Kuntz is National Runner-up in Pole Vault, MIT Claims 10 All America Honors

March 8-9 2013

MIT qualified and brought 13 athletes to the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championship, hosted by North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. At the coaches' and athletes' banquet the night before the meet, Sarah Quinn '16 received the New England Region Female Runner of the Year for her remarkable season of three national qualifying performances (DMR, Mile, 5K), New England title in the 3K and three MIT varsity records (DMR, Mile, 3K) and three freshman records (Mile, 3K, 5K).

Tech wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard. Lauren Kuntz '13, a two-time All America winner in the Pole Vault, surpassed her fourth place seed, earning second place with a new personal best of 12-11 1/2. At 12-3, nine vaulters had cleared with Kuntz in eighth place due to two total misses. At 12-7 1/2 only six vaulters cleared with Kuntz in fifth. At 12-11 1/2 Kuntz was the only athlete to clear on the first attempt. One other vaulter cleared on the second attempt with the top seed passing the height. Neither vaulter cleared 13-1, but strangely the top seed again passed. Kuntz had the victory if Michelle Favre of Ramapo College did not clear the next height. After one miss Favre did indeed clear the height to win the competition. Kuntz's second place was extraordinary and eight big points for the Engineers.

In the Pentathlon, which began at 10:15 a.m., Jackie Konopka '14, a rookie at this competition, started off with a solid 9.32 in the 60HH to stand in fifth place. In the High Jump portion of the event, Konopka jumped a PR of 5-3 to move up in points, but remain in fifth place. In the Shot Put, Konopka threw close to 34' to move up into fourth place, just out of third place. Her Long Jump of 16-1 1/2, while not her best, kept her close, but nevertheless falling back to seventh place. In the final event, the 800, she ran a very smart race with the exception of moving a little too hard after 300 meters. She paid for this, tying up badly in the final 150, but still maintained a flat track PR of 2:27 to move up to sixth place.

Nicole Zeinstra '16 ran the Mile Run trials, knowing she had to place either among the top three in her heat or one of the top four overall times after taking the top three out of each heat. The pace was perfect for Zeinstra, splitting 74 for the first quarter. The pace slowed so she took the lead as instructed, hitting the halfway mark at 2:30. She tried to pull away in the third quarter, hitting the three quarter mark in 3:45, but that did little to shake the pack. In the final quarter the main pack pulled around her one by one, but she held on to run 5:01.89, a flat track personal best. Her overall place was 12th of the 15 competitors, the same as her seed entering the event. A job well done by the freshman.

The final events of day one were the Distance Medley Relays, which MIT had entries for the men and women. Brooke Johnson '13 led off for the Engineers with the 1200 leg. She ran an excellent leg, pushing the pace once it slowed. In the final lap she lost the lead but kept MIT in third place with a 3:32 split, about 10 meters off the lead. Cindy Huang '15 was in no-man's land but valiantly tried to close the gap. Her 28.5 200 was a little ambitious and it hurt her in the end as she finished about 25 meters out of first, but still in third place with a 60.5. Alexandra Taylor '14 took over the baton honors and quickly moved to close the gap with a 31.3 first 200. Middlebury went around in the second 200, which helped pull Taylor along to a 63.4 400. She maintained a good pace through a 1:36.9 600, but then tightened up and lost another place despite an excellent flat track PR of 2:13.3. Sarah Quinn '16 grabbed the baton and did what anchors are supposed to do, close the gap. The problem was that Quinn closed it a bit too quickly. In this case the first 200 was 33 as she made up 20 meters on third and fourth in the first 100 meters. She settled into pace after that but the damage was done. Her 400 was 69.8, moving her into third place. Now running the 72-73 400 pace she was supposed to do, Quinn hit the 800 in 2:22.4 and moved up to the leaders. During the third quarter she took the lead, but it was short lived. At the 1200 mark her split was 3:35.8 but she then paid for her first 200 sin. Her final 400 of 78 was as painful to watch as it was for Quinn to run. Her 4:53.8 was a very competitive, gutsy effort, but the way she ran it ended with the team in fifth place. The 11:40.38 was a superb overall performance for the team.

The men took to the track immediately afterwards. Logan Trimble '13 led things off with the 1200 leg. Although all MIT runners know not to get boxed in on the rail, that is exactly where Trimble located himself after he lost balance at the start, getting stuck in the back of the pack. After the first 400 of 60.8 the pace slowed. Trimble did not go wide to take the lead, but rather seemed determined to stay on the rail and try to move up on the inside. This netted a 2:06.6 800, but at least no one in the race was running fast. The final 400 was quick for the leaders, but Trimble could not get out as well as the others, ending up at 3:07.1 in fifth place. States Lee '16 ran the 400 leg, wasting no time in moving around runners with a 22.9 first 200. Lee passed another runner and closed the gap with his 49.5 leg, handing off in third place. Pat Marx '13, the 800 leg, did exactly what he was told not to do, he settled in the pack of the lead group rather than run his own race, burying the competition. By settling in the back, the pace slowed to a 56.4 first 400. The pace continued to slow, and when the leaders took off, Marx could not get the momentum back, finishing in 1:55.2 in fourth place. Justin Bullock '14 anchored the relay and did an excellent job. He took his time closing the gap, running splits of 61.9, 2:05.3 and 3:09.2 to put himself in the back of the lead group in fourth place. As the pace picked up, Bullock could not go with them and lost a couple places even though he closed in 62.0. The final time of 10:03.97 was pretty good and gave MIT sixth place, but could have been much faster if the Engineers had run what they were capable of.

Going into day two, the women were in second place with 15 points, but with only the single entry of Sarah Quinn in the 5K, and given the status of her beat up calves, it was unlikely they would maintain their position. The men had three points, but also had one entry, the fifth seed in the 4x400 Relay.

In the 5K, due to the status of Quinn's calves, it was decided she would not charge to the lead, but stay on eighth place until one mile remained. If she felt she had anything left at that point she would race for as high a place as possible. The initial pace was pedestrian at best for the main pack, 86 seconds for the first quarter and did not change for the 1600 as the split was 5:40. Quinn was impatient but disciplined enough to stay in the pack and not move up. The second 1600 was a 5:32. At that point the front of the main pack moved to hunt down the two front runners. Quinn tried to go, running 81 and 79 for the next two quarters, but then the calves locked up. From that point on it was survival as she finished in 17:28.22.

The 4x400 was seeded fifth, thus putting them in the fast section of the two section final. Drawing lane two meant leadoff runner, States Lee would have to work hard to get the break. Lee did just that, getting the break with a 22.8 first 200. He held on to the lead, running an amazing 49.6 leadoff leg. Tyler Singer-Clark '14 took the baton was passed on the exchange and passed the runner on the backstretch, which took a 22.6 first 200, exhausting him. The second lap was ugly as he was passed by all four teams in the final stretch to finish in 50.3. Derek Barnes '16, passed one runner on the backstretch and ran a strong leg of 49.5, but again, he was passed on the handoff, giving Pat Marx the baton in fifth. Marx tried to move on the leaders but was unable to get around them. He ran a 49.3 to give MIT a 3:18.70 overall time in 10th place.

The women's team finished in a tie for 13th place with 15 points while the men tied for 45th position with three points.

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