MIT Splits Squad -- Tregoning, Albritten Set Varsity Records, Zak Establishes Freshman Record
February 10-11, 2017
With one week remaining before the New England Division III Championship, MIT split their squad to take advantage of the best opportunities. Many of the oval runners would compete at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational while sprinters, hurdlers and field event athletes were mostly at MIT for the Gordon Kelly Invitational.
In the first event for MIT at the BU meet, Tech's top two long jumpers, Nneoma Okonkwo '18 and Haley Strouf '18 did very well in their premier event. Okonkwo jumped 18-7 1/4 on her first attempt in the finals, while Strouf jumped 18-3 3/4 on her final attempt for a new PR that moves her to #4 on the New England Division III list and #11 on the National list.
Bailey Tregoning '19 was then up in the 800. On an inside stagger, the sophomore got out well, but did not quite guage the break as she ended up getting pushed to the back. She panicked a little, made an aggressive move to get out of a box, which was an unnecessary use of energy. From that point on she ran a flawless race, hitting the 400 in 63.1. She moved up to second as she came through the 600 in 1:36 and looked good through the 700 where her aggressive move came back to bite her. Although her final 100 was slower she still ran a 2:10.92, a new MIT record, and the second fastest time in all of Division III.
In the 400 the Engineers were represented by Hannah Chen '18. Only the fastest sections were allowed the use of starting blocks and Chen was not in one of those, so she chose to do a standing start, which is never recommended. She proceeded to false start, although it was not called. By the time she recovered the field was long gone. Leading up to the break she ran great, but being behind cost her as she was stuck behind others breaking in ahead of her, forcing her to lose momentum. She finished with a 58.21, but could have easily run 57 flat or better.
Skylar Brooks '20 was scheduled to race in the next event, the 500. For some reason she ran it more like an 800 instead of a 400. The net result was a 65 400 and non competitive from there as she finished in 1:23.80.
Over an hour later, Chen was back in the 200, along with Okonkwo and Michelle Menkiti '20. Again without the use of blocks, all but Menkiti did a three point start. Okonkwo ran what appeared to be an easy 25.74. Chen cruised to a 25.92 and Menkiti ran a 26.27. All three were indoor bests.
MIT had five runners in the Mile. In the third fastest section Tech had Maryann Gong '17, Marissa McPhillips '20 and Katie Bacher '20. The pace was fast from the start with the leaders going out in 71 at the 400. Bacher was up towards the front at 72 while Gong and McPhillips were back at 73. The pace was not slowing down going into the half-way mark. Bacher split 2:25 and Gong and McPhillips 2:26. Just as they were coming into the 800 Gong moved towards the front. The third quarter had Gong at 3:37 for a 72 quarter, but Bacher and McPhillips were beginning to feel the effects of the quick pace, falling back to 3:41 and 3:42 respectively. The final 400 was one of survival. Gong held on well with a 73 to finish in 4:50.52, getting passed at the finish by alum, Louise van den Heuvel '14. McPhillips ran a 76 for a 4:58.84 PR and Bacher closed in 79 for a 5:00.95. A few sections later Jenna Melanson '20 ran a 5:15.08 as she faded badly with an 84 final 400 after a solid 2:33 first 800. Last up was Clemmie Mitchell '18. Mitchell had her best race ever with a 5:04.91 performance. Starting in the back with a conservative 77, she methodically moved up in the pack with another 77. With over 600 meters remaining Mitchell took the lead and began pulling away as she ran a 76 and then opened up in the final quarter with a 74 to win going away.
The men were competing on day two and MIT opened up with the 800. Nathan Munet '19 was the sole runner for MIT as he was hoping to improve his time of 1:54.60. He was placed in lane six, which meant he did not know how fast others were going out. When he got around to the break it was clear he was behind. He had to slow down further as he could not easily slide in to the pack. Working his way from the back Munet spent a lot of time in lane two as he split 56.7. His third 200 was slower, but still solid at 1:25.7. He tightened up in the final 200 as the leaders pulled away. He finished reasonably well in 1:55.64.
Tom Frejowski '19 ran an indoor PR in the 400, coming through the 200 in 24.0 en route to a 50.33. Danny Newman '17 ran 50.79.
Tyndale Hannan '20 ran the 500 for the first time. He did an awkward standing start as he did not feel comfortable with his three point start, putting himself at a disadvantage. He ran the first 200 in the back of the pack, but competed well from that point on, coming through the 400 in 51.5. He passed two people in the final 100 to run 1:04.81, the third fastest in MIT history.
In the 200, Tre Albritten '18 took advantage of lane six and blasted a 21.48, the fastest time in all of Division III, breaking his own MIT record of 21.78. Newman and Frejowski came back from the 400, running 22.74 and 23.09 respectively, both season bests.
In the field events, only Alec Reduker '20 and Billy Ruschel '18 competed at BU. Reduker cleared 6-6 3/4 and Ruschel fouled out as both were getting accustomed to the softer surfaces at BU.
Simon Alford '20 competed well in the 1000, although running the first 200 too fast (29.3). He paid the price for that 200, but held on nicely, running splits of 59.2 and 2:00.4 as he went backwards in the field. His final time of 2:32.87 is the second fastest on the team this year.
In the Mile Run, Aidan Gilson '19 ran a controlled but solid race. He started out towards the back of the pack, but still came through the first quarter in 61.7. The pack slowed as he moved up, splitting 2:06 and 3:12. Gilson kicked well, but not with the same zeal he had last year, almost as if he has not used it in so long that he forgot what it was like. Nevertheless his 4:15.22 was by far his best race of the season. Next up was distance runner, Josh Derrick '20. Derrick, in his first Mile of the year, ran with a lot of heart and desire, but made a couple dozen unnecessary moves throughout the race, wasting a lot of energy. Nevertheless, he fought through splits of 63, 2:07 and 3:14 before taking the lead. However, his previous wasted moves bit him as he lost the lead in the final 100. His 4:17.96 was still a personal best and provided hopes of better things to come.
The 4x400 Relay was the final event for the Engineers. They were hoping to get a time fast enough to move them into the fast section of next week's New England Division III Championship. Frejowski led off, but just did not have it from the start. His 52.5 split but the team far from their intended mark. Albritten moved up to the 400, performing well as he went out hard in 22.9 to close the gap substantially, finishing in 49.3. Hannan ran an excellent leg, splitting 49.1 to get MIT out of last place. Newman ran anchor, but was unable to make up ground in the second 200, closing in 50.7 for a season best 3:21.71.
Back at MIT some impressive performances were happening as well. For the women, the best performance was supplied by Gabriella Zak '20 in the 600. The hurdler/pentathlete took the 600 out in a unrealistic 29.0, but held on to run 1:39.34 without competition for a new MIT freshman record.
Quite a few personal bests were established by the women. Ariela Slutsky '18 threw a PR 40-1 in the Shot Put. Folusho Jebutu '20 had personal bests in both throwing events; 41-10 1/4 in the Weight Throw and 34-5 1/4 in the Shot Put.
In the Pole Vault, Kaitlyn Sparks '20 and Kari Stromhaug '19 both cleared season bests 11-8 1/2 and Madeleine Waller '17 had a season best of 10-2 3/4.
On the men's side, Chris Washington '20 had a huge personal best of 6-7 3/4 in his first competition after suffering through a bout of Mono. Also in the High Jump, Sope Eweje '19 cleared a PR 5-10. Luke Gray '18 did his first heptathlon of the year to qualify for next weekend's championship, scoring 4036 points. Along the way, the junior cleared a PR 13-3 1/2 in the Pole Vault. Jason Villanueva '19 jumped a season best 43-8 1/2 in the Triple Jump. Scott Cameron '19 vaulted a season best 15-0.
In the DMR the distance runners showed some speed. Matt Deyo 'G led off with a 3:08.5. Ken Acquah '20 ran a 54.4 400 leg. Brian Bates '20 started out with a 28.3 first 200 and finished with a 2:02.6 leg. Dennis Maloney '19 was a bit too excited, leading off with a 58.9, but settled in to run an impressive 4:15.1 to bring the team home in 10:20.75.
Next week, both the men and women attempt to defend their New England Division III titles. The men, competing at Tufts, are going for their fifth consecutive title while the women will be trying for their third in a row at home.
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