MIT Defends New England Division III Titles
May 5-6, 2017
Three weeks ago, MIT visited Williams College for a good old-fashioned dual meet, a meet in which both the men and women lost to the Ephs. The Engineers may have lost the battle, but they won the war, winning the New England Division III Championship at Williams today. Both the men and women have stepped up their game in the first two weeks of the championship season. Despite injuries and illness, those who were healthy rose to the occasion and got the job done, and then some. The men won against 32 scoring teams with 123 points. The closest team was Tufts with 98, while Bates finished third with 87.5 and then came Williams with 76.5. The women's meet, despite 32 scoring teams, turned into a dual meet between the two rivals as MIT scored 167 points to Williams 153.5, but was not decided until the final event.
MIT knew they would have to come out swinging and hit Williams hard in the early events, putting doubt in their mind and showing that the Engineers came to win. With the pouring rain and cold temperatures, MIT was in their element as they focused competing while their opponents were distracted by the weather. In the men's Hammer, Jon Fakkema '19, not seeded to score, placed fifth with a PR of 165-0 on his final throw. In the 10K, MIT thought they may be able to place 1-2-3, which would be 24 points. They did that one better, placing 1-2-3-4 for 29 points. Dennis Maloney '19 and Matt Deyo 'G, easily the top seeds, planned to just run 31:30 pace and help out their teammates and save something for the 5K the following afternoon. For Deyo this meant sacrificing a perfect weather opportunity to add the 10K as a national qualifying event to his current spot in the 5K. Daniel Weiss '19 was running with his teammates and the trio opened up a 15 second gap on the second pack, which was led by Alex Knoedler '18. Knoedler was being held back by his coach, but after 6400 meters he was given the green light to move ahead of his group. After 8000 meters their coach told the first three they could back off as they were starting to drop Weiss and slowing might help Knoedler pull away from his group. Knoedler moved past Weiss with four laps to go and caught up with Maloney and Deyo who were just cruising at this point. The three finished together, all running 31:44 with Maloney finishing slightly ahead of Knoedler and Deyo. Weiss was running as fast as he could in the final lap to stay ahead of a fast closing Williams runner, finishing with a 69 to hold onto fourth place.
The 34 points by the men in the first evening was impressive and put the team 12 points up on Williams after day one. The women did even better. Nneoma Okonkwo '18 won the Long Jump with a season best 19-3 1/4 and Haley Strouf '18, seeded sixth going into the competition, finished third with a season best jump of 18-7 1/4 for 13 points in the event. In the Hammer, where Tech throwers were seeded third and fifth, both Ariela Slutsky '18 and Jackie Vahey '17 stepped up their game in the rain and 50 degree temperatures, placing second the third with throws of 169-3 and 165-6 respectively. In the final event of the evening for the women, the 10K, MIT was hoping for a big 16 points. Mary Eccles '18 took control of the race after 400 meters, dropping the pace to 86-87 per lap and leaving her competition to battle for the remaining places. Eccles finished first in 36:07.96, currently 14th on the NCAA list. Two of those battling it out for the remaining places were Tech's Bailey Margolis '19 and Darby LaPlant '19. At first the two worked together, but after 1600 meters in 6:07 Margolis started pulling away. After 3200 meters LaPlant caught back up and the two worked together for a 6:06 third 1600 and then a 6:08 before LaPlant first pulled ahead and then fell back. All the while the pair had put themselves in fifth and sixth and they fought to stay there, both running PR's. Margolis ran 38:24.95 and LaPlant 38:28.99, along with Eccles netting 17 points, one more than their seeds.
The women ended the first evening with 47 points, eight more than they were seeded while Williams had put 14 points on the board. The Engineers knew the very tough Williams team would come back strong, particularly with their potential points in the High Jump and Triple Jump. To keep the Ephs on their heels MIT had to come out strong in the early events on Saturday and they certainly came through.
Jenna Melanson '20 delivered a crushing blow in the 3000 Steeplechase. The freshman took the lead once the pace slowed during the second lap and the field let her go. Coming through the 1600 in 5:38 she had a huge lead, but slowed at this point to 89-90 pace until the final 200 where she brought it home hard to secure the victory in a personal best 10:51.98. That time puts Melanson at 10th in NCAA Division III and the top freshman in the country.
The men called that and raised it by 10 more. Aidan Gilson '19 was fine with the top seed setting the pace until the final two laps. At that point Gilson and teammate Ben Freed '18 dropped the pace from 76 to 73 and then 34's for the final 200 to go 1-2 in 9:18.89 and 9:21.97 respectively. Brian Bates '20 delivered his patented sub 30 final 200 to go from ninth to seventh in a personal best 9:38.54 for a total of 20 points when they had only been seeded for 10.
In the very next event, the 4x100, the women were seeded third and had a reasonable chance of doing of placing higher. However, on the final exchange, Okonkwo left early for the second week in succession, coming to nearly a complete stop in order to get the baton within the exchange zone. Fortunately her speed allowed her to secure sixth place, but it was the first event that did not go in MIT's favor.
In the field events, the High Jump for the women went slightly better than expected. Williams earned their expected 25 points and MIT earned an extra half point as Natalie Alper '17 tied for fourth at 5-3 when she had been seeded fifth. Williams did pick up some points in the Triple Jump. They were seeded to score 14, but managed to secure 18 to inch closer to MIT.
For the men, Scott Cameron '19 won the Pole Vault in very high and variable wind with a successful vault of 15-1 3/4. Bobby Upton '20 placed third at 14-8 and Raja Rajcic '20 earned fifth place to give their team 20 points, one more than they were seeded to score. All the while, the men's team from Williams was imploding, taking themselves out of the battle for first place. However, Tufts University, and Bates College were stepping up, Tufts hoping to add the outdoor title to their indoor victory.
The throwers for the Engineers picked up where they left off the day before. Cody Bratten '18, seeded seventh in the Shot Put, placed fifth with a 48-3 1/4 toss to give his team two bonus points. Meanwhile, Slutsky and Vahey took first and second in the Discus, which they were seeded to do. The wind was certainly not favorable for big throws, but the pair got the job done. Slutsky threw 134-7 and Vahey 134-1. Trading circles, Slutsky then placed third in the Shot Put with a fine 41-5 3/4 season best. Bratten was seeded first in the Discus, and although the junior threw well with a throw of 155-2, he was unable to place higher than third. However, Albert Menio '20 earned an unexpected point by placing eighth with a personal best of 136-5.
Back on the track, the 1500 looked to be a big event for MIT. Maryann Gong '17 was seeded third but that was it for Tech. However, Katie Bacher '20 and Marissa McPhillips, championship beasts, had something to say about that. A solid pace was set early with a 72 initial lap. Although it slowed a bit to 2:27, it picked up again as Gong tried to steal the victory. She was not able to hold the lead, but Bacher came out of nowhere to move past her for third in a PR of 4:34.50. Gong was right behind her in a season best 4:34.61. McPhillips, showing an excellent kick of her own, placed sixth in 4:36.47. The eight additional points would come in handy. Colin Godwin '17, running out of the slow section, demolished his competition with a 1:48 final 700 meters to run 3:55.52 in the extremely windy conditions. This held up for eighth place overall for another unexpected point.
In the hurdles, Hannah Chen '18, who had run an excellent 14.74 in the trials the day before, got a horrible start, falling behind immediately. She battled back a bit to finish in fifth at 15.09, but the meet was slowly swinging the momentum in Williams favor.
Jane Reed '20 lowered her personal best in the 400 with a 58.11, also placing eighth out of the slow section. Although they did not score, Henry Tareque '17 ran a huge PR of 49.55 to tie for 13th. Brandon Corts '17 also finished his career with another personal best of 50.26.
The women, seeded 1-2 in the 100, got their wings clipped when Okonkwo did not qualify for the final from Friday's prelims. Menkiti did place third in a fine 12.12, so MIT only lost an expected eight points. In the very next event, the 800, Williams fortunately gave those points back by only scoring nine points when they had been seeded to score 22. Although she was unable to score out of the slow section, McPhillips finished ninth with a PR of 2:14.92. Bacher, also ran a PR of 2:16.38.
Danny Newman '17, seeded sixth in the 100, dropped one place, finishing in seventh in 10.94. He later came back in the 200 to finish fourth in 21.84. Between those events, Chris Sweeney '18 continued to work his way back from hamstring problems, moving up from his sixth seed to place third in a season best of 53.94 in the 400IH. Chen came back from the high hurdles to perform in her premier event, the intermediate hurdles, which she was heavily favored to win. The junior easily won in 61.25. In the next event, the 200, Menkiti, seeded third, earned exactly that to keep MIT on pace.
As the teams entered the 5K, it was clear that the men would win the meet if they could earn their expected 14 points in the distance event. For the women, the meet was really close with the 5K, 4x400, 4x800 and Pole Vault remaining. Deyo and Maloney successfully made their double by placing second and third respectively in 14:36.11 and 14:37.95 to give Tech the needed 14 points and secure the victory, their fourth New England Division III Outdoor titel in a row.
The women were not as successful in the 5K. Gong did not have one of her better days. Surprised by the fast start by Emma Zehner of Williams, she lost confidence and faded badly even though she was the top seed. Her fifth place was supported by a tough, hard fought seventh place by Eccles returning from her 10K, to give MIT six points. Williams scored 16, two more than they were seeded to earn to pull within three points of MIT.
In the 4x800 Williams was seeded first and MIT fourth. MIT would be depending on the tough duo of McPhillips and Bacher to keep them in the mix. Clementine Mitchell '18, who had run a season best of 4:45.47 in the 1500 earlier, came through with a solid 2:20.9. Williams was in front, but Bacher closed the gap with a 2:16.9 despite having one shoe ripped off as she received the baton. Tessa Weiss '20 ran an inspired 2:21.7 to put MIT in fourth going into the anchor. McPhillips ran 2:15.1 in her third race of the day to bring MIT to second place in 9:14.82, the third fastest time in program history. Williams was now one point behind MIT.
In the 4x400, Williams again was the top seed while MIT was seeded fifth. Reed led off with a 59.2 and Gabriella Zak '20 ran 59.4 to keep MIT in it. Alper ran an excellent 58.0 and Chen finished with a 57.3 to move MIT into third place in 3:54.10, a season best. Williams placed second to pull ahead of MIT by one point. The meet would come down to the Pole Vault.
Earlier in the afternoon, the decision had been made to move the women's vault inside due to the dangerous wind conditions. The competition was excellent and so were the results. Williams took three points with a sixth place finish, but MIT locked up their fifth consecutive New England Division III Outdoor title and a clean sweep of the Cross Country, Indoor Track and Field and Outdoor championships by scoring 17.5 points with all MIT athletes cheering them on. Jen Tylock '17 placed second in a PR of 12-4 1/2. Kaitlyn Sparks '20 placed fourth, also jumping a PR of 12-4 1/2. Kari Stromhaug '19 was fifth at 12-0 1/2 and Kathleen Brandes '19 tied for eighth at 11-6 1/2.
The men finished the meet strong despite already having locked up the title. In the 4x800 the team placed fourth after being seeded seventh when Nathan Munet '19 ran 1:56.1, Godwin delivered a remarkable 1:54.0, Gilson a 1:57.4 and Tareque a 2:01.0 after going out in 54.7. The overall time was 7:48.77.
In the final event, the foursome of Corts (50.3), Michael Amoako '20 (49.5), Tom Frejowski '19 (51.4) and Newman (48.6) ran a season best 3:20.92 to place eighth.
MIT will give their distance runners a much deserved break and prepare for Nationals. The next meet is the NEICAAA Championship on May 12-13 followed by the NCAA Final Qualifier, hosted by MIT on May 18.
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