In Every Sense of The Word, This NED3 Win Was a Team Effort
February 17-18, 2017
Going into the New England Division III Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship, despite the 37 entered teams, it was clear it was going to be a dual meet between MIT and Williams College with regard to which team would outlast the other and come away with the championship. Williams entered the meet 11 point favorites based on the seeds, but MIT was the two-time defending champion and that defense would be on their home track.
There are not two teams anywhere that bring more support for their teammates than MIT and Williams. That support was loud and clear throughout the two day meet, but definitely rose to a deafening level in the final three events.
The meet began on Friday with the Pentathlon. Natalie Alper '17, competing after being out a little over a week with a foot injury, was charged with trying to do battle in the Pent. with the two Williams competitors. Scoring a personal best 3142 points, she earned fifth place with marks of 10.15 in the 60HH, 5-3 1/4 in the High Jump, 26-11 1/2 in the Shot Put, 16-6 in the Long Jump and a 2:27 victory in the 800. Williams earned a third place, but was seeded to win. While MIT was now down by a score of six to four using the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring format, they were up plus three on the expected teams scores.
Saturday began with the Long Jump, Pole Vault and Weight Throw, events where MIT was favored to do well. Nneoma Okonkwo '18 took her first jump and won the Long Jump at 18-8 even with her take-off behind the board. Haley Strouf '18 pulled out an 18-2 1/4 leap on her final attempt to earn a three way tie for second, but ended up fourth with the tie-breaker. Williams College earned second and third, so they earned one more point and MIT one less point than seeded.
In the Weight Throw, Ariela Slutsky '18 and Jackie Vahey '17 were representing the Engineers. Both performed well, throwing 55-7 1/4 and 52-1 1/2 respectively, earning third and fourth, which was exactly how they were seeded. The thrower from Williams did really well, earning eighth place and a point they were not expected to get.
The Pole Vault has been MIT's answer whenever points are needed as long as Patrick Barragan has been coaching, and this was no different. Kaitlyn Sparks '20, not only broke the freshman record held by Cimmy Virdi '16 with a clear of 12-1 1/2, but led four of her teammates to All New England status with her second place finish. Kari Stromhaug '19 took fourth at 11-7 3/4 and Kathleen Brandes '19 claimed fifth at the same height. Makenzie Patarino '19 and Jen Tylock '17 tied for sixth at 11-1 3/4, giving MIT 22 points when they had been seeded to get 15. Williams earned one less point than expected as their vaulter finished eighth. The score after these first four events was MIT 52, Williams 22.
While those events were finishing up, the running events were getting started. The DMR was first and Tech was intent on getting the 10 points for the win. With a number of middle-distance runners injured, the burden to carry the load was falling to a select few. Fresh off of her 5:04 mile last week, Clemmie Mitchell '18 would lead off with the 1200. Jane Reed '20 would run the 400, Bailey Tregoning '19 the 800 and Katie Bacher '20 the 1600 anchor. All would be returning in one or two more events, but for now were only focused on the task at hand. Mitchell got the job done, working her way up through the pack, gradually picking up the pace as she went. Her first quarter was the planned 75. She then picked up the pace to split 2:29 as she started to run away with the lead to hand-off in 3:41.9. Reed took the baton and extended the lead with an aggressive and well run 60.0. Tregoning, expected to win the open 800 later in the meet as well as a key relay leg in the final event, the 4x800, was instructed to just run 2:20. She ran 2:19.4, but not quite the way it was planned, leading off with a 31 first lap despite thinking she was holding back. After a 65 400 she got the message to slow down, which she did. Bacher, also coming back in two events (1000 and 4x800) was trying to run just fast enough to secure the victory. Running mid-77 second quarters, Bacher maintained her lead with her 5:10 cruise to victory. MIT was seeded to win and Williams to get fourth. However, the Ephs earned third place, making the score 62 to 28.
The 5K was next and it was Williams turn to do some damage. They were seeded for 22 points and earned second, third and fifth for 19 points. Mary Eccles '18 placed fourth and Leandra Zimmermann '19 eighth for six points. MIT had been seeded to score nine, so both teams scored three less than expected.
The Triple Jump and High Jump were getting going on the infield, two more events where Williams was seeded to do very well. Jasmine Jin '20 not only made the final in the Triple Jump, but placed an unexpected seventh to earn two big points for MIT. Williams, seeded for 14, earned 16, gaining big points on Tech, but staying even with MIT in regard to expected score. Alper returned in the High Jump, but could only manage 5-1 1/4 for ninth place, one place out of the scoring. Williams was seeded for 22 and got all of them, making the cumulative score 70 for MIT and 85 for Williams.
The event that may have had the largest effect on the meet was the 4x200 Relay. Williams, seeded to place second, was actually in first with twenty meters to go. As Southern Maine was passing them, the Williams runner leaned too much to try and secure the victory, and fell before she could get to the line. By the time she got up it was too late and she did not finish. Those were eight points they could not afford to lose. MIT did not enter a team.
Maryann Gong '17 took the lead in the Mile Run a bit too soon, putting a target on her back as she was unable to run away from the field. Despite a final 400 of 70, she lost the race at the line, 4:59.01 to 4:59.40. Marissa McPhillips '20, who suffered from what seemed like Foster's Collapse in cross country, again had the issue at the end of the Mile, still managing to finish in seventh for two points. While MIT scored five less than they were seeded, Williams earned all six of those they were expected to score.
Hannah Chen '18 was not seeded to even make the final in the 60HH, much less score. The junior surprised all by making it to the final and then placing seventh in 9.31. Williams, seeded to place seventh, did not score. Slowly MIT was creeping back. The score was now MIT 82, Williams 91.
Chen was back on the line in the very next event, the 400. She had done this double last year as well, and fortunately there were four sections of which she was in the last, giving her a little more recovery. Although she ran the first 200 very slow and was in last, she moved up in the final 200 to place fifth in 59.59. While Chen scored one more point than she was seeded, Williams earned four more points than they were seeded as their runner placed second.
With her success last week in the 600, Gabriella Zak '20 was seeded sixth. This was an area where the talented freshman could move up in the scoring. However, being a novice and not controlling her excitement, she went out too fast, taking the lead through the first 200 in 29.2. In the final 200 she faded badly to seventh place in 1:39.56. Williams earned six points, four less than expected.
Back on the infield, Ariela Slutsky came through big in the Shot Put. The junior was seeded eighth, but threw 40-3 to place fourth, giving her team five big points. The score was now Williams 105, MIT 92.
The 60 Meter Dash, an event in which the Engineers were seeded to score eight, turned into 12 as Okonkwo delivered a 7.79 PR and new MIT record, which puts her at 10th on the NCAA list to go along with her number two ranking in the Long Jump. Michelle Menkiti '20 showed she is a championship competitor as she went from being the ninth seed to placing fifth in a new MIT freshman record of 7.96. Williams, seeded to place third and eighth only got the third.
Tregoning was back up on in the 800 and it was time to see how much the first 800 took out of her. The sophomore listened well, not taking the lead until the final 200. The pace was solid at 67 for the 400 and 1:41 for the 600, but Tregoning dropped a 33 final 200 to finish first in 2:14.36 and looked as though there was more in the tank. Williams had no one entered in the event, so MIT was finally back in the lead 114 to 111 for Williams.
It was now Bacher's turn to show what she had left after anchoring the DMR. The freshman ran perhaps the best race of her young career. She slid up to second early in the race and battled Teaford of Williams throughout the final lap, just missing the victory at the line 2:57.16 to 2:57.22. McPhillips was also entered in the 1000 for MIT, but was still getting attention from the athletic trainers and was not yet cleared to race. The score was now a one point difference, 122 for Tech and 121 for Williams.
The 200 held a lot of potential for MIT. Seeded to score five, Okonkwo, Chen and Menkiti could have done some real damage, but it was not to be. Menkiti came through with a seventh place out of the third fastest section, but that was all MIT was able to score. Williams also seeded to score five, only scored three, but that was enough to tie up the score with only three events to go.
The 3K held big promise for MIT as Maryann Gong would be coming back from the Mile earlier and a bevy of Tech runners were in the field, although none were seeded to score. Williams was also seeded to score well, but both of their runners were doubling back as well. Gong ran the perfect race, sitting behind the leader regardless of the pace. Jessica Wilson '17 of Bates tried to shake her by throwing in a couple of 79 second quarters and then a 78, but Gong was comfortable and determined. With a lap to go Gong dropped a 33 final 200 to run away with the victory in 9:55.99. No other MIT runners scored and Williams only managed a fourth place for five points. With only the 4x400 and 4x800 Relays to go MIT would be up five points.
The dilemma for MIT was not enough bodies, at least fresh bodies. Fortunately, McPhillips was cleared to race, and she felt pretty good, although she was obviously nervous she might collapse again when her team needed her most, she was determined to get the job done. Assuming Williams had more than enough capable runners, MIT wanted to try and put together the two best teams possible. The 4x400 would be Chen, Reed, Alper and Zak and the 4x800 McPhillips, Bacher, Gong and Tregoning. If the wheels did not fall off MIT had a good chance of securing the victory. The noise produced by the MIT team was there to propel the most fatigued runner to victory.
Running in the second fastest section, MIT knew they needed to win that section. Chen got out better than she did in the open 400, but did not finish as well, splitting 61.6. Reed, hoping for another 60.0, raced well, but only split 61.8. Alper picked up the slack and delivered an unexpected 60.6. Zak went out hard in 27.6 and had the lead but lost it at the line despite a strong 58.8. Their 4:02.77 was a season best for MIT. Now Tech had to wait to see what would happen in the fast section. Bates and Williams battled each other for all four legs of the relay with Bates prevailing. The other teams were so far back that MIT was able to secure fourth place overall. The score was now MIT 139, Williams 137, meaning MIT only had to beat Williams in the 4x800 and the championship was theirs.
McPhillips led off, taking the lead half-way through to knock out a 2:20.7 split. Bacher, running her third event of the day, ran alone, but again hammered out a consistent pace to split 2:22.1, maintaining the lead. Williams was unable to keep up and was falling back during the second leg. Gong took over after already having put in over 4600 meters and just having finished the 3K about 25 minutes earlier. She hammered out a steady pace to expand the lead with a 2:21.8 split. Tregoning took over, having never tripled before and very concerned about her ability to stay on her feet. However, she trusted her coaching. Her initial 200, again trying to run a controlled pace, was a 31. She intentionally slowed, but only to a 65 400. The lead was huge and Tregoning looked solid. She obviously tired, but not much, cruising in with a 2:15.7 for a 9:20.67 performance. MIT won the event by 11 seconds, giving them a 149 to 140 team victory, their third in three years.
With two weekends to go before the NCAA Championship, MIT will be resting most of their athletes who have qualified for Nationals and trying to get a final performance or two to make the field for those who are close. The remainder of the team will begin preparation for the Outdoor season.
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