place.

The last event in the meet was the 4x800. MIT had many runners to choose from, but going with Trimble, Stephen Serene '12, Gil O'Neil '13 and Phipps. Trimble, unaccustomed to leading off, ran 2:00.6 to keep MIT up with the leaders. Serene ran an inspired 1:58.3 to put MIT in second. O'Neil ran a solid 1:59.1 to keep MIT in second, depending on Phipps to bring MIT home. On normal occasions, Phipps would have made up the difference, but he has had breathing problems of late and after a strong effort through 400 meters he was unable to hold on. MIT still finished in fifth to provide the total of 132.5 to 109 for Williams, while Tufts finished third with 65 points.

This marked the 11th New England Division III Indoor title since the inception of the championship in 1980. MIT has only placed lower than fourth place twice in the 31 years of the conference, which has over 40 teams.

Next week, MIT will be at the NEICAAA Championship at Boston University where they will go up against all New England colleges; division I, II and III. Morton will rest from his busy weekend, while others will begin to prepare for outdoor track. Some will try to improve their marks or qualify for nationals.

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