STEPHENS LEADS ENGINEERS WITH POLE VAULT PR
May 12
A small contingent of the MIT track and field team competed this weekend in the NEICAAA Championship, the All Division New England Championship, being hosted by Dartmouth College. With finals approaching, the toll taken by the past two weeks of team championships, combined with challenging performance standards, many MIT athletes elected to call it a season.
Of those who went, no one took advantage of his one event any better than Omari Stephens in the pole vault. Stephens moved up to number five on the MIT all-time outdoor list by clearing 15-4 1/2 and placing third. Having missed one attempt at both 13-9 and 14-3, Stephens looked anything but capable of scoring in this meet. However, by 14-9 he got things together and made first attempts at 15-1 and 15-4 1/2. Stephens nearly cleared 15-8 on his second attempt, a height that would have qualified him provisionally for the NCAA Division III Championship. Teammate Greg Tao, with the quite the opposite trend, made first attempts at 13-9, 14-3 and 14-9, looking better as the heights progressed. However, at 15-1 he was not able to make it work, missing the scoring spots by one place.
Also competing after feeling "broken" all week, was Joe Roy-Mayhew in the 10,000 meters. Wanting to give it one last effort and hoping to score, Roy-Mayhew ran a patient and controlled pace of 5:08 through the first four miles. As he started to fatigue so too did those who went out in front of him. His pace dropped to 5:14 for mile five and 5:20 for mile six but still he gained ground and places on the spread out field. With 200 to go, Roy-Mayhew could not summon the speed necessary to catch the runner in front of him preventing him from scoring. Finishing in 32:22.86, Roy-Mayhew missed a personal best by .73 seconds and eighth place by 2.81 seconds, a very valiant effort.
On day two, Yermie Cohen started things off in the 1500. Following the leaders through laps of 61, 2:04 and 3:07 Cohen easily set a 1200 best. Although he wasted energy fighting with the tight group of runners and nearly falling down from a trip in the process, Cohen managed a 48 final 300 for the third personal best in as many weeks. His 3:55.33 narrowly missed the NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event.
James Oleinik competed in the shot put even though his finger was injured. Throwing with caution, Oleinik just missed making finals, throwing 48-6 3/4 for his final effort of the season.
Liam Fedus and Matt Bieniosek took to the track in the 800 meter race, both seeded in the slowest of four sections with 1:55.81 and 1:55.82 respectively. The first quarter was a pedestrian 58.2 for both runners. Fedus, took off after the leaders, taking the lead with a little over 100 meters to go and finishing in first with a time of 1:55.44, a new personal best. Bieniosek fatigued and finished in a respectable 1:57.56.
In the final event for Tech, Stephen Morton and Anthony Teixeira competed in the triple jump. Morton, back after a tight hamstring forced him out of the 200 the week before, made it out of the unseeded flight to make finals and finish fifth overall with a new personal of best of 46-4. Teixeira suffering through a sore knee and heel, could not make the finals, jumping 43-8 1/2.
MIT tied for 20th among all New England colleges with 10 points. Next week a few Engineers will compete at home in the Last Chance Qualifier on Friday.