MIT PERFORMS WELL IN WINNING ENGINEER'S CUP
Orji and Wozniak Lead the Way, Scoring 45 3/4 Points
April 8, 2006
The Engineer's Cup, a meet that appeared to be very close on paper, did not turn out that way as MIT dealt with the cold temperatures and damp conditions and ran away with the meet, scoring 177.5 points to RPI's 129 and host WPI's 91.5. Leading the way were seniors Thad Wozniak and Uzoma Orji. Orji did it in his usual fashion, by winning his three events, the hammer, discus and shot put. Wozniak, preparing himself for the decathlon in a month, participated in eight events and scored in seven of them, accumulating 24.75 points.
MIT only won seven of the 19 events, but nevertheless dominated the scoring by winning three of more of the scoring spots in six of those events. There were six scoring places in each non-relay event with first place earning seven points and second through sixth earning five, four, three, two and one point respectively. The first event, the long jump was one of those events. MIT got off on the right foot so to speak by placing 1-2-3-6 in the event and being led by Thad Wozniak's winning personal best of 20-09 1/4. Right after the long jump, the same group started the triple jump. When it was all said and done MIT had scored 20 of the 22 points in the event by placing 1-2-3-4-6, this time being led by Anthony Teixeira.
On the track, MIT owned the middle distance events. It began with the 3000SC where Tech, led by Chris Bruce's comfortable 10:12.12, placed 1-3-5 with Rocco Repetski running a personal best of 10:39.46 and Ryan King debuting in 11:03.25. Shortly after that, the milers took to the track and despite a very slow first 800 (2:18), they placed 2-3-4-5 with Fivos Constantinou leading the effort in 4:11.29. In the 800, Yermie Cohen took the pace out hard after getting tripped early, leading a group of seven MIT runners. The winner of the 1500 from WPI challenged towards the end of the first quarter but was soon overwhelmed by Tech runners. Jake Ruzevick negative split the race, winning in 2:01.48. MIT scored 20 of the 22 points by claiming 1-2-3-4-6 places.
The other event in which MIT claimed three of the six places was the 110HH. Omari Stephens faltered a bit and lost the battle for first by thousandths of a second. Wozniak had a personal best for fourth and Teixeira placed fifth.
MIT had three new qualifiers for the New England Division III Championships. Wozniak qualified with his mark in the long jump. James Oleinik added the discus to his shot put qualifying mark with a throw of 130-4. Spencer Dudley ran a huge personal best in running 15:39.37 to qualify in the 5000 meter run.
Next week MIT hopes to have the services of two of their injured sprinters as well as the return of Alex Rothberg in the 400 as they travel to Bates College to face the Bobcats along with Colby College and the University of Southern Maine.