Balanced Attack Helps Engineers Defend NEWMAC Titles
April 29, 2017
The Men's and Women's Track & Field teams of MIT not only withstood the unusual 80 degree heat and high humidity, they overpowered the competition to win the NEWMAC Championship, the 17th in succession for the men and the ninth consecutive title for the women. The Engineers won the meet with a balanced attack that gave the women 270 points, 153.5 more than runner-up WPI. The men, seeded to win by about 50 points, prevailed with 291.5 points, 91 more than runner-up WPI.
The balance was not only between the field and running events, but also throughout the events within those respective disciplines. For the women, the only event in which they did not score was the one they scratched from in order to not run up the score, the 4x400 Relay. The men scored in all but the 110HH and Javelin, event areas where they are really void with the exception of decathlete Luke Gray '18, who is primarily a pole vaulter. The men's field events scored 140.5 points while the runners collected 151 points. The women's field events totaled 118 points while the track athletes scored 152.5. The women earned nine victories, as did the men.
Michelle Menkiti '20, broke both of her freshman records as she finished second in both the 100 and 200 Meter sprints. In the 100 the rookie ran an impressive 12.11, a .29 PR. In the 200 she broke 25 seconds for the first time, running 24.85. For her performances Menkiti earned co-Rookie of the Year for Track & Field in the NEWMAC Conference.
Two individuals earned double victories, Nneoma Okonkwo '18 and Hannah Chen '18. Okonkwo won her primary event, the Long Jump with an 18-10 1/2 performance. In the 100, Okonkwo ran a personal best 12.04 to edge Menkiti and set up a 1-2 finish. Chen ran to a personal best in the high hurdles, running 14.46 for the victory. In the 400IH, Chen won easily, running 62.61 despite the strong headwind on the backstretch.
Jackie Vahey '17 totaled the most points for the women. Vahey won the Discus with a throw of 135-3 1/2, finished second in the Hammer with a toss of 170-7 1/2 and put the Shot 39-6 1/4 to finish fourth in that event, totaling 23 points. Both Okonkwo and Chen were on the victorious 4x100 relay, along with Menkiti and Jane Reed '20, which ran 47.80, giving both juniors 22.5 points. The other 20 point scorer was another thrower, Ariela Slutsky '18. The junior did not have her best day, but competed well, placing second in the Discus (133-9), third in the Hammer (168-4 1/4) and third in the Shot Put (40-0 1/4).
The most dominant event for the women was the 1500. Tech earned 27 of a possible 29 points, which is limited by the NEWMAC rule of only allowing four entries per event. Maryann Gong '17, a national qualifier in both the 5K and 10K, had not raced a 1500 as yet this season, and because of another NEWMAC rule had to run in the slow section with a seed of no-time. This was unfortunate for the rest of the competition who missed an opportunity to compete against the 15 time All American. Gong ignored the wind, ran splits of 71, 74, 74 and 57 for a solo 4:36.32. In the seeded section, Marissa McPhillips '20 waited until less than 600 meters to go before she took the lead and pushed through for the section victory in a huge personal best of 4:38.51. Katie Bacher '20 also ran a personal best, placing fourth in 4:43.78. Clemmie Mitchell '18, still suffering the after effects of being sick, finished fifth in 4:56.46.
Natalie Alper '17 was another victor for the women. Alper cleared 5-4 1/4 to win the High Jump on misses. Jenna Melanson '20 cruised to victory in the 3000 Steeplechase, winning in 11:19.26.
The high point scorer for the victorious men's team was Jon Fakkema '19 with 26 points. The sophomore had a very impressive day. He started the day with a strong effort of 140-7 for second place in the Discus. He then won the Hammer with a personal best of 164-3 1/4 and finished the day with another second place and a personal best of 45-5 1/4 in the Shot Put.
The only double winner for the Engineers was Cody Bratten '18, which earned him NEWMAC Field Event Athlete of the Year. The junior won the Discus with a throw of 156-10 1/2 and the Shot Put at 48-2 1/4. Having not throw the Hammer in over a year, he added one point by placing eighth in that event.
Arinze Okeke '17 showed significant improvement in his second week back. He won the Triple Jump with a performance of 46-1 1/2 and placed second in the Long Jump with a leap of 21-11 3/4. Scott Cameron also joined the winner's circle, earning the victory in the Pole Vault with a height of 15-5. Danny Newman '17 had quite the day in the sprints, taking the 200 victory with a personal best of 21.68 and placing second in the 100 at 10.89. Newman also led off the 4x100 Relay with teammates Michael Amoako '19, Ken Acquah '20 and Tre Albritten '18 to place third in a season best of 43.10. Aidan Gilson '19 won the 3000 Steeplechase in a casual 9:39.81 and then came back to place fourth in the 400IH with a 58.86 performance. Daniel Weiss '19 ran a great race in the 5K to win in 15:30.71. The sophomore took the lead just past the 2K mark and never relinquished it, running 37, 35, 34 for 200 splits in the final 600 meters. Alex Knoedler '18 used similar tactics, taking the lead with a strong move just 2900 meters into the race. After a 5:10 first mile in the humid conditions, the pace began to slow, so after a lap in 82, the junior blasted to the front and never gave up the lead, winning in 32:37.96.
The most dominant events for the Engineers were the Shot Put and Triple Jump, both events netting 26 points. After Bratten and Fakkema, Adam Estes '20 threw an amazing personal best of 40-7 3/4 for fourth place and Albert Menio '20 added a sixth at 40-2 1/2. After Okeke's victory in the Triple Jump, Jason Villanueva '19 added a second at 44-6 3/4, Ryan Prinster '18 placed third with a 44-6 performance and Shane Lyons '20 jumped 40-8 1/4 for eighth place. Just one point behind, the men's 5K earned 25 points with Billy Woltz '20 (15:46.37), David Walter '18 (15:55.69) and Steven Goldy '20 (15:56.67) placing third, fourth and fifth respectively behind Weiss's victory.
Next week, both teams hope to successfully defend their New England Division III titles at Williams College. Neither MIT team will be favored, but that has not prevented the Engineers from being victorious in the past.
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