Matthew Kearney ’23 Breaks School Record at BU Season Opener

 

December 4, 2021

On Saturday, December 4th, MIT Track and Field sent two of it’s student-athletes to the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener to compete in the 5,000m. After an extraordinary cross country season, Sam Acquaviva ’23 and Matthew Kearney ’23 decided that they would continue training after the national cross country meet in order to take a shot at running a fast 5K at the BU season Opener. The logic is that with their level of fitness following the cross country season, they would both have a strong chance at running a NCAA DIII Championship qualifying performance at the meet if they delayed their break from running an extra two weeks. Over the past 5 years, it has taken a performance around 14:30 (banked track) or 14:40 (flat track) to be in the top-20 nationally and qualify for the meet. Given the new technology in spikes and spectacular performances at the National meet from the entire Division III field, it will likely take much faster than that to qualify for the national meet this year.

Boston University is known for its very fast indoor track facility and deeply competitive meets and this one may have been the deepest in years. Testament to that depth, Sam and Matthew were seeded in the fourth and fifth sections of the 5000m respectively, ordered fast to slow. Given the level of fitness each had demonstrated over the previous month, there was a high-level of confidence that the primary goal of the day, qualifying for the national meet, would be accomplished.

For Sam’s race, he was seeded so that he would be placed in a heat that would truly test his limits. Sam has been someone who would previously shy away from a fierce pace because he would be afraid of blowing-up. It was a sign of significant maturity that Sam came to the conclusion that he wanted to be put in a heat that would really push him. This proved to be an error in coaching. Sam’s heat ended up containing runners in the 14:05 – 14:20 range in terms of estimated fitness. This was a race that Sam could be competitive with “on paper”, but not likely win. The rabbits were set to run exactly 4:30 for the first 1600m and Sam was instructed to slip to the back of the field and “ride the train” per se. To his credit, Sam did exactly that and came through the 1600m at 4:33. Sam maintained his position at the back of the field and continued to run fairly even splits, reaching the 3200 in 9:10. It was at this point that things started to go south. As Sam was towards the back of the field, a gap that opened between him and the next runner ahead quickly turned into a gulf. The last mile, Sam was running in no-man’s-land, and struggled to a 14:42.46 finishing time. While disappointing for Sam, there are days that it is worth taking that level of risk and “shooting your shot”, and this was one of those days. It is a sign of great things to come when a disappointing performance is still nearly a PR.

Matt was in the heat immediately following Sam’s. This heat would not contain a pacer, but contained a highly completive field of individuals seeded at 14:20 – 14:35. Like Sam, Matt was instructed to go towards the back of the field at a sensible pace, and spend most of the race moving forward, generating positive momentum. Matt did exactly what was asked, and ran a sensible 4:41 first 1600m. Matt ran a brilliant next 1600m in 4:35 during which he efficiently moved from 22nd to eighth place. At the start of the final mile, Matt found himself about 3 seconds off of a familiar competitor from the cross country season, Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos of Williams College. With a rival from Williams in sight, Matt spent the next 1200 meters clawing Tuohy-Gaydos down before passing and gapping him with 400m left. Only in the last 200m did Matt show any signs of slowing. While he ended up being passed before the line by Tuohy-Gaydos, Matt finished in a time of 14:23.48, securing an indoor 5000m school record. While Frank Richardson ’77 has a 3-mile best performance (13:49) that converts to a slightly faster time, Matt’s performance exceeds Matt Deyo’s ‘16 14:26.55 as the fastest indoor 5,000m performance in school history. This performance also has a very strong chance at holding up as a national’s qualifier. Mission accomplished.

 

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