MIT SECURES SECOND PLACE IN NEW ENGLAND DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP
May 2-3, 2008
The MIT Engineers were seeded second going into the New England Division III Championship and they did not disappoint, securing three event victories en route to scoring 92 points, just holding off the host Coast Guard Academy with 87 points for second place out of the 26 scoring teams.
Despite the temperatures in the low 50s and the cloudy, windy conditions, Tech was not deterred from performing their best marks of the season in many events. Beginning the meet on Friday, MIT was already 21 points down to Coast Guard due to the hosts placing 1-3-4 in the decathlon. MIT tried to answer in the 10K by taking the pace out and making an honest race out of it. Tech had five qualifiers in the 31 man field and hoped to drop most of them in the first mile with the 5:03 opening mile, but very few dropped back. With the second mile split of 10:11 there were still 12 runners in the lead pack. When the Joe Roy-Mayhew, Chris Wong and Brian Jacokes led the way through three miles in 15:20, ten were still in the pack. Jack Bourbonnais and Trevor Rundell had faded to the rear of the lead pack but were trying to stay in contact. Roy-Mayhew continued to push the pace through four with another 5:06. Rundell faded to a 5:22 and Bourbonnais a 5:10. Jacokes faded to the back of the pack in eighth place while Wong stayed right behind Roy-Mayhew. Things continued that way in the fifth mile with another 5:06 but then the pace really picked up. Roy-Mayhew covered the sixth mile in 4:55 and 68 in the final 400 and fell eight seconds off the leader but finished within one second of second for fourth place in a new personal best of 31:35.61. Chris Wong and Brian Jacokes also scored in seventh and eighth place with personal best times of 31:54.31 and 32:10.97 respectively.
While MIT did not place as high as they had hoped for in the 10K, the long jump went better than expected. Stephen Morton, leading the long jump through the trials with teammate Anthony Teixeira in second place. In the fifth round, Carl Luxhoj from Coast Guard took the lead with a 22-8 effort. In typical Stephen Morton style, the sophomore flew down the runway and popped a 23-8 personal record to seal the victory. MIT's 16 points were a big boost for a total of 24 for the night.
Day two began well for MIT as James Oleinik took the shot with a personal best of 49-8 1/2 for MIT's second victory. On the javelin runway, Vlad Sobes proved his 189-4 throw the week before was no fluke by throwing a 186-7 on his second attempt to take the lead, which he held until the final two rounds where he fell to fourth, which was his seed.
On the track, freshmen Paul Welle and Richard Prevost were seeded third and fourth in the 3000 Steeplechase. The leaders, who were the top two seeds from Williams College, had other ideas as the pace roared through a first mile in 5:01. Prevost started to fall off the pace but Welle held though he slowed to 78 second 400s. Welle's final kick even though he tumbled out of the water pit netted him a 9:29.39 personal best for third place and ninth on the MIT all-time list. Prevost showed a lot of pride and determination holding on to seventh place in 9:38.22.
In the 400 Relay, MIT got the baton around really well to the second handoff where Mattias Flander just could not hang with the other third legs. A good handoff to Morton gave MIT hope but his hamstring started bothering him, preventing him from hitting maximum speed. Nevertheless MIT finished sixth, one place higher than they were seeded.
Jake Ruzevick raced very well in the 1500, holding onto seventh place in 4:00.62 despite an early pace taking the field through 800 meters in 2:06. In the next event, Teixeira added a fourth place in the 110HH in 15.44 although he had run a personal best in the trials in a time of 15.10. Teixeira was in second through seven hurdles but he hit hands with another hurdler on the eighth hurdle, which through him off the final two hurdles. Omari Stephens clipped a few hurdles but secured sixth place in 15.77. This finish was a slight gain in points as MIT was seeded fifth and sixth.
Stephens went back to the pole vault where he recovered to clear on his third attempt at his opening height en route to a second place of 15-1. Teammate Greg Tao won for the second week in succession, jumping 15-5. Patrick Barragan once again added support with a fifth place finish and a successful vault of 14-3 1/4.
At this point, Coast Guard, never very far behind, started to close the gap. MIT was not seeded to score in the 400, 400IH or 800 and with Morton hurting, he was pulled out of the 200. The only scoring events left for MIT were the triple jump, the 5000 and the 4x400. In the triple jump Morton jumped in the trials but with his hamstring hurting he was only able to just make finals with the eighth best jump. Flander jumped very well and managed a fourth place with a 45-3 3/4. Teixeira, having his own hurting hamstrings, was unable to score as he finished just behind Morton in ninth. Luxhoj from Coast Guard again jumped well, finishing in second and closing the gap between MIT and Coast Guard to nine points and Coast Guard had a very good chance of winning the 4x400.
Roy-Mayhew had volunteered earlier in the week to be put in the 10K and the 5K, a maniacal request in most meets and with both fields showing such high quality it was suicidal. With Coast Guard closing the gap his volunteer services were indeed needed. With the relative inexperience of Hemagiri Arumugam and Gihan Amarasiriwardena representing MIT in the 5000, Roy-Mayhew's presence was welcomed by the MIT coaching staff. In a very fast race, Roy-Mayhew held on through mile splits of 4:50, 4:56 and 4:52 and managed to finish the final 200 in 34 seconds to place 6th in 15:12.95. This secured second place for MIT as it gave MIT a 12 point lead going into the final event.
In the 4x400, Coast Guard placed second in 3:22.53 and MIT placed eighth in 3:27.02 as everyone was cold and tired after sitting in the poor weather conditions for eight hours. Williams College won the meet as expected with 151 points.
This meet wraps up the season for most of MIT's Engineers. A few who still have a shot at placing in the All New England Championship and or qualifying for nationals may continue for the remainder of the season. The NEICAAA Championship, the All New Englands, will be held at the University of New Hampshire on Friday and Saturday, May 9-10.