PETERSON VAULTS 16' 10" TO CLAIM ECAC VICTORY AND VARSITY RECORD

WOMEN WIN CHAMPIONSHIP, LED BY TWO VARSITY AND ONE FRESHMAN RECORD

March 2-3, 2012

This weekend Tech Track & Field made the trip to New York City to compete at the ECAC Division III Championship being held at the New Balance Armory. Some of the men's team stayed in Boston to compete at the IC4A Championship, which is a men's only organization and mostly made up of Division I teams.

This weekend across the country, all the meets are only about trying to qualify individuals and relay teams for the NCAA Division III Championship next weekend. MIT's purpose was no different. In order to make the NCAA Division III Championship field next weekend an individual must be among the top 13 in their event for the men and top 15 for the women. Relays teams must be ranked among the top 10 declared teams to make it in.

With this in mind the Engineers took to the track and runways. Kristine Bunker '14 started things off with her bid to make the national field in the Pentathlon. Bunker did not have a strong outing in the first sub-event, the 60HH, running 10.48, a good bit slower than her 10.15 best. She won her next two sub-events, throwing 35-10 in the Shot Put and jumping a new MIT record of 5-4 1/4 in the High Jump. The Long Jump sub-event would be the key, and unfortunately, Bunker was only able to go 13-11. Even though she ran a fantastic 2:23.87, a six second PR and scored a total of 3123 points, it was not enough to get her another week of competition, but it was good enough for third place.

The 60HH trials were next up for the Engineers. Portia Jones '12 and Jackie Brew '14 were both in the third and final heat, and both came through big. Jones won the heat, tying her personal best of 8.82 and Brew ran a new PR of 8.88 to move up for a tie on the NCAA list at 11th place. Jones and Brew had the fastest two times in the trials.

In the women's Pole Vault, Lauren Kuntz '13 was the only MIT representative. She looked good early and cleared 11-5 3/4 with no problems, but was unable to clear 11-11 3/4, leaving her in a tie for eighth place in the meet, and tied at 13th on the NCAA list. She owns the tie-breaker and now must sit and wait to see what happens on Saturday, the final day anyone can qualify for the National Championship.

In the Triple Jump, Michelle Johnson '15 had a very good day. She made the finals and jumped 36-5 1/2, very close to her personal best, but not quite enough to score, missing out by one place. Johnson had a remarkable freshman season, improving her best mark by over two feet.

In the 5K, Elaine McVay '15 and Claire O'Connell '14 were hoping for different goals. McVay, 12th on the NCAA list entering the meet, was hoping to win the event and move up on the list, while O'Connell was on a roll after an early season injury and wanted to try to break 18 minutes. McVay had to take the lead early on because the pace slowed, but then others move to the front to shoulder the burden, so the pace stayed honest. McVay was hoping to run 5:30 per mile and was slightly ahead at the mile mark, coming through in 5:27. The second mile slowed a bit, putting her right on at 11:00. However, fatigue started to set in, and the pace continued to slow although she was leading and had pulled away from all but one runner. The 4800 split was 16:36 for a 5:36 third mile. She was passed but still held on for a 41 final 200 to finish in second at 17:17.43, a new personal best. Even though she moved up on the list one spot for her new time, two more passed her, moving her to 13th entering the final day of competition. O'Connell was unable to hold the 85 second pace goal after the first mile, running 5:54 and then 5:02, finishing in 18:19.04 showing the fatigue from moving up her mileage to prepare for the outdoor season.

The Distance Medley Relay (DMR) was the final event of the first day for the women. MIT was trying to put together a faster team than ran the 11:51.33 earlier in the season. Louise van den Heuvel '14 moved from her normal 1600 leg to the leadoff 1200 leg. She was immediately pushed to the rear, but ran well to take the lead before the 800 mark, coming though in 2:23. However, at this point she faded, coming in at 3:38, far from what she is capable of. Martha Gross '12, ran an excellent 58.0 leg as she moved MIT up to third place. Cindy Huang '15 was game, but had a difficult time shaking off the 12+ hours of sleep from the night before and struggled to run 2:19.4. Brook Johnson '13, looking good after a long comeback effort from injury, tried to make up too much ground too quickly, running the first 400 in 70. She slowed as she joined the lead pack, coming through the 800 in 2:27. The slowing trend continued as she fell off the back of the leaders, eventually getting passed by another team and finishing sixth in 12:00.15. Her split was a respectable 5:04.9.

The men had few representatives since most were back at IC4A's. Nathan Peterson '12 did all he could to carry the team and succeeded by winning the Pole Vault in a jump-off, successfully clearing 16-10, a new MIT record. During the competition, he was clean (making first attempts) all the way through 16-5 1/4. Three were tied at that point, going for a meet record 17'. Through three attempts, no one made it, but Peterson was very close. Being tied, all three attempted a fourth try at the height, but none made it. Going down to 16-10, Peterson was the only one to make it, winning the event. This puts Peterson fourth on the NCAA list.

Dan Harper '12 and Allen Leung '15 represented MIT in the 5K. Harper's goal was to stay with the leaders, hoping to run sub 14:40. The early pace was solid, hitting the first 1600 in 4:40. The 3200 pace was right on as well, but Harper could not stay with the leaders, falling back a bit to 9:25. Still with time to pull it off, he could not force himself to go for it, constantly thinking whether or not he could hold the pace. Instead he slowed to a 4:53, putting him out of reach of his goal. Harper finished in 14:51.79. Leung just did not have the strength and confidence to go with the leaders. He was in the rear running 4:41, which took too much out of him. He began to slow dramatically after the half way point, ending his season with a 15:22.28.

Day two started with the 60HH Final. Jones and Brew warmed up early and were the third of three hurdle finals (Men's Hep. 60HH, Men's Final 60HH and Women's Final 60HH) and sat around a little longer than they should have, losing some of the effect of their warmup. Brew got off to a great start while Jones stumbled. Brew led start to finish while Jones tried to make up ground. By the finish Brew was out front in 8.94, her second fastest time ever, while Jones made it up to third in 9.01.

Johnson was up again in the open Mile Run, hoping to break 5:00. However, the fastest seed in her section was 5:09, so she was not going to get much assistance. The first quarter was out at a good pace, running 74. Johnson was forced to take the lead as the pace slowed, still able to come through in 2:30 at the half. Now she was totally on her own, having dropped the field, but was not able to maintain the goal pace. Her three quarter split was 3:48 and final time a season best 5:07.40.

Jamie Simmons '12 and Gross were in the 400 looking to improve their season bests. Gross was in the second of three sections. She had a slow reaction to the start and never really got going in the first 200, splitting 27.8. She ran an aggressive second 200 to move into second at the finish, timing a season best 59.11. Simmons, racing in the fast section, also got out slow, almost too slowly, splitting 27.5, but finishing very hard, catching the leader at the line to win the event in 56.64.

In the 800, both Huang and van den Heuvel were hoping to improve their mark. van den Heuvel was up first. She got up front the way she was supposed to and looked very competitive. Her first 200 was a little fast, running 32.8, but things slowed a lot as the 400 split crawled by in 68.6. The pace picked up again slightly to 1:42.4, but she had fallen off from the leader. Her final 200 was 35, giving her an overall time of 2:17.41. Huang was in the fast section and the pace was quick. Her first quarter from the back third of the pack was 32.3 and 65.2. A great effort, but a little too fast at this point in her career. She came through the 600 in a PR of 1:38.5, but her final 200 was 38 to give her a final time of 2:16.33 and seventh place.

Preethi Vaidyanathan '15 and Bunker competed and tried to improve their rank in the High Jump. Although Bunker did not have the legs she had on day one, she did manage to clear 5-0 1/2. Vaidyanathan cleared 5-2 1/2 for eighth place and had a very close attempt at 5-5.

Benji Xie '15 tried one more time for the freshman record in the 3000 and came very close again. Starting the race in 68 second quarters, he was in a groove but then was in a group that got separated from the lead pack before he realized it. The pace had slowed to 70 for two quarters and he just could not speed up even though he bridged the gap between groups. He closed well but missed the record by two seconds with his 8:40.70.

Jackie Brew was about to enter the finals of the Long Jump at the same time as she was needed for the 4x400 Relay. The 4x400 took precedence as they were currently ranked fourth on the NCAA list and at the NCAA Championship, the 4x400 is run as sections on time with only four teams making it into the fast section. If one team were to pass MIT on the list they would no longer be in the fast section, so it was decided they had to play this offensively and go for a faster time. Simmons surpassed her open victory with a 55.9 leadoff leg to give MIT an insurmountable lead. Brew ran a 58.8 leg despite not much of a warmup to extend the lead slightly. Gross hammered a 58.5 to again increase the lead a bit and then Jones brought it home with a 56.0 to total a new ECAC and MIT record of 3:49.28. Another team from the Midwest did end up surpassing MIT's old time, but with the new time MIT is now in a solid second place ranking.

As MIT was leaving the building it was announced the women had won the meet with 56 points. The men only had the 10 scored by Peterson, placing in a tie for 27th.

MIT will take eight men and between six to eight women to the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship in Grinnell, Iowa next weekend.

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