MIT Women Place Fourth at NCAA Championship

Win Vercauteren Cup

May 26-28, 2011

MIT entered the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship with 12 athletes, nine women and three men. Competing for the women were Jackie Brew '14, in the 4x100 (13th) and 4x400 Relays (2nd), Hazel Briner '11, in the Heptathlon (13th), Pole Vault (19th) and 4x400 Relay (2nd), Karin Fisher '11, in the Pole Vault (3rd), Martha Gross '12, in the 4x100 (13th) and 4x400 Relays (2nd), Anna Holt-Gosselin '11, in the 10K (2nd) and 5k (4th), Portia Jones '12, in the 100 (9th), 100HH (16th), 200 (3rd), 4x100 (13th) and 4x400 Relay (2nd), Lauren Kuntz '13 in the Pole Vault (9th), Amy Magnuson 'G, in the 100HH (16th)and Jamie Simmons '12, in the 400 (2nd), 400IH (2nd), 4x100 (13th) and 4x400 Relays (2nd). Representing the men's team was Ken Cooper '13, in the Hammer Throw, Vlad Sobes '11, in the Javelin Throw and Paul Welle '11, in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase.

The night before the start of the meet, at the Coaches' and Athlete's banquet, Vlad Sobes was honored with the Elite 88 Award, which goes to the individual for each gender at the NCAA Championship with the highest GPA. In cases of a tie, the winner is the one with the highest number of academic units. Sobes has a perfect 4.0 GPA in Nuclear Engineering. An MIT athlete, Kyle Hannon '13, also won the award at the Indoor Championship. For the women, Lauren Kuntz was honored as one of the five with a perfect GPA, but she has less units than the winner. Portia Jones was awarded the New England Region Female Track Athlete of the Year.

For the women, accustomed to being on the podium the past three championships, placing third in last year's Outdoor Track and Field Championship and this year's Cross Country and Indoor Track & Field Championship, there was the extra incentive to win the Vercauteren Cup, an award given to the program with the best total of NCAA finishes for the three sports in the same academic year. MIT is leading the country going into the meet with six points with Williams College the next closest at 12 points. Last year, MIT lost the award by one point to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

Day one began with the Heptathlon where Briner was hoping to improve on her seed to get into the top eight and score some points for the team. Beginning with a personal best in the 100HH, she then had a difficult High Jump, only clearing 4' 7". Even though she finished the first day with a solid Shot Put of 34', she was only able to manage a 27.10 in the 200, which put her back in 21st place overall in the event.

Ken Cooper was the victim of nature's whims, as after one throw in his flight, the meet was postponed due to lightning. When he returned to the competition his next two throws were fouls and his first throw was not enough to make finals.

On the track, things improved significantly. In the 4x100 Relay trials, MIT was not favored to make the finals or score. However, Tech new if they extended the handoff zone another five meters, the time should drop significantly. The handoffs were very good for Brew, Gross, Simmons and Jones, but still too early in the zone to guarantee the baton would maintain the speed through each zone. The result was amazing nonetheless asMIT was the third fastest team with 46.93, a .73 improvement on their best and a new MIT record.

Simmons was up next in the trials of the 400IH. Despite decelerating at all but the last two hurdles she still ran the fastest time in the trials with a 60.62. If Simmons is able to find her rhythm she will be very difficult to beat in the finals.

In the 200 trials, Jones got out well and had no competition in the final 100 as she walked away with a heat win in 24.61 to make the finals with the second fastest time of the day.

The 4x400 brought back the same foursome as the 4x100, but a different order. Simmons would leadoff with Gross running the second leg. Brew, not having run a 400 since junior high school, not even in practice, would handle the third leg and Jones would anchor. Even though MIT had run the second fastest time in the country with their 3:48.53, they new that all the teams were good and that a 3:48 may not qualify for the finals. With Brew being a wild card of sorts, the pressure was on Simmons and Gross to get the job done early. Simmons recovered enough from her 400IH trials to turn a 55.9 leadoff to give MIT the lead. Gross ran a personal best split of 56.2 to keep MIT in the lead by about 10 meters. Brew received an excellent handoff and took off fast. Thinking she was not that good and should not be too far ahead, she intentionally slowed after the 200, but still managed to keep MIT in the lead with a 57.7 leg. Jones hammered home a 55.9 to give MIT a 3:45.71 for the fastest time in the trials.

The final event on day one for MIT was the 10K. Holt-Gosselin has been nursing a lower leg injury for the past month. The reduced mileage and lack or hard efforts seemed to take their toll. The spirit was there as she stayed with the lead group of five through two miles, running mile splits of 5:35 and 5:34. However, at that time her legs started to give out and she was no longer able to stay with the lead group, falling off badly.

At the end of day one, MIT is in position to do very well in Saturday's finals. Day two brings a whole new set of challenges, including the women's Pole Vault that was moved due to the lightning delay.

Day two began with the aforementioned Pole Vault. The opening height was 11' 1 1/2, which both Briner and Kuntz cleared on first attempt. Kuntz cleared 11' 7, but Briner was not able to make the necessary adjustments and could not successfully clear the height. Kuntz then cleared 11' 11, which meant she was now All American in the event since only eight vaulters were remaining, including three who had not come in yet. At 12' 3, Fisher came in and cleared on her first attempt. Kuntz also cleared for a new PR, becoming one of the final five vaulters. At 12' 7 1/4 Kuntz again cleared for a new personal best. Fisher also cleared and now there were only four vaulters remaining. Kuntz did not clear 12' 11, but Fisher and the other two vaulters did. Fisher was in third on misses, but reversed things by clearing 13' 3 on her first attempt while the other two vaulters took two to three attempts to clear. Fisher was in first and for anyone to beat her they would have to set a new NCAA Division III record. They both cleared it, dropping Fisher to third when she was unable to make the height. Placing third and fourth with new personal bests and scoring 11 points for MIT far exceeded expectations and put MIT on the scoreboard early in the meet.

Next up for MIT was the first running event of the evening, the 100HH. Not seeded to score, Jones and Magnuson had All America experience and knew how to get the job done. Magnuson was runner-up in 2007, missed the 2008 season with a hamstring injury, placed fourth in 2009 and missed all of 2010 with another hamstring injury. Jones earned fifth place in 2010. Magnuson was in the first heat and brought back the old magic and then some, running a personal best of 14.26 to make the finals as the fifth fastest qualifier. Jones was in heat two. Despite still having fears of the event due to the fall that tore her ulnar ligament and resulting surgery earlier in the season, Jones blasted out of the blocks, going on to win the heat in a season best of 14.13, the fastest time in the trials.

In the 400, Simmons was the second seed, but the field was very fast and not separated by very much time. Running out of the second heat, Simmons ran a very strong 55.96, but finished third in her heat. Even though her time was faster than anyone in the third heat, she did not make the finals due to the advancement rules that took the top two of each heat and the next fastest two individuals. The top four in the first heat ran faster than Simmons, which bumped her out by :07.

Jones was back in the 100, where she was not seeded to score. The 100HH seemed to take a lot out of her concentration and focus because her start was abysmal in the 100. She drove straight up at the start, getting out of the race in the first 10 meters. She recovered enough to run 12.45, but not close to qualifying for the finals.

The final event of day two for MIT was the Men's 3000 Meter Steeplechase. Paul Welle had not raced since May 7, due to a difficult double of the 5K and Steeplechase run that day. Not thinking he would get into the NCAA field, Welle had lost some of his training the past couple of weeks. However, his attitude and competitiveness were certainly with him in this race. Going with the large pack of leaders, Welle held on very well despite the first 1600 in 4:49. At that point he lost a little ground with a 75 second lap. He fell to 10th place in the large field, but then held on to finish in a very respectable 9:17.38.

On the final day, MIT has Sobes competing in the men's Javelin. The women have a chance to add to their 11 points with Jones in the final of the 100HH and the 200, Magnuson in the 100HH, Simmons in the 400IH, Holt-Gosselin in the 5K and the quartet of Brew, Gross, Jones and Simmons in both the 4x100 and 4x400 Relays. It will probably take over 40 points to be of of the top four teams on the podium and MIT has a chance to do just that.

Day three, the final day of competition, finally brought warm temperatures and sunshine, but also a very significant headwind on the homestretch reaching four meters per second. MIT began the day with the 4x100 Relay. Tech had a great start and excellent handoffs, but just were not fast enough to better their 46.93 in the trials. Running a 47.12 they place fifth, still much better than their 13th seed entering the meet.

Next were the 100HH, another event where MIT was not seeded to score, but with both Jones and Magnuson in the finals, points were coming MIT's way. Again, into the headwind, the times were not fast, but Jones had an excellent race to take second place in 14.57. Magnuson placed fourth in 14.64 to give MIT another 12 points, already totaling 17 for the day where MIT was not supposed to score.

Next for MIT was the Men's Javelin Throw. Vlad Sobes had been nursing a bad shoulder for the past month and had not thrown in three weeks. On his first throw he pulled down a little on the javelin at the release, had a poor throw and fouled intentionally. On his second throw he managed 192-8 for his best throw, but not enough to reach finals.

Back on the track, Simmons was up in the 400IH. Having the fastest time in the trials, MIT was hoping for big points from Simmons. Her timing was not quite there and with the strong headwind on the homestretch was unable to make up the ground she usually does. Running an excellent 60.65, she was only.08 out of second place, but ended up fourth for five more points.

Jones was back up in the 200. Seeded third in the event, Jones came through with that place in 24.91, a slow time, but with the strong wind the entire field was slow. The six points gave MIT a total of 39 points and guaranteed a podium position of fourth place. However, with the 5K and 4x400 Relay remaining there was still a chance for MIT to pass Methodist for third place since they were finished competing and totaled 48 points.

In the 5000, Holt-Gosselin gamely returned to the track to try to finish her collegiate career with a strong race and score some points for the Engineers. Running a great race for the first half of the race, Holt-Gosselin's legs would not cooperate, leaving her exhausted and unable to compete well despite here fierce desire to stay in contention. She had a marvelous career, leaving her collegiate career with four varsity records, the indoor 3K, outdoor 5K and 10K as well as the anchor of the DMR.

The final event was the 4x400 Relay. In order for MIT to move up from fourth place they would have to win the event. Simmons did her part, throwing down a marvelous lead-off leg of 54.9, her fifth 400 in three days. Gross began her leg with a 10 meter lead thanks to an excellent handoff. She was unable to match her leg from the trials, perhaps due to an ankle sprain that she says did not bother her. Her 57.1 leg put her in third by a few feet. Brew, now starting her second 400 ever, went out with the two leaders, but died off in the final 200. Her 58.0 was excellent but put Jones 30 meters down from first and at least 20 from second. Jones went out strong, cutting the lead in half by the 250 mark, but was unable to finish it off. MIT finished in third with a time of 3:45.93.

MIT's fourth place not only was the fourth NCAA Championship in succession where the team reached the podium (top four teams), but the 10 points in the Vercauteren Cup Standings gave MIT the title of the best Women's Program in the Country for the sports of Cross Country, Indoor Track and Outdoor Track.

The entire NCAA party for MIT is looking forward to the summer break and a rejuvenation for the 2011-12 year.

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