MIT Experiences Mixed Results at Point Loma Spring Break Meet

March 26-27, 2011

The MIT Track & Field team traveled to California for their spring break trip from March 20-27, staying in Claremont while training at Pomona Pitzer Colleges for the first half of the week and competing at the Point Loma Nazarene Spring Invitational on the weekend. However, prior to leaving for California, a few MIT distance runners competed in the Northeastern College Invitational to get some qualifying times out of the way.

At Northeastern University, Anna Holt-Gosselin '11, fresh off of her 5K All America performance indoors, competed in, won and qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 10K, running a new MIT record of 36:02.79. On the men's side, Paul Welle '11, and Richard Prevost '11, both qualified for the New England Division III 5000 in placing 1-2 with respective times of 15:17.18 and 15:23.45. Gihan Amarasiriwardena '11, competed in the 10K, also qualifying for the New England Division III Championship with his 32:43.48.

In California, the team arrived to a virtual flood in LA, as many inches of rain fell that day. While it continued to rain each day of the week except Tuesday, it did not affect the practices or meet with the exception of part of Monday's practice. The temperatures in the low 60's all week were unseasonable but a welcome change from what New England was experiencing.

Due to economic constraints, MIT only competed with 13 men and 14 women in the 12 team meet, while the other teams had a full compliment of athletes. Those who traveled were those who needed the outdoor track and warm environment to benefit in the skill events. Outside of the relays, hurdles and Steeplechase events, MIT only brought one middle-distance runner. The meet scored 19 places (20 down to 1, skipping 19) with no team allowed more than two point scorers per event. MIT was at such a disadvantage they just focused on strong performances, not scoring points.

The meet began on Friday with the Hammer Throw. The MIT men wasted no time in showing dominance as Ken Cooper '13, and CK Umachi '12 went 1-2 with throws of 166-6 and 165-8 respectively. On the women's side, Brooke Hamilton '14, debuted in the Hammer with a throw of 114-4.

On Saturday, MIT continued to do well in the throwing events on the men's side. Vlad Sobes '11, placed second in the Javelin with his 190-10 NCAA provisional qualifying mark. In the Shot Put, Cooper won his second event, throwing 46-9. Mitch Kelley '11, could not get his right foot under him and opened up too soon every throw, not coming close to his personal best of 49', settling for a third place with his 44-00 3/4. Kelley did much better in his favorite event, the Discus, where he won with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 162-6. Umachi supported with a second place 149-0 personal best and even though he could not count in the scoring as MIT's third performer, Cooper threw an excellent 143-9, finishing fourth among the throwers. Hamilton was also the lone MIT thrower for the women in the Shot Put and Discus. In the Shot, Hamilton finished fourth in 37-06 3/4. She also placed eighth in the Discus Throw with a 103-8 performance. In the Javelin, heptathletes, Hazel Briner '11 and Jackie Konopka '14 joined Hamilton. Konopka came out on top for MIT with a throw of 89-7.

In the jumps, MIT continued to show their dominance in the Pole Vault. Nathan Peterson '12, cleared 15-6 to win the event while Cyrus Vafadari '12, cleared 14-0 to place seventh. For the women, Karin Fisher '11 and Hazel Briner '11, claimed the top two spots with vaults of 12-0 and 11-7 1/4 respectively. Lauren Kuntz '13, would have placed third with her 11-6 vault but was not allowed to score as the third MIT vaulter. In the High Jump, Matt Falk '12, cleared 6-3 1/4 to place sixth overall and Umachi showed his versatility by jumping 5-11 1/4. Megan Bumgarner '14, tied a freshman record with her sixth place 5-1 jump. Briner and Konopka supported with jumps of 4-9. MIT did not bring any male horizontal jumpers, so gave up significant points in those two events. Jackie Brew '14, started her dominant meet with a long jump victory at 17-3 1/2 and backed that up by winning the Triple Jump with a jump of 34-9 1/2. Fisher showed she can do much more than vault by claiming fourth at 33-4 1/2.

In the sprints, MIT held their own. Josh Duncavage '13, won the 100 in 11.09. Babajide Akinronbi '14, would have placed well but pulled up at the 70 meter mark with a hamstring strain. Duncavage teamed with Tyler Singer-Clark '14, who came back after placing third in his 400 debut with a 49.96, to place fifth and fourth respectively in 22.63 and 22.66. In addition, the 4x100 relay of Duncavage, Nick Leonard '11, Singer-Clark and Akinronbi placed second with a fine early season time of 42.97. For the women, Brew won her third event when she set a new MIT freshman record in the 100 with an excellent 12.60. In the 200, Portia Jones '11, surpassed the NCAA auto standard with her second place 24.44 despite a sprained ligament in her thumb (affecting her start) and abrasion on her cheek from a nasty fall in the 100HH earlier. Martha Gross '12, came back from a 59.56 fourth place in the 400 to support Jones in the 200 with a 26.46, just ahead of Brew in 26.54. The quartet of Brew, Gross, Jamie Simmons '12, and Jones ran a very nice NCAA provisional qualifying time of 48.49 to place third in the 4x100 relay. Gross left a step and a half early to cause a slow-down when she ran away from Brew, but overall the handoffs were very solid.

In the hurdle events, things did not go quite as well as planned. Duncavage ran a personal best of 16.01, but still no where near his potential. Leonard was not driving his hips through the hurdles and ran a 16.30, far off his best. Leonard had a rough outing in the 400IH as well, running 58.23. MIT's strongest hurdle event for the men, the 3000 Steeplechase, was cancelled due to the carpet in the water pit coming unglued and creating a safety hazard. The women did not fair much better. With All America hurdlers Jones and Amy Magnuson 'G, MIT expected to dominate the 100HH. However, Jones did not sprint well between the early hurdles and when she tried to catch up to the leader her lead leg went just under the top of the hurdle causing a very nasty fall. Magnuson, just behind had to stop to keep from stepping on Jones, losing too much to place. Brew came through with a third place 15.77 and Briner placed sixth in 16.07. In the 400IH, Simmons, hoping to qualify for Nationals, could not get her rhythm as she went out too slow and had troubles with the majority of the hurdles. She settled for a third place 65.63. Bumgarner added a 71.10 as she was just too apprehensive in attacking the event in the early going. In the Steeplechase, Martina de Geus '14, was never in the race as her legs felt fatigued from the gun. Her 11:57.55 earned her fifth place as she was passed at the finish line by two runners.

Not able to run the Steeplechase, Paul Welle '11, instead competed in the 1500 and 800. Welle set personal bests in both events, running 4:00.70 and 1:56.70 respectively. Welle has now qualified for the New England Division III Championship in the 800, 1500 and 5K, only lacking his main event, the Steeplechase. Louise van den Heuvel '14, also competed in the 1500 and 800. In the 1500, she was unable to mount a kick, but the fast early pace was likely part of the reason. Her 4:47.56 earned her fifth place overall and was close to an MIT freshman record. In the 800, van den Heuvel only managed 10th place, but did earn the freshman record with her 2:21.83. De Geus supported with a 2:27.47 effort.

At the end of an eight and a half hour day, the women's 4x400 got on the track, looking to at least qualify provisionally for the NCAA Championship. Simmons started things off pretty well although she did not get out quite as fast as she should have. Simmons handed off to Briner in third place in 58.0. Briner got out very well, but did not seem to have much in the final 200 as she finished in 60.3, at least two seconds slower than expected. Gross left early on the fatigued Briner, eventually slowing down to a crawl before stretching Briner out to make the pass. Running with her back to the finish line in order to receive the baton, by the time Gross received the baton and turned around she ran into the back of the previous incoming runner, causing a further delay. What was a 10 meter gap to second place was now 30 meters. This fact seemed to further affect Gross, who only managed a 61.6. Jones was too far down to do much, but her 57.6 was respectable given the circumstances.

Overall, the women finished third out of 12 teams with 390 points. The men finished fourth out of 12 with 346 points.

Next week, MIT is at home in the Engineer's Cup versus RPI and WPI on Saturday, April 2 with the meet starting at 12:00.

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