ENGINEERS FINISH PERFECT YEAR WITH WIN IN NEW ENGLAND DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP
May 3, 2003
MIT completed an unlikely year, by matching their indoor undefeated season and New England Division III Championship with the same result for the outdoor season. Going into the meet once all the entries were completed, MIT was favored by about 10 points. When the dust had settled in Lewiston, Maine on the Bates College track, the Engineers had scored 141 points, winning over 2nd place finisher Williams College by 39 points.
Many incredible performances led the way to this championship, and they happened in nearly every event. Seventeen season or personal bests and three new or improved national qualifying performances were indicative of the type of day the Tech men had.
Chris Khan surpassed expectations by not only winning the Hammer in 191-6 and Discus in 161-0, but threw nearly two feet further than ever before and placed 6th in the Shot Put with a 48-5 1/4. Khan's 23 points outscored many of the teams in the championship.
Having a career day on the track was Zach Traina, who won the 200 with a national qualifying time of 21.73 for a personal best, placed 2nd in the 100 with a season best of 10.96 and led off the 400 relay team of David Blau, Marc Washington and Rick Rajter, which posted a season best of over a full second to place 3rd overall while running out of the slow section in 42.85.
Every time Williams or Springfield would do well or score in an event, MIT would step up and place even higher. The best example of this was in the Discus. Greg Walker threw three successive personal bests as he improved 13' over his seed to move into 2nd and then keep 2nd as others would throw farther to pass him.
MIT took 5 first places in the meet. In addition to the Hammer and Discus wins by Khan and the 200 victory by Traina, Brian Hoying and Nate Ball won their respective events, the High Jump and Pole Vault. Hoying was clean through 6-8 and then cleared his personal outdoor best of 6-9 3/4 on his 2nd attempt to win the event. Ball, in his 2nd meet since coming back from his injury, won the meet at 14-9, and then proceeded to clear 15-5 and then 15-8. He finally moved up to a 15' pole and attempted 15-10 but was just short on his final attempt.
Other than Walker's 2nd place in the Discus, Sean Nolan earned a 2nd in the 10K with a hard fought 31:11.40. Nolan, trying to improve his national qualifying performance, led the way into a stiff wind for the first 4 miles of the event. With 1 mile to go Holtshute from Williams took the lead for good leaving Nolan to settle for 2nd. Also placing 2nd was Uzoma Orji, losing a division III competition in New England for the first time all year. Orji threw a respectable 52-6 3/4 but lost to senior Trey Wright of Williams, who threw 53-2.
Third place performances were earned by the 400 relay, Ben Schmeckpeper in the 3000 Steeplechase and Craig Mielcarz in the High Jump. Schmeckpeper ran a better paced race than earlier in the season, moving from10th to 3rd over the course of the race. Running laps between 75-77 seconds, Schmeckpeper looked as though he might be able to catch 2nd place but fell a little short while running his season best of 9:26.43. Mielcarz, bouncing back and forth from the Long Jump, 110HH and High Jump, finally settled in long enough to clear 6-8. He attempted 6-9 3/4 but was inconsistent in his approach. Mielcarz will be focusing on the High Jump exclusively for the remainder of the season.
Keeping with the trend, MIT had three 4th place finishes as well. Mielcarz came through on his final attempt to move from 8th to 4th in the Long Jump with an effort of 22-1. Marios Michalakis threw 168-3 in the Hammer to support Khan's win and add to the total of 51 points scored by the throwers. Also, placing 4th, before his shot put, was Orji, who threw a personal best of 142-2 in the Discus to claim the top event for MIT with 23 points.
Nestor Hernandez proved that last weekend was no fluke as he jumped 21-10 in the Long Jump to place 6th and add points to what Mielcarz scored in the event. Other 6th place finishes were accomplished by Steve Maltas in the 10K, Rajter in the 110HH, Chris Peterson in the 400IH, and Khan in the Shot Put. Maltas ran his 2nd 10K of the season, improving by 22 seconds to run 32:48.50. Rajter, hurting his heel in the Triple Jump, and competing in the High Jump and 400 relay, only had enough left to hold onto 6th with a 15.30 performance. Peterson performed the best of the 6th place finishers, improving by 1.2 seconds from last week's performance for a 54.83.
Victor Williamson placed 7th in two events, earning a personal best in the 400IH with a 55.62 and a season best in the Triple Jump with a 43-3. Mielcarz added another personal best in the 110HH for7th place, running 15.39 in the trials. Dale Cotton, threw a season best into a strong head wind in the Javelin with a 172-7. Josh Chartier cleared 12-9 in the Pole Vault to place 7th and beat teammate Hernandez by 1 place on misses.
Not losing a single Division III competition in indoor or outdoor track has not been accomplished since 1990. To do so in a year with so many injuries is truly a tribute to the team and their commitment to excellence.
Next week, MIT travels to New Hampshire for the All New Englands in hopes of improving some individual marks for the national championships.