Men's Track Qualifies 2 More for NCAAs, Bringing Total to 10
Place 2nd at ECACs With Skeleton Squad
May 15-16, 2003
At this week's ECAC Division III Championship hosted by MIT, essentially a last chance qualifier for next week's NCAA Division III Championship, Tech athletes dominated in events they were entered, scoring 66.5 points to place 2nd in the meet even though they were not trying to score points.
While many schools bring all qualifiers to this meet, MIT, with rare exception, only compete those who have an opportunity to either qualify for the NCAA Championship or improve an already existing qualifying mark. In part, this philosophy comes from not wanting to water down a championship just because the standards are easy, and the fact that the MIT athletes are getting ready for final exams.
With this in mind, the Engineers went to work to try and make good on their last chance of the 2003 outdoor season. The first event for MIT was the Discus. Chris Khan, had a pretty good day, finishing 2nd with a throw of 160-05 although he did not improve his mark. Khan has already qualified provisionally for nationals with a mark of 163-2. Greg Walker improved for the third week in succession, finishing 4th with a throw of 152-11, not quite good enough for the NCAAs.
The only other event for MIT on the 1st was the 10K. Sean Nolan, still dealing with an injury from the indoor season, that affects how he runs and the muscles he uses, gave it one more effort. Using different muscles and technique have prevented Nolan from running fast since his 31:06 early in the season. Nolan managed to place 3rd in 31:27.63, not good enough to improve his provisionally qualifying time, most likely ending his season.
On Friday, MIT opened things up with the Hammer, Tech's premier event. This time, Khan won easily, throwing 188-6, not improvement on his 195-11 that is currently ranked 2nd in the nation for division III. Marios Michalakis, previously qualified provisionally with a throw of 170-10, threw 168-8 to place 6th. David Saylor added his name to the national list with a throw of 166-9, a personal best leading to an 8th place finish. Walker placed 9th with throw of 159-4.
Zach Traina, provisionally qualified in the 200 meter dash with a 21.73, was competing to try and improve his mark in both the 100 and 200. Traina was also hoping to get rid of a quirk of tightening up and leaning back that he developed in the last two weeks. He was not able to fix it enough as he was only able to run 11.23 and 22.34.
Ben Schmeckpeper was out to prove to his coach and himself that he could hurdle well enough to warrant continuing to run the steeplechase in years to come. Typically losing an estimated 20-30 seconds per race due to poor hurdling form and poor preparation, Schmeckpeper knew he needed to run flawless to run under 9:15 and realistically have an opportunity to run at nationals. Running poorly in the early stages, Schmeckpeper finally got the hang of it, taking the lead halfway through the race. Finishing hard, Schmeckpeper was able to run a PR of 9:22.87 and qualify provisionally for the NCAAs, but it won't be good enough to get selected.
The Shot Put was next on the schedule. Uzoma Orji, ranked 15th in the country with a 53-1 1/2 throw, wanted to improve his chances and maybe even get the varsity record. Khan, just starting to appreciate the shot put and improving significantly each week, wanted to try and see what he could do. Orji, threw a 5" personal best to improve to 53-6 1/2 and place 2nd. Khan did throw another personal best, this time 48-8 to place 7th, but not yet enough to qualify for nationals.
Chris Peterson, hoping to get the 400IH freshman record and maybe qualify for nationals, did not move after the 1st hurdle. This hesitation cost him as he never was able to catch the leaders, finishing in 56.76, far off his best of 54.83.
Tech's final event of the day was the High Jump. Both Brian Hoying and Craig Mielcarz were already provisionally qualified with marks of 6-9 3/4 and 6-8 respectively. While Hoying's performance would likely get him to nationals, Mielcarz's would not. Both looked good in warmups and this continued into the competition. Hoying cleared 6-9 and had a good attempt at 6-10 1/4, finishing 3rd. Mielcarz made good on this last opportunity, clearing 6-10 1/4 and placing 2nd.
Nate Ball, the other MIT national qualifier, was not able to compete for the 2nd week in a row due to a bout with mononucleosis.
Those who make the qualification, which has become much more difficult over the years with the addition of so many ex NAIA schools and NCAA Division II schools moving down to Division III, as well as the athletes simply getting better, will leave for St. Lawrence University on Tuesday for the Thursday - Saturday competition.