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Kaba, Okeke Come Up Big as Tech Holds on For Victory Over Rival Williams College

MIT entered the New England Division III Championship in a familiar spot of late-as the favorite to win.  Playing host to over 30 institutions over two days, MIT knew that overcoming both Williams and Tufts would be a difficult, but necessary challenge to earning its fourth straight indoor title.  However, Williams would prove to be a much greater opponent than originally expected.

On Friday, Tech got started off with Luke Gray ’18 in Day One of the Heptathlon.  Gray, who was seeded 4th of 10 competitors, came out strong, notching a personal best in the 60m, running a time of 7.68.  Despite this personal record, the field proved quite capable, leaving him in 10th place with the Long Jump up next.  Not typically a strong event for him but improving of late, Gray looked to move up in the rankings with a respectable Long Jump performance.  Unfortunately, his improvement did not transfer to competition and Gray lost more ground, jumping a disappointing 17’11” to finish last in the event.  With two events remaining on the first day of competition, Gray needed to put together two personal bests to keep him in the competition.  In the Shot Put, Gray put forth a strong effort, improving his personal best and throwing a distance of 38’7 ¼”, winning the event and moving him into 7th position entering the High Jump, the final event for Day One.  Despite early inconsistency in his approach, Gray was able to put together another personal best performance in the High Jump with a jump of 5’5”.  In all, Gray had 3 PR’s out of 4 events, positioning him in 7th place after Day One.  What was perhaps the biggest surprise, however, was Williams’ Tommy Riley who was stepping up in all of his events and was in 3rd place after four events, performing well above his 9th place seed.

Day Two of the Heptathlon proved to be more fruitful for Gray.  Starting in the 60m High Hurdles, Gray ran within a tenth of a second of his best, with a time of 9.26.  In the Pole Vault, perhaps his strongest event and many others’ weakest, Gray was able to vault a height of 12’7½” making up a rather large point margin and catapulting him up to 5th place with the 1000m as his encore.  Gray, looking for any opening to move up in the standings, performed with passion, fighting hard until the finish to run a 2:50.96, placing 4th in the event and moving him up to 4th place overall.  Over the two days, Gray scored a personal best 4,247 points, which was 119 points more than his previous best.  Williams’ Tommy Riley scored 4474 for a 2nd place finish and 8 points that they were not seeded to score.  Perhaps Riley was the catalyst for Williams College, who performed brilliantly, out-performing their seeds and making it a very exciting championship.

On Saturday, the rest of the Tech team got started in the Long Jump, an event that proved incredibly important to the outcome of the meet.  After three disappointing jumps from Carrington Motley ’16 in the first flight, Arinze Okeke ’17 and Luca Cacopardo ’18 looked to get Tech some early points.  Seeded 3rd and 7th, Okeke and Cacopardo performed at their best when it mattered the most.  Cacopardo had a very strong series of jumps, finishing with a 5th place performance and a personal best jump of 21’10 ¼”.  Okeke, however, would not be denied the top spot, beating his seed by two places with a second round leap of 22’11 ¾” to win the event by 15cm.  Once the distance of the jump was announced, the energy seemed to leave the other jumpers, as they now needed to chase this big mark.  The jump had the opposite effect on the Tech performers.

Shortly after Okeke’s big win in the Long Jump, Michael Kaba ’16 and Chris Sweeney ’18 took to the 60m High Hurdles, an event that proved very helpful in Tech’s bid for another championship.  In the trials, Sweeney, who two days earlier was a potential scratch because of a hamstring injury, broke the MIT school record formally held by Kaba, running a smoking fast 8.34 to secure his spot in the final.  Kaba also ran a very smooth race, hurdling his way to an 8.43, which at the time was a season best for him.  Going into the final, Sweeney and Kaba were seeded 3rd and 5th, respectively.  In what was an unusually fast final, both Kaba and Sweeney burst out of the blocks to challenge Bridgewater State’s Connor Murtagh, the top seeded hurdler in New England.  In a very competitive battle, it was Kaba who wrestled away the top spot from Murtagh, blazing a new MIT school record time of 8.20, while Sweeney ran an 8.35 to come away with 4th.

In the Mile, Aiden Gilson ’19 came in as the top-seeded runner.  After Tech’s Colin Godwin ’17 was scratched earlier in the week due to injury, Gilson’s performance was an ever-important one for MIT.  Gilson dealt with the pressure brilliantly and ran a very intelligent race from the start.  Understanding that it was a one section final, Gilson was able to set the pace for the race, not worrying about time and focusing solely on place.  Immediately after the gun, Gilson got in 2nd place on the outer half of lane one and controlled the race from there. Even as his competitors tried to surge with two laps to go, Gilson pounced on them and beat them to it, never relinquishing his lead.  Gilson was able to close out his championship race in a 57-second last 400m, finishing with a final time of 4:25.20.

Coming into the meet, MIT had its sights set on continuing its tradition of strong 400m performances, looking to out-perform its projected 15 points in what proved to be a very competitive field.  In the 3rd section, MIT’s Danny Newman ’17 and Derek Barnes ’16 looked to pick up some unseeded points.  Unfortunately, Newman and Barnes were the last to the break, getting caught in traffic and spent the rest of the race trying to make up lost ground from the outside.  In the fast section, both Kaba and top-seeded States Lee ’16 looked to score big.  As Kaba and Lee came to the break, Kaba accelerated and gained great position, whereas Lee was caught in traffic.  Kaba ran a smooth 23.1 first 200m while Lee ran slightly slower and was bumped to the outside.  Both fought hard, but in the end Kaba came up victorious, winning his second event of the day in a time of 49.85, holding off Southern Maine’s Jeremy Collins.  Lee held on to finish 6th in a time of 50.57.

Next up on the track for MIT, was the 800m run.  Yet another freshman, Jarod Wilson ’19 was asked to step up in hopes of Tech winning a title.  Wilson, who came into the competition as the 3rd seed, had some very stiff competition in two-time National Champion Mitchell Black of Tufts and Jacob Ellis of Bowdoin.  Black and Ellis both took the race out in a very solid pace, and at the time, it seemed like only Wilson was courageous enough to go with them.  After a 56-second opening 400m, the race wore on and both Black and Ellis began to gap Wilson.  It seemed that Wilson would be able to hold on to a 3rd place finish, however, this would not be the case, as Wilson slowed down through the finish line while Jack Pinho of Springfield dove over the finish line just ahead of him.  Pinho’s time of 1:53.90 was just four hundredths of a second faster than Wilson who finished in 1:53.94, a personal best.

Following the 800m, still another Tech freshman, Kunal Tangri ’19 looked to pick up some important points in the 1000m, an event  in which he was seeded third.  In the first attempted start, Tangri was tripped up hard within his first three steps, prompting a restart and perhaps some nervous anxiety on the part of Tangri. In the restart Tangri got out in 4th place in a very fast race.  Tangri fought hard, going through the 800m in 2:01, but was overcome by Serrao of Middlebury and Roy of WPI in the last 200m, leading to a 6th place finish in a time of 2:32.21.

Back to the sprints, Tech sprinters Kaba, Tre Albritten ’18, Richard Lu ’16 and Newman aimed to repeat the big performance from last year’s meet and sweep the top spots in the 200m.  In typical Tech fashion, the sprinters came ready to bring it, scoring from multiple sections of the 5-section event.  Lu proved that seed doesn’t mean everything, running a remarkable time of 22.99 to take 8th from the 3rd section.  Next, Newman redeemed himself for his poor 400m performance and ran a blazing time of 22.64, good enough to take 4th from the 4th section.  Finally, the 5th and fastest section had both Albritten and Kaba, the top two seeded sprinters.  The race was a fast one and competitive from the start.  By the finish, Kaba was once again the victor, winning his third event of the day in a time of 22.28, narrowly edging Ofori-Atta of Williams.  Albritten went on to finish 5th with a time 22.64, finishing two thousandths of a second behind Newman.  In all, the 200m brought Tech 20 points to keep the lead over surging Williams.

While the 200m was finishing up, big things were brewing at the sand pit as Tech’s army of Triple Jumpers were making a lot of noise.  After a big personal best jump of 45’2 ½” from sophomore Ryan Prinster ’18 in the first flight, the second flight, with four more Tech jumpers proceeded to own the day.  William Ruschel ’18 got Tech started off with the first 14-meter jump of the day, putting him in the early lead.  The third round proved to be a big one for MIT, as Bowdoin’s Bryan Greenberg nearly matched Ruschel’s jump.  Tech jumpers, Okeke and Ruschel did not seem to approve of the performance and responded with even bigger attempts, jumping 46’9” and 46’6”, respectively, and putting them in first and second.  Following the first two flights, Tech had all five jumpers in the final, sitting 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 8th.  In the final, only Motley was able to improve, as Bowdoin’s Greenberg could not match both Okeke and Ruschel’s jumps.   When the sand settled, the Tech jumpers scored 27 points, giving the horizontal jumps a grand total of 41 points for the meet.

While Tech was having fun at the sand pit, Williams was quietly surging back into the team points.  In the 3K, Tech runner Josh Rosenkranz finished 9th in a time of 8:46.38 and was unable to pick up points.  Meanwhile, Williams’ Mazaheri, Hale, and Simpson picked up 21 points, finishing first, second and sixth respectively.  In the 5K, Tech picked up four hard-fought points from freshman, Dennis Maloney ’19, who ran a solid time of 15:02.89.  However, Cotton, Colaizzi, and Decker of Williams answered with 17 more of there own.  It was evident that Williams was not going away.

In the Pole Vault, Tech vaulters Marshall Wentworth ’16 and Scott Cameron ’19 were needed to perform at personal best levels to score points for MIT and keep them in the points race.  In the end, it was another freshman, Cameron, who answered the bell, tying a personal best and taking 5th behind Williams’ Pierceson Brown.  Following the Pole Vault, Tech clung to a narrow lead with the Distance Medley Relay up next.

In the DMR, Williams put down a solid time of 10:26.54 from the first section of which MIT would have to beat to build their lead.  MIT failed to do so, as the second section became more of a race for place rather than time and forgetting about Williams’ first section performance.  Tech runner David Walter ’18 got out to 6th place for the first 400m and moved up throughout to put MIT in a close group of five runners. Tom Frejowski ‘19 ran a steady 52-second 400m leg to keep Tech in range while passing the baton to Henry Tareque ’17.  Tareque ran an outstanding 800m leg of 1:59 to give MIT a small lead heading into Gilson’s final 1600m leg. It seemed that no one wanted to push the pace and there were still five teams together with Gilson leading with two laps to go. Unfortunately, the slowed pace proved to be Tech’s undoing as Gilson ran a 4:25 leg to cross the line 3rd in the section with a time of 10:31.28.  MIT finished fourth, while Williams won from the slow section.  Following the DMR, Tech was holding on by a miniscule 3-point margin with the 4x400m and 4x800m relays to go.

The 4x400m proved to be the most exciting event of the evening and held promise for Williams’ come back.  Despite the trend of point grabbing that Williams had set, Tech was not phased by the gravity of the situation and performed at its best when it was absolutely needed.  In the final section of the 4x400m, Tech and Williams squared off against one another.  Both teams knew exactly how important the event was for their team finish and as such, MIT and Williams athletes lined the track, screaming and chanting their boys to victory.  Lee opened up with a strong first leg of 50.1 to give Tech a slight lead over Tufts, with Williams close behind in third.  In the second leg, Barnes was able to hold off both Tufts and Williams, however, Williams made up ground and the race became a tight, three-team sprint.  In the third leg, Michael Amoako ’19 relinquished the lead to Tufts, however, was able to pull away from Williams, creating great anticipation for the fourth and final leg.  At anchor, Newman left everything on the track and refused to be beat.  Newman clocked a 49.3 last leg beating Tufts and pulling away from Williams.  The Johnson Track erupted in excitement as Tech crossed the line, giving their team 10 more points in their bid for the title.

The final event of the day was the 4x800m relay.  Entering the event, MIT now held an 8-point lead over Williams and needed to stay as close to them as possible.  Following the first section, it seemed as though Tech and Williams would each have a chance to place overall, however, this year's field was exceptionally strong.  A 1:57 opening leg did little to break up the field and Tech was near the front following Tangri’s strong performance.  Rosenkranz was the second leg and went out hard in an attempt to keep Tech among the top teams, but was unable to bounce back from the 3K he ran little over an hour before.  Rosenkranz’s 2:04 left MIT in a race for 8th place with Williams fighting for a win to seal their team championship.  Although alone for much of his leg, Chris Mutty ’19 ran a season best 1:59.5 split to keep Tech in scoring position with the baton going to anchor Jarod Wilson.  Wilson ran a strong 1:55 leg to get into 7th position; meanwhile Williams’s hopes began to slip away as they began to fade back in the pack.  In the end, Williams finished 5th, while MIT finished 7th with an all-freshmen 4x800m relay team.  With all events completed, MIT held on for the victory over a tenacious Williams team with a final score of 138 to 132. 

Next week, MIT goes across the river to Boston University for the NEICAAA Championship, a meet that brings the top athletes in New England together from Division I, II and III colleges.  The Engineers focus now shifts to the NCAA Division III Championship in three weeks, using the upcoming two weekends for qualifying purposes.

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