Deyo Leads Engineers in Early Season 10K

 

March 25, 2017

As in most years, when the weather permits, MIT sent a handful of distance runners down to Bridgewater State University for a shot at qualifying in the 10K for the New England Division III Championship and possibly higher level championships.  Most meets during the season do not run the 10K, and the temperature tends to become less conducive to faster times as the season progresses.  The weather was near perfect in the women's race, and slightly windy in the men's race, but with the temperature in the low 40's one could not hope for a better situation. 

The qualifying times for the New England Division III Championship were fairly pedestrian at 33:20 for the men and 41:20 for the women, so for the MIT runners it was more a matter of competing well and running a reasonably fast time.

MIT's male entries were hoping to lock onto a pace between 5:00 and 5:05 per 1600 meters.  Unfortunately for some of them, they all went out in 4:59-5:03, and some were not quite ready, either mentally or physically.  Matt Deyo 'G led the way after about a mile of Brian Gilligan '17 taking the lead from the gun.  Both came through in 4:59.  Deyo continued to run 74 pace, coming through 3200 in 9:55.  Gilligan fell off a bit, but was solid at 9:57.  Daniel Weiss '19 was next at 10:01, along with David Walter '18.  Josh Derrick '20 was one who had gone out strong, but started fading after the mile mark as he was simply using too much energy--not running relaxed.  Rory Beyer '18 was at 10:07, and Nicholas Waltman '18 and Alex Knoedler '18 were running better paced races, coming through at 10:10 and 10:11 respectively.  Over the next two miles Deyo continued his pace, hitting 6400 at 19:50.  Weiss was the next fastest at 20:17.  Gilligan was trying to hold on at 20:24, but was falling back.  Beyer was at 20:25, Waltman 20:27, Derrick 20:36, Knoedler 20:38 and Walter 20:41.  Deyo had been all alone since 2K into the race and nothing was changing.  As the wind picked up on the backstretch he slowed to a 4:58 on the fifth 1600, but then rallied with a 4:55 and 68 final quarter to win in 30:51.63.  This is not nearly a fast enough performance to qualify for Nationals, but shows that with competition he can certainly get the job done.  Weiss finished in a very solid 31:52.85 to place third.  Waltman placed sixth in 32:14.22, Gilligan eighth in 32:16.91, Beyer ninth in 32:26.57, Knoedler 10th in 32:28.20, Derrick 13th in 32:38.40 and Walter was 15th in 33:12.17, out of a total of 33 runners.  All MIT runners qualified for the New England Division III Championship

The women had raced first when there was no wind, but it was also pretty early in the day at 9:00 a.m.  The eventual winner, Kerri Ruffo '18 from Northeastern took the pace out hard, pulling everyone out a bit faster than they wished to go.  Camila Thanos '19 went out at a suicidal pace of 87, slowed a bit, but did not hit a reasonable pace until 1200 meters, still hitting the 1600 in 6:07.  Bailee Margolis '19, Darby LaPlant '19 and Charlotte Folinus '20 all went out in 90 for the 400, when they should have been back at 94.  This seemingly small difference would have a huge effect over 6.2 miles.  Thanos continued to widen the lead on her teammates through 2400 meters, when she went to 95 second pace.  Margolis and LaPlant were running as if they were on a mission, starting to negative split as they went from 6:20 to 6:14 in the second 1600. Folinus started falling off just before the 3200 mark.  Thanos pulled out with a foot injury after 2800 meters and Folinus after 5K due to digestive issues, which was in about 20:00.  Margolis and LaPlant continued to race well, putting in a 6:18 and then a 6:13.  When Margolis continued to pick up the pace, dropping a 6:06, LaPlant fell off, but still ran 6:16.  The final 1600 for Margolis was a 6:03, finishing her final quarter in 91 for a 38:45.10, a new personal best, to finish fourth overall and the top Division III runner.  LaPlant finished in sixth in 39:11.50.

The technical event athletes on the team will be in Texas for the Spring Trip this coming week, competing at Trinity University on March 31. 

 

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