MIT TAKES VICTORIES AT SPRINGFIELD ON TALENT, BUT SOMETHING WAS MISSING

April 23, 2011

The MIT Engineers traveled to the Springfield College Invitational to compete against host Springfield, Keene State, Wheaton College (Mass), Manhattanville, New Haven, ECSU, UMaine Presque-Isle, St. Rose College, Roger Williams University, and City College of New York. The weather conditions were not ideal with rain to mist-like conditions and temperatures in the 40s. The Engineer’s focus for the day was to post qualifying times and distances or to improve upon their seeds for the NE DIII Championships, while doing their best to win the meet despite being without all distance runners (except a few steeplechasers) and multi-event athletes. MIT was also using the competition to decide who would be competing for the NEWMAC Championship in some of the events.

MIT did manage to win both meets. The women claimed first with 187.5 points while the only team close was Springfield with 174. The men took the crown with 218.5 with Springfield again claiming second with 154.5. MIT won both meets on pure talent, not the typical " do it for the team" mentality that MIT is known for.

Due to the inclement weather conditions, the high jump and the pole vault were held on the indoor track. Matt Falk '12, started the day with a leap of 6’3 ¼” with solid attempts at the ECAC qualifying mark of 6’4”. He finished in second place. In the men’s pole vault competition, several of the men had great performances. Yida Gao '13, posted two personal bests and a season best of 14’ 7 ¼” which was a foot improvement from his previous personal record. Teammates Cyrus Vafadari '12, and Nate Peterson '12, also jumped 14’7 ½” to sweep the top three positions. Cory Monroe '13, and Davey Hunt '12, also posted season bests, tying for fifth place with a vault of 13’ 7 ¼”.

The first event on the track was the 3000 Meter Steeplechase where Stephen Serene '12, won the event in 9:48.47, but did not better his time. Christian Reed '14, had a season best performance of 10:12.85 to place third. Unfortunately, Christian’s time was not good enough to qualify him for New England Division III Championships.

MIT dominated the throws, winning three of the four events. In the Hammer Throw, Ken Cooper '13, threw 177’ 10” to place second in the competition. Ken also placed third in the Shot Put and Discus. In the Shot Put, Mitch Kelley '11, threw of 47’ 10 ½” to win the event. Kelley also placed second in the Discus Throw. Vlad Sobes posted a provisional NCAA qualifier and season best performance in the Javelin with a throw of 194’ 4” for the victory. CK Umachi '12, won the Discus throw to lead MIT to a 1-2-3 sweep of the event. Umachi also placed fourth in the Hammer.

Another season and personal best was earned by Jackson Wirekoh '13, who jumped 43’ 4 ½” in the triple jump to improve his seed on the New England Division III qualifiers’ list.

Some of the running events did not go as hoped for the men. The men’s 1500 group did a poor job with pacing in the fast section with splits of 60-68-67-47 (300), but still placed first (Kyle Hannon '13), fourth (Justin Bullock '14) and fitth (Jay McKenna '14). In the men’s high hurdles, Drew Musacchio '11, Brian Djaja '13, and Brent Johnson '14, placed 2-3-4, but did so with the seasons slowest performances. DJ Ronde '13, placed fourth in the 400, but did not take advantage of the lack of wind, running 51.33.

Some running events went pretty well for the Engineers. Pat Marx '13, came in second with a time of 1:55.76 in the 800m to record his season best, and Jared Forman '13, came in fourth with a one second improvement on his season’s best with a time of 1:57.56. In the 100 and 200 Meter races, Josh Duncavage placed third and fourth respectively with times of 11.13 and 22.83, a little slower than recent weeks when he had strong tailwinds. Mike Duplessis '14, made his return to the track in the 100 and 200, after missing all of the indoor season due to a hip flexor injury, placing tenth in both events. Rounding out the day was the men’s 4x400 Meter Relay (DJ Ronde 52.2, Logan Trimble '13 53.0, Josh Duncavage 50.9 and Pat Marx 50.0) that narrowly missed a season’s best with a time of 3:26.29 despite substituting Trimble for the dependable Tyler Singer-Clark '14.

On the women’s side, Kristine Bunker '14, had a strong performance in just her second meet after recovering from a stress reaction. She qualified for the New England Division III Championship with a leap of 4’11”, placing fourth overall. In the other vertical jump, the ladies pole vault was one of the best events across the board for MIT. Lauren Kuntz '13, won the pole vault with a NCAA provisional qualifier and season’s best of 11’ 7 ¾”. Becky Stavely '11, posted a personal best of 11’ 1 ¾” placing second in the vault. Kate Wymbs '14, came in 3rd with an improvement on her personal best with a vault of 10’8”. Karin Fisher '11, came in after everyone was finished vaulting but was unable to clear the height.

In the other field events MIT did not fair quite as well with the exception of the triple jump. Lily Guevara '14, fell short of her season’s best by an inch, jumping 31’10” to finish with a competitive fifth place. After a frustrating week in the pole vault, Karin Fisher turned it around with a competitive attitude in the triple jump finals. She entered the finals in second place only to take the lead with a jump of 34’ ¼” and go on to win the event. Brook Hamilton '14, threw 35’ 1” in the shot put which was not good enough for a season’s best but earned her a second place finish.

The women’s steeplechase did not go as planned due to the intensity of the rain; however, Maggie Lloyd '12, placed first and Martina de Geus '14, second with times of 11:28.53 and 11:40.09 respectively.

The women’s 4x100 took first, but did not perform well on the hand-offs. During the first exchange Martha Gross '12, took off too early, and in the third exchange Portia Jones '12, took off late which caused them to run a 49.64, a much slower time than they are capable of running.

Brooke Johnson '13, continuing to improve, shined in the 1500m, winning it in a time of 4:48.05, which is a season’s best and qualified for the New England Division III Championship. She pulled away from the pack early in race and took a commanding lead in the final 200 meters of the race. Louis van den Heuvel '14, posted a second place finish, also pulling away from the pack but unable to follow Johnson in the last 200.

Amy Magnuson 'G, and Megan Bumgarner '14, placed 1-2 in the high hurdles. Magnuson was far off her best, running 15.42, but Bumgarner ran a personal best of 15.82. Portia Jones, just back from a week and half off due to hand surgery, did not finish the race.

In the 400 Meter race, Martha Gross, came in second place but could not improve her season’s best time despite the lack of wind. Kirsten Aarsvold '11, who came in sixth, ran a two second season best with a time of 1:02.53.

In the intermediate hurdles, Jamie Simmons '12, finished first, running a 1:03.92. She began the race with an aggressive start to provide her with a season’s best and a NCAA provisional qualifier.

Rounding out the day was the women’s 4x400m relay (Jamie Simmons 59.4, Martha Gross 60.0, Megan Bumgarner 61.8, Portia Jones 58.0) with a time of 3:59.23, which was two seconds off their season’s best and no where near what they are capable of running.

Although the day did have some solid performances and both teams won, the team lacked a competitive team spirit and failed to achieve the goal of posting more than a few New England Division III qualifying marks. The team will hope to defend their NEWMAC titles at the Coast Guard Academy on Saturday, April 30th. They need a definite change of attitude to be ready to take on Williams the following week at the New England Division III Championship hosted by MIT, May 5-6-7.

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