Engineers Light Up The Track to Stay Undefeated
Gong and Rosenkranz Shine in 3K
January 23, 2016
Figuring the outcome of the 10 team track & field invitational at Bowdoin College based on coaches' entries was baffling at best. On paper, MIT was favored by ~30 points on the men's side and ~40 points on the women's tally. The combination of MIT student-athletes exceeding prior performances and expectations and many teams not matching their coach's predications led to a route in favor of MIT. The women more than doubled second place Merrimack College's point total 203 to 90. In the men's meet the Engineers scored 190 points, also more than doubling the score of second place host Bowdoin College. In both meets Tufts University finished a respectable third place. There were only six scoring places per event using a scoring format of 10-8-6-4-2-1.
The spotlight event turned out to be the 3K. In the women's race, this was the opportunity Maryann Gong '17 was taking to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championship. Wanting to qualify for Nationals in the Mile, 3K, 5K and DMR, she knew that this was likely to be her one shot and needed to make the most of it. At the gun Gong took off, opening up with a 76 opening 400, ultimately deciding the outcome of the race right there. Gong backed off very little, coming through the 1600 in 5:11 and not slowing down from there, running 77's the rest of the way to finish in 9:41.34, lapping the field in the process. In the men's race, winner Josh Rosenkranz '19, needed some help, but used assistance to demolish the MIT freshman record, running 8:33.32. Tim Nichols '17 of Tufts and Matt Jacobson '17 of Bowdoin took over pacing duties after Rosenkranz went from an opening 400 in 68 to a second quarter in 70. From that point the pace gradually picked up to 69 pace for a 4:38 first mile and then picking up more with a 67 penultimate quarter. At this point, Rosenkranz brought the wood, dropping a 29 final 200 on the field to open up a nearly 10 meter lead at the finish.
In the women's meet there were many stars for Tech, serving up six all-time top 10 list bests and numerous personal and season bests. Hannah Chen '18 owned three of those top 10 marks, earning personal bests in the 60 Meter Dash, the 60 Meter High Hurdles and the Long Jump. In the 60 and 60HH she earned personal bests in both the trials and finals to actually come through with five personal bests throughout the day. The sophomore star garnered 22 points for her team by placing second in both the 60HH (9.04) and 200 Meter Dash (25.93), taking fourth in the Long Jump (17-5 1/4) and fifth in the 60 (7.91).
Nneoma Okonkwo '18 also had two personal bests and all-time top 10 performances, running 7.94 in the 60 Meter Dash as she earned sixth place and jumping 17-7 1/2 to place second in the Long Jump. She also took third place honors in the 200.
Victories were plentiful for Tech at eight. Jackie Vahey '17 thew a personal best of 52-8 to win the Weight Throw. Natalie Alper '17, despite doing multiple events, tied her personal best of 5-3 3/4 to win the High Jump. Alper had an excellent attempt at 5-5 3/4. Cimmy Virdi '16 was not at her best due to shin splints, but was good enough to win the Pole Vault at 12-0. On the track, in addition to Gong's victory, Bailey Tregoning '19 easily took first place honors in the 800. Becoming impatient off of a pedestrian pace of 71.6 at the 400 and 1:47 at the 600, Tregoning ran a 33 final 200 to win easily in 2:20.97. Continuing the freshman theme, Megan Montgomery '19 won the Mile Run in 5:15.81. If some is good, more is better as Bailee Margolis '19 led her two freshman teammates to a 1-2-3 MIT freshmen finish in the 5K, running 18:46.55. MIT began the meet with a victory in the first event (5K) and they finished it with a victory in the final event, the 4x800 Relay. The quartet of Margolis, Gong, Clementine Mitchell '18 and Tregoning ran 9:41.94 to easily win the race.
The event of the meet for the women was the Pole Vault. In addition to Virdi's victory, MIT earned second, third and fifth place, with Sherry Wan '16 and Jen Tylock '17 clearing 11-5 3/4 and Makenzie Patarino '19 making 10-11 3/4.
The one multiple winner for the men was Michael Kaba '16. Kaba scored 26.5 points in winning the 60HH and 200, getting fourth in the 60 Meter Dash and running the leadoff leg on the victorious 4x400 Relay. Kaba ran season bests in both the 60HH and the 60 at 8.46 and 7.17 respectively. His 200 was in 22.61 and then he led off the 4x400 with a 49.9 opening leg to give his team the lead against the NCAA Division III 800 champion.
Overall the men won nine events. In addition to the two by Kaba and the record victory by Rosenkranz, there were plenty of impressive first place performances. Marshall Wentworth '16 cleared a PR of 14-7 1/4 to win the Pole Vault. Billy Ruschel '18 dominated the Triple Jump with a big 46-0 effort. States Lee '16 got the break in the 400 in 23.2 and continued uncontested to win in 49.85, his fastest ever 200 meter flat track performance. Another very impressive victory, and probably the event of the meet for the men was had in the Mile Run. After Colin Godwin '17 did most of the early leg work, leading the pace of 64 and 2:08 through 800 meters, Ben Bosworth '17 of Conn. College took the lead briefly before Aidan Gilson '19 took over the reigns and buried a 62 final 400 to win in 4:15.46. Kunal Tangri '19 passed Godwin in the final 200 to place third in 4:17.48 to Godwin's fourth in 4:17.61. Rory Beyer '17 took the lead in the 5K from teammate Cooper Sloan '18 after the 1600 and never relinquished it as he ran 4:50, 4:48 and 4:54 1600 splits before closing in 34 seconds to run a PR of 15:06.33. Sloane held on for second place and Nicholas Waltman '18 fourth for MIT's highest scoring event on the men's side. In the 4x400 Relay it appeared MIT would have a race of it with Tufts University as Kaba maintained the smallest of leads through the handoff and Derek Barnes '16 barely held off their second leg as he ran 51.3. However, when Danny Newman '17 took the baton the competition faded badly. Newman's 51.1 leg gave MIT a substantial lead. States Lee took the baton and buried a 49.7 anchor to give the team a 4:22.20 season best.
Other significant personal and season bests by the men were spread throughout the team. The throwers competed well which accounted for their personal bests. Alex Noakes '16 threw 45-10 in the Weight Throw, earning fourth place and Cody Bratten '18 placed second in the Shot Put with a throw of 46-3 1/2. Chris Sweeney ran a personal best of 8.53 to lead qualifiers in the 60HH, but pulled his hamstring in the 60 Meter Dash trials so was unable to race in the final. Newman and Barnes placed fourth and fifth respectively in the 400 with a personal indoor best of 50.86 for Newman and a season best of 50.89 for Barnes. Gilson and Tangri teamed up again in the 1000 running 2:33.03 and 2:34.57 personal bests. Daniel Weiss '19 and Dennis Maloney '19 ran 8:48.62 and 8:50.91 in the 3K, both personal bests.
Next week, MIT will split their squad amongst three different meets. Boston University is hosting the John Thomas Terrier Classic that hosts the women on Friday and men on Saturday, which is where most of MIT's oval runners will be competing. MIT will be hosting the Art Farnham Invite on Saturday where those not taking the weekend off or competing at BU, will be competing. The one exception to that will be three multi-event athletes who will be competing at the Tufts Multi on Friday and Saturday. None of the meets are scoring.
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