MIT WINS SIXTH STRAIGHT NEWMAC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
April 29, 2006
MIT played host to the eighth annual NEWMAC Outdoor Track and Field championship, and similar to six of the previous meets and the last five in succession, MIT ran, jumped and threw their way to the victory. Seeded third behind Springfield College and Coast Guard Academy, MIT was put at a further disadvantage as the flu continued to take out members of the team. Nevertheless, the Engineers rose to the challenge, setting 24 personal bests en route to a 36.5 point victory over Coast Guard, 214.5 to 178 with Springfield College 11.5 points behind Coast Guard.
Tech started things going in the right direction in the first event as Spencer Dudley and Joe Roy-Mayhew ran personal bests to claim first and second ahead of a strong group of Coast Guard and Springfield runners in the 10,000 meter race. Both ran New England Division III qualifying times with performances of 32:57.33 and 33:32.43 respectively.
Right after the 10K, MIT came out big in the 3000 Steeplechase. Chris Bruce ran behind the number two seeded from Coast Guard, in part because of the wind but also to help MIT's other runners stay in the pack longer. With Three and a half laps to go Bruce opened up a huge lead with back to back 77 second laps. Rocco Repetski initially went with him, passing the Coast Guard runner but not dropping him. Repetski lost the battle for second in the final straight but ran a personal best of 10:12.80 to earn third place. Kevin DiGenova ran a huge season best and within a tenth of a second of his personal best, placing fifth with his 10:33.21. Finishing with a great kick, Ryan King set a personal best of 10:34.14 for sixth. Using the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring format generally used for championship meets, the steeple finished netted MIT 23 points to go with their 18 from the 10K.
MIT did not let the momentum drop off as the 4x100 team of David Blau, Kenny Rosche, Thad Wozniak and Demario Dayton dropped over seven tenths from their season best to place second with a time of 43.23.
In the field events, Tech's long jumpers continued their amazing improvement. On their fifth and sixth jumps of the competition, Wozniak and Chris Bateman moved from fifth and third respectively to first and second. Anthony Teixeira moved from eighth to seventh on his last jump to add two more points to make it 20 for the long jump. Wozniak and Teixeira jumped to personal bests with marks of 22-0 3/4 and 20-6 respectively.
Uzoma Orji planned on duplicating his three event victory that he pulled off his sophomore year but with the improved throwers from Springfield College, particularly in the discus, he would have to throw a season best at the very least. Orji's first events was the hammer throw. He proceeded to throw two personal bests back to back, finishing with 195-5 to move him up to second best on the NCAA Division III list. In the discus, an event Orji has struggled with over the years, he threw 147-10 on his third throw to win the event by a mere two inches. In the shot put, Orji had a great series, throwing 58-6, a season best, on his fifth throw to easily win the event. James Oleinik threw 46-11 1/4 for fourth place in the shot to support Orji's efforts. Despite being overmatched by Springfield and Coast Guard with their team numbers, Orji and Oleinik still outscored their two opponents in the three throwing events.
MIT was seeded 5-6-7-8 in the 1500 but with Eric Khatchadourian out with the flu and Jake Ruzevick trying to hold the effects of the flu in check their opponents seemed to have a distinct edge. Ruzevick, Fivos Constantinou and Yermie Cohen had different plans. The first quarter, taken out by first seed, Mike Flint of Coast Guard, in 61 seconds guaranteed a reasonably fast race despite the strong wind. The second quarter slowed to 2:09 but picked back up in the third quarter as Ruzevick moved up towards the front, coming through in 3:14. Constantinou and Cohen powered to second and fourth with Ruzevick in the middle. Ruzevick finished in second with Constantinou holding onto third in 4:01.67 and 4:01.94. Cohen dropped back in the final 200 but nevertheless held on to 6th with a season best of 4:06.55.
Omari Stephens had quite a show of his own and all the events were happening at about the same time. Stephen's best performance came in the pole vault where he beat the top seed from Coast Guard with a personal best leap of 14-6. Just prior to the end of the vault, Stephens ran 15.88 in the 110HH to place third. At the same time, the triple jump was going on. Stephens did not miss a beat as he jumped to a personal best of 42-7 to earn second place. Anthony Teixeira ran nearly eight tenths faster than ever before in the 110HH to support Stephens with a sixth place 15.92 performance. Teixeira also did his part in the triple jump with a third place finish. Bateman came back in the triple jump, setting a personal best of 41-8 3/4 to give MIT the 2-3-4 finish.
Back on the track Alex Rothberg was able to run a strong 51.15 to give MIT five points for fourth place in the 400 meters. Ulzie Rea was not able to race due to a back injury. Springfield College took advantage, placing first and third for 16 points.
In the 100, David Blau ran an incredible personal best of 10.86 in the trials, placing second in the finals. Kenny Rosche ran 11.15 to place seventh, giving MIT a strong showing in the event.
The 800 squad took a hit when Ruzevick was unable to come back from the 1500 due to his bout of illness. Aron Walker, feeling the effects of a minor injury also was not at his best. Dan Rodgers and Constantinou hoped to hold off the Coast Guard runners by themselves. Coast Guard was able to score 17 points in the event with a second win by Flint and a fourth and seventh place. Springfield managed second and third while Rodgers ran a tough race for fourth and Constantinou held on for eighth.
Coast Guard and Springfield were coming back on MIT but would it be too little, too late. Coast Guard placed 1-2-3 in the high jump for 24 points and 1-3 in the javelin for 16 points. MIT was unable to score in either event, giving up an uncontested 40 points.
The 400IH was an event where MIT hoped to gain some ground. John McGonagle was seeded sixth but he had confidence he could place as high as third. The loan MIT entry in the event, McGonagle got off to a strong start and was looking great through the half way point in the race. Going into the sixth hurdle McGonagle nearly stopped as he seemed unprepared for the hurdle. He recovered to maintain sixth place with a personal best of 59.21 but the opportunity for gain was lost.
The 200 was the event where MIT hoped to put the meet away. With only the 5000 and 1600 relay remaining, if the sprinters could pull off a strong representation the championship trophy would remain at MIT. Running into the wind, Blau ran a very strong half lap, finishing second in 22.66. Wozniak ran 23.25 to finish sixth and Alex Rothberg earned eighth place with a 23.60 performance. MIT's 12 points were enough to wrap up their sixth consecutive title.
In the 5000, the absence of Khatchadourian no longer a concern, Steve Maltas was expected to hold off the Coast Guard runners by himself. Chris Wong, still feeling the effects of the flu was not at his best. Cohen returned from the 1500 to compete in his first 5K ever. After a strong first mile, running with the lead group of two Coast Guard and one Wheaton runner, Maltas was overcome with stomach problems and was unable to hold onto the fast pace. Wong was unable to run at his best but was holding on. Cohen, perhaps finding his niche, moved up throughout the race, finishing the final 200 in 34 seconds to finish fourth in 15:54.75. Maltas faded but held onto sixth position while Wong was able to finish seventh.
The highlight of the 4x400 for MIT was the anchor leg run by Rosche. The indoor freshman record holder in the 400, ran his first 400 of the year as he was just getting into racing condition after a long volleyball season. Rosche got into a good battle and nearly walked down the Coast Guard runner for second place, missing by .07 seconds. His split was 50.7 after a long day where he ran four previous races (100 trials and finals, 400 relay and 200).
Next week, MIT travels to Springfield College to compete in the New England Division III Championship on Friday and Saturday. MIT, seeded no higher than fourth going into the meet is hoping for another stellar performance to move them up into the top three teams.