MIT Has Strong Performances at Terrier Invitational Despite Strategic Errors

January 24-25, 2020

The first of two marathon meets at Boston University, the John Thomas Terrier Invitational was held this weekend.  With over 3,000 entries, and impressive fields led by the likes of Lolo Jones (60HH) and Paul Tanui (5K) the 10 hour days of competition promised many thrilling moments.  Day one was for the women, with the exception of the Men's Elite 5K (13:15 winning time) and DMR. The men were competing on day two.

MIT brought a handful of runners to take advantage of arguably the fastest indoor track in the world.  The NCAA corrects for any track over 200 meters in size, or any banked track.  The penalty is uniform regardless of the oversize or the degree of the bank.  Most banked tracks are not worth the penalty, but the BU track is worth it, hence the willingness for so many to enter at $30 per entry.

Margaret Trautner '20 got things started for the Engineers, racing the 800.  Despite having the flu early in the week, the senior seemed no worse for it.  Seeded the slowest in her section, she came through the 200 in last, splitting 32.5.  She slowly moved up in the field, earning second in her section with a fine early season time of 2:13.75.  Also in the 800 for Tech were Skyler Brooks '20 and Nina Rhone '23.  Brooks raced well with the exception of slowing down too much in the middle laps.  She finished tough in a personal best of 2:18.35. Rhone did not respond to opportunities that were presented to her during the race, but still ran 2:20.76 for a season best.

In the 400, Sarah Ishamuddin '21 took advantage of the banked track to lower her season best to 60.42. She hit the first split in 27.7, but fell off after a few changes in momentum.

Katie Williams '21 was in a fast section of the 1,000 and took advantage of that opportunity even though she did not mix it up with the field.  She started out in the back and basically did her own thing, ignoring the competition, but using them as a gauge, splitting 33.9, 69.6 and 1:45.8.  She finished pretty strong to run 2:57.06.  Katie Bacher '20 was in the 1,000 for her season debut, coming back from a cross country injury.  In the first lap the senior fell hard when she tried to avoid the outside alley breaking in.  She jumped up quickly, but over-reacted, putting too much energy into getting back into the race.  With her conditioning still lacking, she faded at the end, running 3:08.47.

The Mile Run was up and Marissa McPhillips '20 was hoping for a strong performance after her 5:07 flat track effort last week.  The pace was initially slow, splitting 77 for the first quarter.  The slow pace caused a lot of contact, nearly taking McPhillips out at one point.  The pace picked up, spreading out the field as McPhillips split 2:31.  As the pack was approaching the three quarter mark, she suddenly fell off, as she got in her own head and lost focus of the race, although she split 3:47.1.  She completely went out the back after that, finishing in 5:17.72.

Einat Gavish '22 was up in the 3K.  The pace was fine and the sophomore was running a smart race, splitting the 1600 in 5:27.  When the opportunity was there to go with the leaders, Gavish thought instead of acted, and did not go with them.  Running in limbo, she slowed and the field she had run away from, came back and passed her.  Instead of 82's, she was running 86's.  She fought back a little with each group that caught up to her, but still only ran 10:30.06.  If she can focus and race in the second half like she did in the first half she will put together a great race.

Katie Collins '21 and Jenna Melanson '20 were in the 5K, the last event of the day for the women.  Both were in the fast section, but expecting very different paces.  Collins was looking for a pace closer to 5:25 per 1600 while Melanson was hoping for a 5:35 pace.  Collins was right on pace from the start, but Melanson was out a little too fast in 82 and then 80 for the first two quarters.  Collins came through the 1600 in 5:26 and Melanson in 5:30.  Collins was picking off runners as she went, not having anyone to pace with.  Melanson had a pacer in MIT volunteer assistant, Laura Paulsen, and used that to stay on pace through a 5:36 second 1600.  Collins never deviated off pace, running 5:27 for the second 1600 and 5:30 for  the third 1600.  Melanson fell off the pace with 1400 to go, finishing in 17:34.55.  Collins ran a superb time of 17:05.09.

Albert Menio '20 was the only field event performer at the meet for MIT.  Menio was in the 35 lb. Weight Throw and had his best throw on his first effort, placing ninth with a 54-7 1/4 performance.

The first runner for the men was Ellery Rajagopal '21 in the 800. The race set up nicely as the pace was solid at 27 for the first 200 with Rajagopal in the top third at 27.9. The pace slowed, but not badly, allowing Rajagopal to relax. During the third lap he moved up, positioning himself to take control of the race as they hit the 600 mark in 1:28.5.  He took the lead before the turn and pulled away to win in a big personal best of 1:56.60.

Benton Wilson '21 and Nisarg Dharia '23 were representing MIT in the 400.  Wilson raced first, again getting a favored lane in lane 5.  He got out well in 22.5, but was still in last. He made a move to pass, but it was too late, so he had to cut momentum and tuck back in.  Losing momentum at that part of a 400 generally ends your race, and this was no exception. For some reason he was taking up too much time in lane two and three during the second 200. Although Wilson ran 49.66, he is capable of much faster.  Dharia got out very well and earned the break out of lane 2, but then he did not pay attention to his outside, and let someone get the edge on him going into the turn.  Again, this forced Dharia to cut momentum.  Worse, he hugged the rail on the backstretch, and again did not pay attention to his outside, getting boxed in.  This again forced him to cut momentum, ending any hope of a fast time.  He finished in 51.33.

Nick Duchatellier '22 was racing the 500, where the coaching staff was trying to determine if the 400 or 600 was his best race. This meet did not have the 600, which tends to be more of a Division III event. He went out very fast although being in a fast section still had him next to last throughout the race.  He split 23.0 and 49.2 en route to a 1:06.12 PR.  Perhaps proving the 400 might be his best bet.

In the 1000, Matt Schofield '22 ran an excellent time of 2:31.47, but how he did it was far from excellent.  Not accustomed to large, condensed fields, the sophomore made numerous poor decisions with regard to moving up and staying off the rail.  The lack of lane awareness caused him to change momentum quite a few times. However, with 250 to go, Schofield blasted into second, running a 29 on top of his 2:02 to finish second in his section.

A few hours later, Sam Acquaviva '23 and Lowell Hensgen '23 did battle in the 3K.  The pace of the leaders worked out well as they ran 69 pace through the first 1600 as Hensgen was in third and Acquaviva in fifth, splitting 4:36 and 4:37 respectively.  Hensgen took the lead after 2K, but did nothing with it, encouraging others to move up. In the final lap Acquaviva stormed to the front, pulling away to win in 8:35.30.  Hensgen pulled into second on the backstretch and held it to the finish in 8:36.78.  This was a nice 1-2 for the freshmen.

In the final event of the weekend, the 5K, Andrew Mah '22 was unfortunately seeded as the top seed in section three, where it would have been a much more competitive situation for him to have been in Section two.  Zach Johnson '22 was also in Section three.  Mah wanted 70's, but what he got was 71's.  After a 72 at the 2K, Mah took the lead.  Johnson was running 72's, which was probably a little too ambitious at this time of  the season.  Mah opened up a huge gap, coming through 3200 in 9:24 and looking strong.  Johnson looked solid at 9:37.  For both of them, the wheels sort of came off the bus after that.  Mah was having trouble with his breathing, slowing to a 4:55 third mile as the leaders caught him.  Johnson slowed to a 5:10 after the fatigue hit him.  Mah finished in 14:58.17 while Johnson ran 15:26.39.  Both times were respectable, but they can run much faster under the right conditions, and certainly later in the season.

Next week, many of the distance runners will take the weekend off. Of those competing, a few will go to the NEICAAA Championship at the Reggie Lewis Center, while others will compete at Tufts University in the Branwyn Smith-King Invitational.

RETURN TO INDOOR