Amid final projects, final classes and preparing for final exams, MIT Men's Track team sent a contingent of their provisional national qualifiers to Springfield College to participate in the ECAC Division III Championship. Although none of the Tech competitors improved their marks, all but one placed and competed well, giving the team a 4th place finish with just 7 competitors.
For all practical purposes, with the exception of a couple of schools, the ECAC Division III Championship is just a last chance qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championship. Nearly all colleges, with the exception of MIT and a couple of others, are finished with the exams, and are probably not going to house students and send them to the meet just for the sake of placing in the meet.
First up for MIT was the Pole Vault. Nathan Ball was looking to improve on his freshman record vault of 15-7 1/4 and make his qualification for nationals automatic. Nate started at 14-3 and had no misses through 15-3. Two of his vaults at 15-9 were over the bar but due to his not shooting straight up the pole, he knocked the bar off with his chest on the way over. Although he was leading up through 15-3, the winner eventually cleared 16-0 to pass Nate.
In the Hammer Throw, Chis Khan elected to bow out to focus on the Discus. Marios Michalakis and Greg Walker competed to try and improve on their best marks of the year. Marios had trouble staying in the circle in the finals after leading the trials with a 173-3 effort. Marios did not improve on his trials mark and finished in 2nd place. Greg was not able to handle the final week shift from two turns to a toe turn and two turns with the hope of gaining the necessary speed to throw 10 feet farther and finished with a 159-4 throw.
On day two, the High Jump led things off. Craig Mielcarz stayed home to practice feeling his 6-10 1/4 mark would get him in the NCAA meet. Brian Hoying needed to improve on his 6-8 mark. After struggling through 6-7, Brian had two great attempts at 6-9 1/2 but did not make it. Coming into outdoor track after spraining his ankle during basketball season did not give him enough time to get ready for the NCAA Championship.
Ben Schmeckpeper needed to give it one more try in the 3000 steeplechase. Realizing he was the top seed and deciding to take the lead to make things happen, Ben uncharacteristically shouldered much of the burden and he paid for it. Ben struggled after the mile mark and could only manage a 9:32.85 for 5th place.
Sean Nolan rested on his 5000 time and worked on speed in the 1500, joining Brian Anderson who wanted to improve his mark and racing comfort. A slow pace worked against both runners. Sean held on to 3rd place but only managed a 4:01.06 time. Brian paid for a difficult academic week and struggled to a 4:06.35.
Chris Khan finished the competition for MIT with the Discus throw. Chris had some good warmups, showing the 170 mark is quite possible. However, in the competition he could not finish his good throws without fouling and ended up in 5th with 148-5.
The athletes will wait and see who gets in to the NCAA meet and perhaps get one more opportunity to improve their marks and become All America honorees. The NCAA Championship will be held at Macalaster College in Minneapolis May 23-25.