Tech Track Takes Tri-Meet Versus Bates and Colby Colleges

January 11, 2014

MIT Track & Field teams traveled to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine to open the 2014 intercollegiate indoor season in a tri-meet versus Bates and Colby College. With all three teams just returning from the holiday break, expectations for national level performances were not high. MIT was looking to begin the season undefeated and to compete well in all instances.

MIT was favored to win the men's and women's meet based on entry seeds, and that is exactly what happened. The men took first place honors in the meet, winning 10 of 17 events to outscore their opponents 194 to 100 for Bates and 67 for Colby. The women, still dealing with quite a few key injuries, won 11 of 18 events for 181.5 points to 107 for Bates and 85.5 for Colby.

While starting undefeated was a goal that came to fruition, the competitiveness was pretty solid, but not what is necessary to win championships.

The marquee matchup for the men was the anticipated battle of juniors Ken Cooper of MIT and Sean Enos of Bates, both contenders for the national title in the Weight Throw at the NCAA Division III Championship in March. Enos rode the home crowd noise to take down Cooper 61-10 1/2 to 59-07. The two, also national level in the Shot Put, ended the meet with another battle, another one won by Enos. This time Cooper threw a personal best 52-7 1/2, but Enos won at 53-11 1/4.

The throws were two of the very few events in which MIT was outscored by either of their opponents. The most dominating events for the Engineers were the 200, 400, 600, 3K and the Pole Vault. The scoring rules for the meet dictated six scoring places per non-relay event with no more than four individuals from one team allowed to score in any event. The points assigned for places 1-6 were 7-5-4-3-2-1.

In the 3K, Roy Wedge '14 led his teammates to the first five places on the 200 meter flat track. Wedge clocked 8:52.37, Matt Jordan '15 8:54.26, Matt McEachern '17 8:57.96, Allen Leung '15 9:00.26 and Brian Gilligan '17 9:06.01 to max out the 19 points to be earned in an event. The 600 was a loaded field for MIT, and even though they dominated the field, they did not do as well as they should. Chadd Kiggins '15 took over the race from teammate Mac Gager '14 going into the final lap and never looked back, clocking 1:23.20. Gager lost a little of his competitive effort once Kiggins went by, which cost him second place to the winner of the previous section. Freshmen Henry Tareque and Brandon Corts earned fifth and sixth but should have been fourth and fifth as their times of 1:28.06 and 1:28.77 were not at all competitive or near their abilities. The 400 exposed more early season errors by the Engineers. States Lee '16, ran a flawless race, winning in 50.68, am impressive time this early on a flat 200 meter track. However, teammate Derek Barnes '16 did not push the first 200 as he should, causing him to lose momentum at the break, ultimately costing him second place. Nick Diamantoni '15 ran 52.14 for fourth, an exceptional effort for starting in lane one. Michael Kaba '16 allowed pre existing soreness get in his head, causing him to give up competitively after 100 meters, but still held on for sixth place in 52.28. The athletes seemed to learn from their mistakes, as demonstrated in the results of the 200 towards the end of the meet. Tyler Singer-Clark '14 won his signature event in 22.83. Kaba realized his earlier error, putting together a fine 23.12 second place effort. Lee, relegated to lane three at the start, could not overcome the disadvantage, finishing third in 23.14. Barnes, in an earlier, less competitive section, waited until the 50 meter mark to start moving, ending up fifth overall in 23.36. Diamantoni, again getting an unfavorable lane (lane two) finished sixth at 23.62. While favored winner in the Pole Vault, Ben Schreck '15 forgot the one pole he needed, resulting in a no-height finish, his teammates came through, as Ian Perry '17, decathlete, Jordan Mizerak '14 and Marshall Wentworth '16 all cleared 13-1 1/2 to take second through fourth places. Another decathlete, Adrian Samsel '16 claimed fifth with a personal best 11-1 3/4.

Other event winners for MIT were led by Angel Echevarria '16 in the Triple Jump at 44-6 3/4, just missing a 46+ jump by a very slight toe foul. Sam Parker '15 took first place in the 800, outkicking teammate Justin Bullock '14, 1:59.28 to 1:59.86. John Thomas '15 won an anemic High Jump event at 6' 0". Kaba ran close to a personal best in winning the 60HH in 8.61. The quartet of Gager, Parker, Bullock and Kiggins came down in distance to win the 4x400 in 3:28.04. Despite the deficit Ian Tolan '16 gave his teammates in the 1200 leg of the DMR, Harrison Hunter '15, Nick Matthews '17 and Ken Leidal '17 ran exceptional races to win in 10:46.47.

While the depth was seriously affected by the injuries to the women's team, the quality was still there. The ladies from MIT took every field event victory. Leading they way with a second personal best in two weeks was Ellen Liverpool '15, who threw 48-5 1/4 to move up to number four all-time on MIT's list. Teammate Isabella Stuopis '16 broke her own Tech record in the Shot Put, winning with a throw of 43-0 1/2. The overall star of the day for the Engineers was Jackie Konopka '14, who claimed three victories in three events competed. Her first victory was in the Long Jump at 16-6. Next, she took the 60HH in 9.19 after running a PR of 9.15 in the trials. Her final event was the High Jump, which she took with a jump of 5-3. Cimmy Virdi '16 won the Pole Vault easily with a vault of 11-7. Michelle Johnson '15 claimed the Triple Jump with a leap of 35-0 1/4. Overall, MIT took the field events with a very impressive 85.5 points to 24 for Bates and 22.5 for Colby.

The supporting cast in the High Jump was led by Stephanie Guo '17 who took second at 5-1 3/4 and would have cleared 5-3 or higher, but had to jump at that height right after taking fourth place in the 600. Guo also placed fourth in the Long Jump with 16-1 1/2 and sixth in the 60HH at 10.06. Preethi Vaidyanathan '15 tied for third in the High Jump at 5-1 3/4 and Natalie Alper '17 placed fourth at 4-11 3/4. Johnson placed third in the Long Jump at 16-4 1/4. In the Weight Throw, Ashley Wheeler '15 threw a PR of her own as she took second with a 46-10 3/4 throw. Stuopis claimed fourth in 43-5 1/4. Jackie Vahey '17 took second in the Shot Put at 37-6 1/2 while Christine Labaza placed fifth with a throw of 33-3 3/4. Stephanie Birkhimer '14, competing in five events, saved her best for last, taking second in the Triple Jump at 34-4 1/4. Also in the Triple Jump, Veronica Szklarzewski '15 finished in sixth at 32-5 3/4. Jen Tylock '17 cleared 10-6 in the Pole Vault for third place while Sherry Wan '16 placed sixth while clearing 10-0.

In addition to Konopka's victory in the hurdles, Tech earned three other victories on the track. Jackie Brew '14, who claimed second in the 60HH and fifth in the 60 Meter Dash, won the 200 in 27.24. Cindy Huang '15 took first place in the 600, leading wire to wire in 1:43.73. Maryann Gong '17, not at her best while placing third in the Mile with a very mediocre 5:15, put it together by ripping off a 2:20.52 victory in the 800. Louise van den Heuvel '14 did not run the smartest race, but probably the most competitive in winning the 1000 in 3:00.53. Taking the lead by going out in 34, van den Heuvel started coasting a bit with three 200's in 37, allowing talented Bates runner, Sarah Fusco back into the race. When Fusco came up hard on her in the final lap, van den Heuvel responded with an excellent last 100 to put the race away.

Next week, MIT returns to Maine, visiting Bowdoin College, the host to MIT, Springfield and WPI.

RETURN TO INDOOR