Maloney Shatters 3K Record

February 26, 2017

The original plan was to rest the distance runners until Nationals and not worry about trying to qualify them in more events.  Dennis Maloney '19 with the third fastest time in NCAA Division III in the 5K, was not among those who would go to Nationals in the 3K.  So, when Maloney looked totally recovered in Tuesday's workout after his crushing 5K win in 14:33 last Saturday, the plan was developed to take advantage of a stellar field at the Boston University Last Chance Qualifier and enter him in the 3K.

Maloney, who had run 8:29.20 earlier in the year, needed an 8:15 or so to qualify because of the nearly six second penalty that he would incur from the banked track.  The plan was to go for 4:22 mile pace at the slowest.  While the Mile and 5K fields were Olympic caliber, the 3K was just extremely qualified.  Fortunately, the pace turned out to be exactly what Maloney wanted.

Every 400 was between 65-66 seconds, hitting the 1600 in 4:22 and continuing with that pace.  With 600 to go it appeared Maloney was ready to kick it in and possibly win the race, but he held back until the final 200 where he dropped a high 31 to move into third, finishing in 8:11.60, a new MIT record and the third fastest time in Division III despite the correction to 8:17.31.

 

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