TREMENDOUS TEAM EFFORT IN NEW ENGLAND DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP NETS FOURTH PLACE
May 4-5, 2007
In past years, those few times when MIT finished out of the top three teams in the New England Division III Championship it was generally because the team performed poorly in many of the events, and even then barely missed being among the top three. This year, MIT was seeded fourth behind Williams College, Tufts University and Springfield College going into the meet. Tech athletes performed very well, scoring 22 points more than they were seeded until freshman sensation, Stephen Morton, tweaked his hamstring, making it difficult to get a good triple jump in and impossible to compete in the 200, losing 10 seed points. Even so, when a team scores 12 more points than they were seeded and still does not catch the teams seeded in front, then fate must be accepted. Williams won the meet with 137 1/2 points. Tufts was second with 91 1/2, Springfield third with 89 and MIT fourth with 79, 18 2/3 points ahead of Coast Guard in fifth.
What has become a two-day meet for the non multi-event part of the meet due to the relaxed standards and combining of the men's and women's meet, served MIT well as the early events saw the Engineers walk away with 30 points after just two events competed by Tech athletes.
In the first event, the 10,000 meters, MIT was seeded to score 18 points in the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring format. On a windy evening, Eric Khatchadourian tried to decide whether or not to run for a national qualifying time or sit back and try to let others do the work. At the last minute the wind appeared to die down and the decision to go for a fast time was made. Khatch let the excitement get the best of him and ran 71 seconds for the first 400 and 4:51 for the first mile. The wind had picked up and combined with the fast pace spelled doom for any hope for a national qualifying time. Now the goal was how to maintain first place. Khatch did not relinquish first place until the final mile and still held on to second despite the wind and fatigue. One could say Khatch took one for the team. His early fast pace spread out the 26 member field and allowed the MIT runners to group together and work on the runners who tried to catch Khatch. After five miles MIT was holding onto second place as well as fourth, fifth and sixth, just trailing a Bates College runner in third trying to shake the MIT trio. The Tech runners, Trevor Rundell (32:38.47), Chris Wong (32:39.66), and Brian Jacokes (32:47.14), applied great kicks leaving the Bates competitor behind to secure 2-3-4-5 places, netting 23 points.
About the same time, the long jump was taking place. Morton went to work and leaped 22-3 1/2 right away in the second flight and Anthony Teixeira jumped 21-11 for a personal best that won the first flight and put him in the finals. The field was outstanding so that even with these marks MIT only garnered fifth and sixth place. However, that was still two points more than they were seeded to score, putting MIT seven points up.
On day two, Teixeira, seeded eighth in the 110HH, combined with Omari Stephens, who was not seeded to score, to make finals. Stephens ran a personal best of 15.37 in the trials for the third best time in the field. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Stephens finished fifth in another PR at 15.23 for fifth place and Teixeira set his own personal best, good for sixth place in 15.35. MIT was now up 13 points and figured they had a good chance at second place.
In the 100 trials, Morton ran easy, finishing second in his heat to make finals. In the finals, the volume of work over the past two weeks caught up with him as his hamstring seized up a little at the end even though he ran 10.89 for fifth place. Fifth place was what Morton was seeded to get so no loss of points occurred but the potential loss of triple jump and 200 points was huge.
Johannes Schneider went out with the leaders in the 3000 steeplechase and despite his poor hurdle technique was able to stay with them through the 5:00 mile. The extra energy expended over the barriers caught up with Schneider and he dropped off the lead group, running 80 second laps for the next 800 meters. In the final 600 meters he picked up the pace to move into fifth and despite tripping over the final barrier he held on for a 9:32.84 to gain two points over his seed, putting MIT up 15 points.
The 400 relay was the first event where MIT did not match their seed. Seeded eighth, the quartet of Liam Fedus, Chris Bateman, Teixeira and Morton got out pretty well and had a successful first handoff. The second handoff was probably affected by the strong headwind and Bateman's aggravated hip flexor, which served to throw off the handoff mark, forcing Teixeira to nearly stop at the end of the zone in order to receive the baton. The final handoff to Morton was solid but it was too late to score, running 43.74, finishing in ninth place.
Tech was not down for long. Yermie Cohen, not seeded to score in the 1500, went out in the back of the lead pack, running a low 63 for the first quarter. The pack settled a little for the second quarter and Cohen moved to the middle of the pack, coming through in 2:08. The pace picked up in the third quarter and Cohen went with them, running a 62 400 and moving into the top five. Cohen did not slow down in the final 300, moving up to fourth place in a personal best time of 3:57.29.
In the pole vault, MIT had two of the top seeds, all having cleared 14-8 3/4 during the season. In a pleasant surprise, Patrick Barragan, not seeded to score, tied for sixth with a personal best of 13-4 1/4. Stephens did not have his usual best day and bowed out after 13-10, placing fifth. Greg Tao, a freshman, secured the only individual championship for MIT, clearing a new personal best of 14-10 to give MIT 16 points in the event.
James Oleinik, seeded fourth in the shot put, threw a personal best of his own to move into third for most of the competition. However, his 49-7 3/4 put did not hold up, but it did get him the fourth place he was supposed to get.
The good news continued on the track. Liam Fedus, running his second 800 ever, ran a flawless race to finish fourth. Fedus was not supposed to score but he was determined to get the job done for the team. The windy conditions continued and put a damper on the early pace. Fedus was in the main pack, coming through the first 400 in 56 seconds. Moving well down the backstretch, Fedus waited until 150 meters were left before he sprinted home in 1:55.81.
At this point it was known Morton was having difficulty in the triple jump. Even though he jumped 43-11 3/4, he missed finals and was not able to run the 200. Teixeira jumped 44- 3 1/4, but even with that jump was only able to secure eighth place. This was only the second event where MIT did not score what they were seeded for.
Once again, the team responded positively and never gave up. Hemagiri Arumugam, seeded 19th in the 5000, was determined to score. He came through the first mile in 4:48, gradually moving up to the lead pack. By mile two he had come through in 9:41 and caught the back of the leaders. The next 1200 meters Arumugam lost focus, running 78 second quarters and falling out of the top group. With 600 to go he could sense there was a chance to score and that was all he needed. Running 1:41 for the final lap and a half, Arumugam sprinted into seventh place in 15:15.9 for a new personal best.
In the final event, the starter did not wait until MIT was in the blocks, firing the gun and stunning Stephen Oney. Oney knelt down before realizing the race was on. By the time Oney had left he was already two seconds down. His 52.0 leg was really a 50 flat but MIT was in last. Matt Bieniosek, Ulzie Rea and Liam Fedus kept running too fast for the first 200, trying to get their team back into the race, but only making matters worse. Seeded fifth, the team did not score despite the valiant effort.
This was truly an amazing team effort for the men's track team. Finishing fourth with such outstanding performances just shows the quality of this meet and the teams involved. MIT has a lot to build on next year as the freshmen scored 29 of the 79 points and only eight points were scored by seniors.
Next week those MIT athletes who qualify and wish to extend their season will travel to Dartmouth College for the NEICAAA Championship on Friday and Saturday.