May 23-25, 2002

Even though nine different athletes on the MIT Men's Track and Field team qualified provisionally, only four actually were accepted into the NCAA Championship field. Of the four, only one was favored to score, but two came through, scoring 5 total points and finishing in a tie for 47th place.

As usual, the MIT team was more of a dual meet team, as indicated by their 7th national ranking in the power rankings, which give a cumulative score based on the top two performers per event. The young team, no seniors among the nine provisional qualifiers, was successful to a point, but not quite good enough to make a strong showing at the NCAA Championship.

Craig Mielcarz, for the second year in succession, led the team with the top score, a fifth place in the High Jump. Craig made first attempts at 6'5, 6'7 and 6'9 to put himself in a strong position to repeat his 2nd place performance from 2001. However, even though his final two attempts were excellent and near clearances, he failed to clear 6'11. Four made 6'11 and two of them made 7'1 to highlight the quality of Division III.

Chris Khan, qualified in both the Hammer and Discus, competed in the Hammer first. He was seeded fourth entering the competition with a throw of 180'. In the trials he was only able to get off a throw of 172-7 to enter the finals in 8th position. He improved his mark to 176, which temporarily moved him into 7th, but was passed back to end up in 8th. In the Discus, Chris was not able to throw beyond 154-5 in the trials, which missed finals by one performer. His second throw, a toe foul, would have been over 160'.

Brian Anderson debuted in his first individual effort at nationals and did well to make finals with a 3:56.17. In the finals, Brian ran well, taking the lead after 600 meters and holding it until 400 were left, but he could not hold on and dropped to 11th as the leaders ran 57 seconds for the final 400.

Nathan Ball had a fantastic freshman season, but was not able to put the icing on the cake at nationals. Opening at 14-7, a comfortable height for him, the strong tailwind and his speed from rested legs caused him to blow through the poles he was accustomed to. Not feeling comfortable going to a heavier pole, he was unable to manage the speed and failed to clear the opening height.

With all qualifiers returning next year, along with a couple of very talented freshman, MIT hopes to make a stronger showing at next year's championship at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York.