Men Claim 13 Event Wins, Women 10 as Both Teams Take Away Victories Over Bates and Colby
January 11, 2020
Going into the Bates College, Colby College, MIT Tri Meet hosted by Bates, MIT's Track & Field team had not practiced together since December 14 due to an exam week and two weeks away for the holiday season. There was quite a bit of rust on the team and it certainly showed. However, despite this, and the many who did not compete due to not being ready as they return from injury, the team competed very well with few exceptions.
The men won 13 of 19 events and did not participate in one where they have the defending national champion - the Triple Jump, due to the shortened runway at this facility. Scoring 5-3-2-1 for individual events and 5-3-0 for relays, Tech also claimed 11 second places as they racked up 110 points to 51 for Bates and 13 for Colby.
The women for MIT were a little thinner in numbers, but in addition to 10 event victories, they were able to take away seven second places as they totaled 86 points, outscoring Bates with 60 and Colby with 35 points.
Going into the meet with the plan of not over challenging any of their athletes (no one tripled), and moving a few runners into events that were not their best, many athletes not accustomed to being in the position, won events and or scored many of MIT's point total.
The men began with the Weight Throw and High Jump for the first events of the meet. Alec Reduker '20 had a little problem clearing, and his jumps were certainly not pretty, but as the event went on, he got better. He cleared 6-8 3/4 and just barely missed 6-11 1/2 as he won the event and teammate Chris Washington '20 took second place at 6-4 3/4, narrowly missing 6-8 3/4.
Albert Menio '20 set a personal best in placing second in the Weight Throw, throwing 54-2 1/2. Placing third, Ryan Nall '22 also threw a PR, his being 51-8 1/2.
Next up was the Long Jump and the Pole Vault. Yorai Shaoul '21, the national runner-up last outdoor season, jumped 22-9 3/4 to win the event as he dusted some of the rust off. MIT did not jump their national third place finisher, Reduker, but they did jump Kenneth Wei '23, who took third place with a jump of 22-1 1/2. Steven Marquez '23 added a fourth at 20-5 3/4.
Similar to the Long Jump, the Pole Vaulters employed a longer approach than they did in the Alumni Meet, and this led to improved heights. Bobby Upton '20 won with a jump of 14-7 1/4. Brian Sperry '23 took second place at 14-1 1/4 and Max Hardy claimed third, also with a vault of 14-1 1/4.
The final field events were the Shot Put and the Triple Jump. MIT may have the best triple jump squad in all of Division III, but elected not to compete any of them due to the shortened approach. However, in the Shot Put, despite the loss of Will Woltmann '22 due to torn ligaments in his toe in the final football game of the season, placed 1-2-3. Nate Basinger '22 won with a personal best of 46-11 1/2. Henry Sobieszczyk '23 placed second with a put of 44-2 3/4 and Menio claimed third at 43-9 3/4.
Out of a possible 55 points in the five field events they participated in, the Engineers netted 41. On the track there was more of the same. The only running events not won by MIT were the 1,000 Meter and 4x800 Relay, in which MIT took second in both.
Wei got things started with a new Freshman Record in the 60 Meter High Hurdles, running 8.32 for the victory. In the sprint equivalent, McKinley Polen '23 and Benton Wilson '21 went 1-2 in the 60 Meter Dash. Polen ran 7.14 and Wilson ran 7.22. In the Trials, Wilson ran 7.15, but had a poor start in the Final.
The order was reversed in the 200. Wilson got out well and showed why he is the defending New England Division III Champion in the 200, winning easily in 22.79. Polen finished third with a 23.73 performance.
Nisarg Dharia '23 claimed his first victory, running 52.50 in the 400 after an aggressive 24.1 first 200 left him a bit gassed in the final 100. Andrew Shao '22 supported that effort with a second place 53.41.
In the 600, Reed Foster '22 and Nick Duchatellier '22 placed first and second. Duchatellier battled it out with a Bates runner for much of the race while Foster ran a more even paced race. In the final 100, Foster came from way back to move from third to first, running 1:25.25. Duchatellier ran 1:25.56.
Matt Schofield '22 passed Ellery Rajagopal '21, who had done much of the work in the early stages of the 800, right before the finish line to claim first place. Rajagopal took control after a pedestrian 31 first 200. He ran 30's for the next two 200's, finishing with a 29 to run 2:00.67. Schofield nipped his teammate at the line with a 2:00.64.
After placing first and second in the Mile Run, running a slow but steady pace to run 4:29.21 and 4:29.59 respectively, Andrew Mah '22 and Lowell Hensgen '23 returned to race the 1,000. The pace was solid at 31 seconds each 200, but Mah fell off in the final 200, finishing second in 2:36.94. Hensgen fell off after 600 meters, finishing in fourth n 2:39.76. Both are obviously more at home in the distance events.
In the 3K, Finn Jacobson-Schulte '21 was unable to set a solid pace early, and fell off the pace after the first mile. Sam Acquaviva '23 was hanging in the middle of the field until the mile mark. He moved to the lead after a very slow 4:55 and proceeded to run 72, 70, 66 and 33 for the final 1,400 meters to easily win in 8:56.10.
The 4x400 Relay was one of the more exciting races of the day. Dharia gave Shao the lead after a 52.9 lead-off leg. Shao fell behind despite a 52.0 split. Foster ran 52.9 to put Duchatellier even-up for the anchor leg. Duchatellier took the lead in the final 100, running 51.4 to bring home the victory in 3:29.46.
The final event of the day, the 4x800 Relay was not an event won by MIT. Schofield led off, but instead of setting his teammates up properly with his best effort, he raced his opponent. The end result, his 2:04.6, hurt the end product. Josh Derrick '20, returning from the Mile Run, tried to make up ground too quickly, running 29.2 and 60.1, which is a bit fast for this pure distance runner. He paid for it, running 2:09. Zach Johnson '22 made the exact same mistake and paid similarly, finishing in 2:08. Rajagopal anchored, and although he went out too fast in 27.9, he did finish pretty well in 2:01 to close the gap a bit.
While the women's meet was a bit more competitive, it was primarily the sprints and hurdles where MIT got hurt the most as they only scored three points total in the 60, 200, 60HH and 4x400 events.
The throwers got things started with a 1-2-4 finish in the Weight Throw. Tema Nwana '21 had a huge personal best in winning the event with a throw of 48-4 1/2. Folusho Jebutu '20 added a second with a throw of 44-7. In the Shot Put, they again went 1-2-4. This time Lily Papalia '22 led the way with a 36-0 3/4 performance. Jebutu again earned second with a 34-9 put.
In the vertical events, Jacqueline Ahrens '21 won the Pole Vault, clearing 10-8 and Lila Wine '21 claimed third with a 10-2 effort. While Margaret Redfield '21 did not win the High Jump, she did clear 5-5 1/4 for second place.
Veronica Perdomo '23 and Yilinn Yang '22 placed first and second in the Long Jump, jumping 16-8 3/4 and 16-8 1/2 respectively. All together, MIT earned 41 out of a possible 66 field event points.
Tech dominated the middle-distance and distance events, winning the 800, 1000, Mile and 3K. In the Mile Run, Katie Collins '21 took the lead early and never relinquished it, running a comfortable, even paced 5:13.46. Jenna Melanson '20, running her first race since last outdoor season, placed second in 5:14.09.
Margaret Trautner '20 and Marissa McPhillips '20 knocked some rust off in the 800, taking it out from the start and even splitting a 2:19. Trautner won in 2:19.03 and McPhillips took second in 2:19.32.
Katie Williams '21 came back from an unsuccessful Mile to win the 1000. The initial pace was pretty slow, coming through the 800 in 2:35, but her 33 final 200 clinched the victory in 3:08.34.
In the 3K, Alana Chandler '22 took over the pace when the second 400 slowed to 88 pace. She ran 86 pace initially and continued to pick it up, running 10:39.04 for the victory.
Nina Rhone '23 won her first collegiate race, taking the 600 in 1:42.65. Skylar Brooks '21 placed fourth by winning the first section in 1:43.57.
Claire Melvin '22 dominated the 400 in 61.76. She won the break and never looked back.
The Engineer's final victory came in the 4x800 Relay. Distance runners Collins and Einat Gavish '22 ran the first two legs, dying pretty badly and putting MIT in a pretty big hole. McPhillips went out a bit too fast in 32, put still held on for a 2:21.7 as she caught the leaders at the hand-off. Trautner made short work of the anchor leg, pulling away for the 9:41.13 victory.
Next week MIT travels to Kingston, Rhode Island to compete in the Sorlein Invitational. The competing teams will be URI, UMass Amherst, Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, Assumption, Stonehill and Quinipiac.
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