MIT MEN AND WOMEN FINISH SECOND IN NEW ENGLAND DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP

12 New NCAA Qualifying Marks Achieved

April 30-May 1, 2010

Both the men's and women's track & field teams from MIT earned second place finishes at the New England Division III Championships hosted by Tufts University. The men's team, holding onto first place until the final event, where a one point lead was not enough to keep Williams College at bay, as the Ephs won the 4x400 and MIT settled for a fifth place finish in the event, giving them second place in the meet with 154 points to 159 for Williams. Third place went to Bates College with 66 points. Twenty five of the teams competing scored in the meet. MIT scored 38 more points than they were seeded for. The Tech women were never able to catch up to Williams, trailing them by just a few points over the two day meet. MIT had to settle for second with 120.5 points, 14 more than they were seeded to score and nearly twice the score of third place Springfield College, who had 68, but not close enough to the 157 points that Williams College scored.

"This was arguably the best meet I have ever been a part of", said MIT's Coach Taylor when reflecting on the performance of his men's team in their battle with Williams. Having five new or improved NCAA qualifying performances, MIT also had 24 season or personal bests as the inspired Engineers put their best effort forward.

Things got started on Friday with Stephen Morton '10, getting the winning long jump on his first attempt. Morton popped a season best 23-10 1/2 to move him up in the NCAA Division III rankings to number four in the country. At the same time, Vlad Sobes '11, moved up from his fifth place seed, throwing 190-5 in the javelin into a very strong wind to place third.

In the hammer, MIT was not seeded to score. The throwers knew that if MIT were to pull out the team victory, a large part of that success would be on their broad shoulders. Despite his low seed, CK Umachi '12, threw 161-11 to earn a much needed seventh place for two more points.

At the end of the evening, the 10K runners took to the track. With the wind having died down and the temperatures cooling off a bit, there was nothing holding back the pace of the race. The lead pack stayed together despite the crisp pace of 5:08 miles through the three mile mark. As the race strung out, Hemu Arumugam '10, and Dan Harper '12, stayed competitive, fighting for every position. At the end, Arumugam ran a personal best of 31:56.02 to finish second. Harper ran an excellent race, holding on for a fourth place in 32:17.92. At the end of day one, MIT trailed Williams 40 to 31.

Day two went about as good as could be expected for MIT. The shot put, the first final, epitomized MIT's competitiveness on this 80 degree day. MIT was seeded to get 11 points with second and sixth place finishes. The throwers built upon the performance by Umachi in the hammer, turning the event into their own little practice session. Mitch Kelley '11, seeded sixth, took the lead with a three foot personal best of 49-9 3/4. James Oleinik 'G, moved into second just behind Kelley and Tony McDonald '10, threw a personal best of 46-11 3/4 to make it into finals. In the finals, Oleinik threw a national qualifying performance of 52-5 1/2 to win the event. The big men were dancing and creating quite the scene, which further fueled the MIT cause. The shot putters earned 19 points and MIT was on their way.

The first final on the track was the 3000 steeplechase. Defending champion, Richard Prevost '11, was a little sick from a cold, but that did not stop him from running a great race and finishing fourth in 9:27.97. Paul Welle '11, last year's runner-up, took the lead with two and a half laps to go and ran away with the race, running a personal best and improved NCAA qualifying time of 9:15.10. Stephen Serene '12, just picking up the event three weeks ago, again lowered his time, placing seventh in 9:42.48.

In the 4x100 relay, MIT without their second best sprinter, Rene Peters '13, nevertheless moved the baton around the track with efficiency, placing fourth in an excellent time of 42.87. Nathan Peterson '12, Josh Duncavage '13, Nick Leonard '11 and Stephen Morton had excellent passes to earn the five points. Unfortunately for Morton, the race was at the same time as his flight of the triple jump. When he returned he was still a bit out of breath, contributing to his fouling his first two jumps. On his third jump he put it together, moving into second place. In the finals, on his last attempt, Morton, as he so often does, took the lead with a jump of 47-6 1/2, an NCAA qualifying mark. The next jumper, Tomas Kearney of Williams, who had been in the lead, then passes Morton by a centimeter. The final jumper who was leading after the trials, took back the lead, winning with a 48-01 3/4 jump.

On the infield the pole vaulters were finishing their event and MIT, as usual, was playing a prominent role in the results. Davey Hunt '12, jumped a personal best 14-5 1/4 to place eighth in the quality field. Nathan Peterson '12, and Cyrus Vafadari '12, both performed brilliantly to vault 14-11 and place fifth and sixth respectively. Greg Tao '10, was in fourth place as he was the last of four to clear 15-5. However, in true Tao fashion, he was the only one to clear 15-11 to secure the victory and give MIT the much needed 18 points.

Back on the track, Yermie Cohen '10, ran a great race in the very loaded 1500 field. With fifteen entries in the fast section, the contact was significant and avoiding getting caught up in the fray was important. The initial pace of 63 for the first quarter slowed to a 2:09 800, which clumped the field, forcing runners out into lane three and four. Finally the pace picked up with a sixty second third quarter and continued to speed up as the leaders sprinted for the finish. Cohen was in this group and nearly pulled out the victory, but he ended up in third with a personal best 3:51.92, .36 out of first.

Andrew Musacchio '11, picked up where he left off at the indoor championship, and qualified for the finals with a great PR of 15.55. Going into the finals, the team was excited that Musacchio was in and going to score at least one point if he finished, but he would have none of that. Instead of settling for his spot in the finals, Musacchio ran another personal best, a 15.30, good for fifth place.

Morton returned in the finals of the 100, an event in which he was seeded fifth, but not taking into consideration so many events prior to that final. Morton ignored his tired body, placing fourth with a 10.98 performance.

The 800 was an event MIT was hoping would be a big plus for moving up in the point total. Seeded only third, Pat Marx '13, ran an excellent race in the packed field, splitting 57 for the first quarter before getting boxed in for part of the second lap. Moving back and then out, Marx made his patented move for the finish, which ended in a second place personal best of 1:53.52. Cohen doubled back after the 1500 and ran an excellent personal best of 1:54.04 to pick up five big points for fourth place.

In the 400IH, Nick Leonard put it all together, racing a big personal best of 54.91 to move himself from his sixth seed to place third. Duncavage, running out of the second section, won his section in a personal best 56.10 to earn seventh overall and earn two more points for Tech.

In the first event where MIT did not pick up what was expected, the discus throw was at a point in the meet where the throwers were emotionally spent. Kelley made finals but was unable to get that big throw that had him seeded third, forcing him to settle for seventh with 141-6 in the qualify field.

In the 200, Morton again brought his tired body to the track and the result was what everyone has come to expect from Morton--his best. He not only placed second, he ran a personal best of 21.82.

Arumugam and Harper returned to join Ben Mattocks '12, in the 5000 to try to maintain MIT's 20 point lead. The field was large and Williams had five quality runners in the field, most doubling back from the 1500, steeplechase or 10K. The pace was never slow as the leaders took it out hard. Arumugam, fighting to stay in the back of the second pack came through the 1600 in 4:51 and the 3200 in 9:44. The pace picked up from there and Arumugam did everything he could but could only manage eighth in a season best 15:11.33. Harper closed with a lot of speed, but it was too little, too late as he finished out of the scoring in a personal best of 15:13.08. Williams earned 18 points to pull them within three.

The 4x800 was next with the 4x400 to follow. Being short of quality 400 runners, but not short at all of 800 runners, MIT put Marx in the 4x400 and went with a fresh Bill Phipps '10 and Logan Daum '11 to join Dawit Zewdie '13, and Cohen to run the 4x800. Phipps battled the leadoff Williams runner for first, handing off nearly at the same time with a fine 1:56.5 leg. Zewdie held his own, although he finished behind Williams with his own 1:56.7. Daum fell behind in the final 200, but finished well to run a 1:58.7 split. Cohen saved his best for last as he closed hard on the Williams competitor, making up nearly all of the 15 meter deficit, finishing .65 back with a 1:53.2 split.

Going into the final event, ahead by one point, MIT and Williams were both in the second fastest section of the 4x400 relay. However, with scratches from two teams, Williams was one of the teams that moved into the fast section, leaving MIT to defend that one point without the benefit of racing the team trying to catch them. MIT won their section, and even though MIT ran a personal best of 3:23.58 with Leonard (51.2), DJ Ronde (51.1), Duncavage (51.3) and Marx (49.3), it was no match for Williams running 3:17.58 to win the fast section and take the team title.

The women's meet did not have quite the drama, but was nevertheless a very exciting meet as the ladies put on quite a show with seven new NCAA qualifying marks. On Friday, the only events MIT was competing in were the first day of the heptathlon and the 10K. Hazel Briner '11, had a solid first day, but nothing spectacular as she was in second at the end of the day. She ran a 15.67 hurdle performance, a 4-10 1/4 clearance in the high jump, a 34-1 1/4 in the shot put and a 26.67 in the 200.

In the 10K, Alina Gatowski '11, did not follow the plan, which was to run from behind and only run fast enough to beat all non-MIT competitors. Instead she chose to lead her teammate, Tania Morimoto '12, to help her run a faster NCAA qualifying performance than her 37:01.55. Since there was not the sense of competition for Gatowski, she had no adrenalin and she fell off pace after just 3200 in 11:49. Morimoto held on for another mile, but then she also fell off pace. Katrina Gravel of Colby, ran a conservative pace and soon passed both women en route to an easy victory in 37:14.74. Gatowski held on for second, but Morimoto faded to sixth. Sarah Sprague '13, ran a great race, running a personal best and outkicking two runners from Williams to secure seventh place in 39:03.81. MIT was seeded to place 1-2-6, so the point loss was significant.

Day two began much better than day one ended. In the steeplechase, Jacqui Wentz '10, did what she needed to do, which was to just win the event. Wentz pulled away from the relatively slow pace with two and a half laps to go to win easily in 11:07.42. Maggie Lloyd '12, ran a great race, improving nine seconds to a sixth place in 11:31.93.

In the 4x100, the quartet of Margaret Leibovic '10, Martha Gross '12, Jamie Simmons '12, and Portia Jones '12, had outstanding handoffs, maintained the speed of the baton through the zones and ran a personal best and new MIT record of 48.44, good for third place. This time also moved them up on the NCAA qualifying list.

Jones was the next competitor for MIT, earning a spot in the finals of the 100HH. Despite a poor start, Jones ran the fastest final 50, closing well to earn second in another personal best of 14.43. This time moved Jones to number four on the NCAA list.

Immediately afterwards, Jones was up in the 400 where she was the defending champion. Joining her were teammates Simmons and Gross. Jones unfortunately drew lane eight so she could not see her competitors until the final straight, at which point she lost focus and faded down the stretch. Simmons came on strong and closed to third in a personal best of 57.08, just ahead of Jones in fourth. Gross ran a personal best of 57.95 to place sixth. Simmons time moved her to number 14 on the NCAA list.

Wentz doubled back in the 800, but her 2:17 seed was only good enough to get her in the second fastest section. This lack of forethought on the part of the seeding committee was the loss of the fast section. Wentz was fortunate to have another runner take the pace out hard in 64. Wentz stayed close in 65 and slowly worked her way to the front, taking the lead in the final 150 to win her section in 2:12.92. The fast section was unable to match that performance, giving Wentz the win and putting her at number eight on the NCAA list.

Simmons was back in the 400IH where she was the top seed. Running an excellent race, but finishing with far too much left, Simmons won, running a personal best of 63.29.

Jones and Gross were back on the track in the 200. Jones had a fine start and despite the quality field, she pulled away with ease, running a personal best and new MIT record of 24.70. This time moves her to number four on the NCAA list. Gross also ran a personal best, placing eighth in 25.77.

In the 4x800, Alicia Kaestli '12, who had run the 800 in a personal best 2:20.76 earlier in the 800, led off with a 2:23.7. Lloyd doubled back from the steeplechase, but was by herself and only produced a 2:26.4 split. Emily Kuo '13, was a little too excited and went out in 68.1, which moved the team into first place in the unseeded section, but not for long. Kuo suffered for her fast first lap, running 2:30.5. Wentz, just running fast enough to win, nevertheless needed a 2:16.5 to get the job done. The overall time of 9:37.47 gave MIT fifth overall in the event.

Briner finished the pentathlon in style, running a well paced 2:23.14 in the 800, scored 4262 points, an MIT record and provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Championship. Briner was up in the pole vault, having cleared 10-8, when she needed to go run a leg in the 4x400. Gross led things off with a 58.2, followed by Simmons, also running 58.2. Briner, who it turned out was fighting a cold, was only able to produce a 62.3. Jones anchored, regaining the lead and winning with a 57.1 split to win the event in 3:56.06.

The final event, the pole vault went well for MIT although none of the women set any personal bests. Briner was unable to clear another height, but tied for sixth place. Lauren Kuntz '13, also cleared 10-8, earning fifth place on fewer misses. Karin Fisher '11, jumped well, clearing 11-7 3/4 to place second.

Both teams wanted to win, but the superb performances, the team spirit that was inspirational throughout the meet and the amazing competitiveness of both teams earned everyone's respect, despite the second place finishes.

Now MIT will start to focus on getting people positioned for the NCAA Championships in four weeks. The next week is the NEICAAA Championship which pits all of the colleges from all divisions against each other. The Friday-Saturday competition will be held on Northeastern's Dedham campus. MIT will not be trying to score the most points possible, only attempting to rest people and compete people in events to qualify for the NCAAs.

 

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