March 12, 1999
Ada, Ohio
MIT's sole representative at the NCAA Division III Championships was Mark Strauss '01, racing in the 5000 meters. Four other runners on the Men's team had qualified provisionally, but none were selected to round out the 11-13 man fields.
Mark's run was scheduled for 7:05 on Friday night, which tends to fit well with the Tech competitors and their odd sleeping schedules. Having run two great races in back to back weeks, there was hope for an All-American performance.
The pace began slowly with a 73 second first quarter. The next quarter was 71 and stayed that way. Mark moved up to the front once the pace settled at the 3/4 mile mark. However, he seemed to fall asleep and drift to the back during the next quarter. He gradually drifted a little behind the group of runners as he continued his 73 second quarters while the leaders were running 71s. By the 1 3/4 mark, Strauss seemed to give up as his pace suddenly fell to 86 seconds per quarter. The last mile was 5:46 as Strauss seemed totally used up, finishing in 16:18, far off his varsity record of 14:43, set two weeks ago.
The Men's team will be going to California March 19-28 to compete in the Santa Barbara Relays on March 20, and the UCSD Invitational on March 27.