MIT Competes Well at NCAA Division III Championships
Six Fourth Places, Four MIT Records for Engineers
May 21-23, 2009
MIT was well represented at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio. Nine women (Andrea Bradshaw '09 4x400 relay, Jennifer Doyle '09 10K, Martha Gross '12 4x400 relay, Anna Holt-Gosselin '11 10K, Emily Hwang '09 pole vault, Portia Jones '12 400IH, 4x400 relay, Amy Magnuson '10 100HH, Jamie Simmons '12 400IH, 4x400 relay, Jacqui Wentz '10 3000 Steeplechase) and two men (Stephen Morton '10 Long Jump, Triple Jump, Greg Tao '10 Pole Vault) were ready to finish their season in style.
First up in the three day meet was Morton in the long jump. No one seemed to be jumping great in the trials, so Morton's 22-6 1/2 stood up to get him into the nine man final in seventh place. Individuals began to jump better in the final, including Morton, who landed a couple of 24' bombs that were unfortunately very narrow fouls. The two individuals behind him jumped further while Morton fouled all of him attempts to finish in ninth.
Tao was up next in the pole vault. Seeded 11th, Tao hoped to be among the final few vaulters as he did indoors earlier this year. Jumping clean (no misses) through heights of 15-3 1/2, 15-7 1/4 and a new outdoor personal best of 15-11 1/4, Tao was guaranteed an All America slot as many vaulters went out at the 15-11 1/4 height. Making three excellent attempts at 16-3, Tao was unable to clear the height. Being clean through the earlier heights earned Tao fourth place in the event.
On the track, Jones and Simmons were up in the 400IH trials. Jone's heat was up first. She did not get out real well and had to reach a bit for the first hurdle, but then she settled down and cruised over the next five hurdles, making up ground and catching up to the leaders. The next four hurdles Jones stuttered up to and did not pull her trail leg through, yet she ran pretty well between the hurdles. Her overall strength netted her a personal best of 61.73 even with the disastrous four hurdles. Her time ended up as the fifth fastest in the trials. Simmons ran a very good race, looking great over all of the hurdles. Her 63.68 placed her 16th overall and was not fast enough to make the final. Simmons came in as the 19th seed so her improvement is something the freshman can build on.
Two hours later, Simmons and Jones joined Bradshaw and Gross to run the 4x400 trials. Coming into the meet as the eighth seed, there was hope the foursome could make the finals. Simmons got things rolling out in lane seven with an incredible personal best leadoff of 56.8. This put MIT right at the front of the pack at the handoff. Bradshaw got out well and ran the first part of the race fast in order to stay with the leaders, but was third at the break. Coming around the final turn she fell back to fourth but stayed pretty close with a fine 58.4 leg. At the handoff to Gross, the incoming runner from the team just in front of MIT moved into Gross's path causing a collision and slowing her down significantly. Nevertheless, Gross ran an outstanding leg, maintaining fourth place and putting MIT about 10 meters behind second and third place. However, again the handoff went wrong when Jones also ran into the incoming runner, putting her 15 or so meters behind at the start. Frustrated with the collision, Jones did not challenge the leaders and fell back to fifth place on the backstretch and never regained the place with her 57.2 leg. MIT's 3:51.68 was a personal best and new MIT record but was only 12th out of the 15 teams. Given the format for advancement, top two teams in each heat and the next two fastest times, MIT would have had to run 3:49.88 to make it into the finals. Even without the two collisions Jones would have had to have run about 56 flat to have gotten MIT into Saturday's race.
On Friday, Magnuson was the first to compete for MIT, running in the second heat of the 100HH trials. With a fine start, but hitting a few hurdles, Magnuson finished in second in 14.50 running into the 1.5 meter per second headwind. Her time was the sixth fastest in the trials, earning her a spot in the finals on Saturday.
In the steeplechase, Wentz went out with the leaders, running a nice paced first mile of 5:36. She continued that pace, staying with, but in the back of the lead pack of six runners through the first six laps. When the leader finally made a break in the final lap and a half, Wentz was unable to go with her. In the final straight Wentz moved up to fourth with a great kick to earn her first All America honor. Her 10:32.61 was a 15 second personal best and another MIT record.
Emily Hwang was last to compete for MIT on Friday, jumping in the pole vault competition. Hwang looked excellent, clearing each of her heights (11-4 1/2, 11-10 1/2, 12-2 1/2, 12-6 1/4) on the first attempt. Similar to Tao, Hwang had very strong attempts at 12-10 1/4, but was just not quite able to clear the height. Hwang finishes her career with an outstanding fourth place finish to again earn All America honors.
On Saturday, Morton was back in competition in the triple jump. This time he did not let fouls get in the way. All six jumps were between 47-00 3/4 and 49-07 3/4, the latter good for fourth place and a new MIT record. Morton's first jump was 48-08 1/4, which put him in fifth place going into the finals. His fifth jump was his 49-07 3/4 leap that moved him up to third. However, in the final round he was passed by four centimeters. The top four jumpers were separated by only 19 centimeters.
Amy Magnuson was back in the finals of the 100HH, completing a season long comeback from a serious hamstring tear the year before. She made the most of the opportunity, improving from her trials run, running 14.37 into a slight headwind for a fourth place finish.
MIT's final event was the 400IH featuring MIT's star freshman, Portia Jones. Similar to the trials, Jones did not get out really well, stuttering on the first hurdle. She then began to move, almost pulling even with the field at the fifth and moving into a solid third place on the sixth hurdle, she caught her lead leg and nearly fell, losing ground and falling to fifth place. Her poor trail leg continued to plague her although she moved back to fourth, she was unable to get third, being out-leaned by .01 seconds. Jones finished in 61.76.
Overall, the women finished in a tie for 10th place with 20 points, their highest finish ever. The men tied for 29th place with 10 points. The six total individual All America honors was an excellent representation of what MIT has accomplished this year in track and field.