ORJI AND BALL QUALIFY FOR NATIONALS DURING SPRING BREAK MEETS
March 24-27, 2004
The MIT men's track and field team took advantage of the exceptional Florida weather and had a solid week of training in preparation for the upcoming spring season back in New England. In the midst of the training, the team found time to compete in two invitational meets held at the National Triathlon Center in Clermont. Both meets were scoring meets but MIT did not compete their middle distance and distance runners in the first meet and chose to work on specific goals rather than score points when half the team was back at MIT.
The first meet was held on Wednesday. A very strong wind encouraged the meet management to run the 100, 110HH and 200 in the opposite direction to take advantage of the situation. Although Zach Traina was hand timed in 10.4 to win the 100, an accurate time was not available since the automatic timing system did not catch the start. It is assumed by those in attendance that this time was not accurate despite the strong tailwind. In fact, all four MIT sprinters, Traina, David Blau, Marcus Carson and Jonathan Hsieh were all timed under 11.00.
Carson also ran the 110HH and despite hitting nearly every hurdle, still managed to run 16.69 for his first effort ever at the 110HH at the 42" height. Thad Wozniak, putting together a decathlon score by competing in five events in this meet as well as the other five in Saturday's meet, ran a PR of 17.05. Wozniak also had outstanding performances in his other events, long jumping 19-4, putting the shot 33-6, throwing the javelin 130-5 and running the 400 in 53.08.
Nate Ball and Josh Chartier claimed first and second in the pole vault by clearing 14-0 and 12-6 respectively. Chartier allegedly cleared 13-0 but the results only had him listed at the 12-6 height.
Uzoma Orji, getting back to basics after winning the national shot put title a week and a half ago, only managed 54-2 1/2 in the shot. Of course, while this seems like a trivial distance for Orji, it was an outdoor PR as well as a new MIT record. Uzoma also had a PR in the hammer when he got in a throw of 170-4 before the called the event due to darkness.
On the track, Traina also claimed victory in the 200 with a modest time of 22.57. The surprise of the 200 was Jesse Collins, who after winning the 400 in 52.65, came back and placed third in 23.39. The 400 relay team won, but due to poor handoffs and the ferocious wind, only managed 45.42.
The Saturday meet was different in just about every respect. The temperatures were in the 80s and there was only a slight wind. The competition was much better as well. The 400 relay team lessened their mistakes and ran 43.57, which is a much more representative time at this point in the season.
Uzoma Orji led the way with three victories, claiming first place in the shot put, discus and hammer events. His first event, the discus, Orji threw 154-5 for a personal best. There are many things to correct in this event for the sophomore so keep your eyes open for big improvements by next season, if not late this season. In his main event, the shot put, he did not have a very good day. His winning toss of 53-5 3/4 was less than a couple of fouls in the 55-56 foot area, but it would have to do on this day. Eight hours after the discus began, Orji began his hammer warmup. There was a further delay when a Cornell College athlete, who was spectating and in a dangerous area, got hit in the back of the shoulder by a hammer. The athlete was determined to be okay by medical personnel about 1/2 hour later and the warmup continued. Only getting four throws due to the onset of darkness, Orji made the most of his efforts, throwing 177-4 on his third throw. Orji provisionally qualified for naitonals in both the shot and hammer and narrowly missed qualifying in the discus.
MIT went 1-2 in the pole vault, led by Nate Ball's national qualifying performance of 15-9 1/4. This almost did not happen as events seemed to conspire against him. Earlier, another vaulter broke the cross bar and a very long delay was necessary to come up with another cross bar. Once the event started up again, it seemed to just get going when Ball broke his pole on an attempt at 14-6 due to a fast approach, not jumping up and being a little inside his normal takeoff position. Despite the stinger he received and a couple of blooday knuckles, Ball jumped on his next biggest pole and easily cleared the height. Josh Chartier cleared 13-6 for second place.
Thad Wozniak continued his decathlon qualifying effort with day two of decathlon events. Both the discus and pole were at the same time so be rushed to get a height in in the pole vault then hurried to compete in the discus. He cleared 8' in the pole vault and threw 93' in the discus. After a short break he had to begin the high jump and managed a height of 4' before he had to run the 1500. Given the heat and the quick first quarter pace, Wozniak did well to run 5:06.47. He then proceeded to cool down just enough to be able to go over and clear 5' in the high jump. Finally, in the 100, he ran 11.78 on his fourth attempt. The camera was not functioning well and they had to recall the race three times, once after the runners had actually completed the race. One would think this would be enough for any athlete in a single day, but Wozniak asked to compete in the javelin as well, throwing a PR of 144'. His cumulative score of 5028 easily qualifies him for the New England Division III Championship in five weeks.
Other top marks for the day were provided by John Brewer's 4:09.8 in the 1500 and his 2:02.18 in the 800, Zach Traina's 22.61 in the 200 after his debut 400 of 51.84, Jesse Collins 51.61 in the 400, David Blau's 11.37 in the 100, despite the fact that it was his 4th 100, Kevin DiGenova's debut 3000 Steeplechase of 11:04 and Kevin Brulois's 16:06.0 5000.
Next Saturday MIT travels to RPI for the Engineer's Cup against RPI and WPI.