TWO VARSITY AND ONE FRESHMAN RECORD START THINGS OFF FOR MIT AT NATIONALS

May 23-25, 2013

MIT took 15 individuals to the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championship hosted by the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. Eight women and seven men represented the Engineers. The men were entered in both relays; the 4x100 and 4x400, the 200, 400, 400IH and 800. The women were entered in the Heptathlon, Pole Vault, Javelin, 1500, 3000 Steeplechase, 5K and 10K. To be selected for these championships one had to be among the 20 best men per event, the 22 best women per event or one of the top 16 relay teams among the 400+ Division III colleges in the country.

On the first of three days of competition, Jackie Konopka '14 started things off for MIT, and she did so in a new personal best of 14.83 in the 100HH, the third best time in the 22 member field. She proceeded to jump 5-3, throw the shot 31-1 and run the 200 in 26.77 to end up in 11th place with 2826 points at the end of day one of the two day event.

The men were up next in the 4x100 Relay. Michael DuPlessis '14, Michael Kaba '16, Josh Duncavage '13 and Tyler Singer-Clark '14 were racing together for the second time, having just qualified for this meet last weekend and were seeded 13th entering the meet. The top two teams in each of the three sections and the next three fastest times would make the nine team final. DuPlessis got out well and seemed to out sprint his competitors. At the exchange he was reaching and not sprinting through the handoff, making it too close for comfort, but little speed was lost as Kaba got the baton. Kaba ran an excellent backstretch and MIT was dominating the event. At the handoff to Duncavage, Kaba caught him too early, causing a loss of speed, but the team was still racing well. The handoff to Singer-Clark was solid and the anchor did his thing, moving past one or two competitors down the homestretch to give MIT second place in their heat in 41.29, automatically qualifying for Saturday's final. Their performance was also a new MIT record.

In the women's Pole Vault, MIT had two entries, Lauren Kuntz '13 and Cimmy Virdi '16. Kuntz was the national runner-up indoors and was seeded fifth going into this competition. Virdi barely made the field of 22, but had the potential to do well. Four vaulters went out at the first height and four more at the second height, both of which Virdi made on her first attempts. At 12-1 1/2 Virdi missed all three attempts, finishing in ninth place, one out of the scoring and All America honors. Kuntz did not have her best day. Whether the fact that the MIT poles had been damaged in shipping bothered her or she could not find the right pole to handle her greater speed due to the tailwind, the fact was that she missed all three attempts at her opening height, thus no heighting even though she was ready to vault very well. It was a difficult way for the senior vaulter, who had accomplished so much for MIT, to end her collegiate career.

The women's 1500 was up next on the track, and both Brooke Johnson '13 and Sarah Quinn '16 were representing MIT. Johnson, seeded 10th, was in the first heat and Quinn, seeded 18th, was racing in the second heat. The final field would be made up of the top four from each heat and the next four fastest times. As predicted, the first heat went out slowly as the top seed took the lead and slowed everything down as she was trying to save energy so that she could compete favorably in the 800 and 5K later in the meet. Johnson was prepared for this scenario and just bided her time, waiting for the kick that would likely happen in the final 600 meters. The 800 split was 2:34 as things started to pick up. Johnson ran the next 400 in 71 as she broke out with a group of six. She covered the final 300 in 50 to just finish in the top four, passing through to the finals. It was a good thing Johnson had her kick, because the slow early pace was going to keep everyone not in the top four out of the finals. The second heat made sure of this by taking the pace out in 70 for the first quarter. Even though the pace slowed to 74 for the next two quarters, the second heat still came through 1200 eight seconds faster than heat one. Quinn was right at the front and mistakenly took the lead with about 250 to go instead of waiting another hundred meters. Her move, as well as her failure to relax in the early part of the race caused her to tighten up in the final 100, losing places, but still qualifying on time for the final with a new MIT rookie record of 4:32.19.

Next up for MIT was the 400IH. Kaba was seeded sixth, but with his inability to use his non-dominant leg and the fact he was too fast to go 15 steps between hurdles and not fast enough to go 13 steps, meant he would need a vicious head wind on the backstretch to do well. Earlier in the day this was the case, but by race time the wind had died down. Sure enough Kaba was stutter stepping each hurdle as he was just too close each time. He had plenty of speed and energy remaining on the home stretch but no ability to use it. His 53.08 was a fine time under the circumstances, but had him in 11th place, two places out of the finals.

Singer-Clark was up again, this time in the 200, an event in which he was seeded sixth at 21.37. He stood up slightly at the start, not pushing back as well as he should, but he ran a solid race, screaming down the home stretch to place third in his heat in 21.57. He just missed finals, placing 10th, one hundredth of a second behind the final qualifier.

The women's 10K was next and the ninth seeded Elaine McVay '15 was ready to race despite her four exams, three in the past 36 hours. A group of three broke away at a suicidal pace of 81 second quarters. The remainder of the pack settled in a pretty fast pace of 85 second quarters and McVay was in this pack. After a first mile of 5:39 the second pack started splitting up a bit but McVay looked to be running effortlessly towards the front of the chase group. Her second 1600 was 5:43 as was the third as things continued to thin out. In the fourth 1600, which was 5:49 it was clear McVay was feeling good, but hesitant to move ahead of her group of seven, which was now catching up to the leaders. If McVay had made her move with seven laps to go she may have been able to win the race, but she was unaware of how close the leader actually was to the chase group. The fifth 1600 was 5:55, mostly because McVay was just staying with the dying pack. In the meantime two of the three in the lead pack were coming back fast. The chase group started moving and so did McVay, dropping a 5:43 sixth mile and closing with an 81 to move into third place with an overall time of 35:53.33, just 11 seconds out of first and a new PR.

Martina de Geus '14 was the sixth seed in the 3000 Steeplechase and feeling great about making finals and being an All America winner. The first 1600 was a quick 5:41, but de Geus looked like she was taking a stroll in the park and feeling comfortable. With 1000 meters to go, de Geus went over the water jump and landed awkwardly, doing damage to her knee. Falling off the pace badly, and limping through the final two laps, she finished with a very disappointing 11:12.12.

The final event of the evening was the men's 4x400 and the fourth seeded team from MIT was pretty sure they would make the finals. The three freshmen; States Lee '16, Derek Barnes '16 and Kaba, joined Singer-Clark to test their skills against the best in the country. Lee led off and certainly did the job, burying a 47.8 lead off to give MIT the lead over the top seed from Augustana and the rest of the field in heat two. Kaba's handoff could have been a bit better, but overall was much better than when the team qualified for this event two weeks prior. Kaba maintained the lead, running a 47.8 of his own as he handed off to Barnes. This handoff was much improved. Barnes held the lead through 300 meters but tightened up in the homestretch, giving up the lead to Augustana, but still running 48.6. Singer-Clark took off too early on the dying Barnes and had to slow down to get the baton, losing some valuable ground. Once Singer-Clark got running he did a good job of holding onto second and even closing on Augustana. In the final few meters Singer-Clark was passed by another team, but finished in third in a new MIT record of 3:11.91. Singer-Clark's split was 47.6 and could have been sub 47 with a solid handoff. The quartet made the finals on Saturday and are looking for an even better finish.

Friday was light, but pretty significant. Konopka knew she would need a big long jump in order to move into scoring position from her current 11th place. However, it was not to be as she went 16-3 1/2 when she needed something in the 17's. With her injured elbow she was not able to get anything of significance in the Javelin, falling to 20th place. Konopka finished with an okay 2:34.67 800 to finish with 4282 points.

States Lee was seeded 20th out of 20 in the 400, but was way too competitive to live with that seed. Going out in 22.8 and perhaps waiting too long to make a move, he brought it home well to finish 12th overall in 48.34.

The event of the day for MIT was the men's 800. Pat Marx '13 was also seeded 20th out of 20. The first heat ran a strategic race, a foolish thing to do in the 800, a race where the top two in each of three sections plus the next three fastest times would make finals. The top time from that first section was in the 1:52's, a time that almost never makes it in. Marx was in the second heat and after the runners saw they might be able to get all of the qualifying times outside the top two places the pace started off fast. The leaders came through the 400 in 51., while Marx was a little behind but close enough, running 52.8. Marx moved up on the backstretch and then really accelerated mid-way through the final turn. Coming home he moved into second and held on to automatically qualify in 1:50.87, the third fastest time in the field, and a new PR.

MIT had athletes in six finals on Saturday, the final day of the championship. The first event on MIT's list was the 4x100 Relay. Already moving from 13th seed to seventh fastest in the trials, hopes were high. With adjustments to both exchange one and two, the Engineers were hoping for perfection on the handoffs. Tech had a good start, but on the first exchange Kaba did not hear DuPlessis call for the handoff. Nevertheless the second call worked, although MIT did lose a bit of time on the handoff. The second exchange between Kaba and Duncavage was also slow as Kaba ran up on Duncavage despite moving the start out a step. The final handoff was solid and Singer-Clark held his own but could not pass any of the teams, finishing in sixth in a new MIT record of 41.06.

The very next event was the women's 1500. While neither Johnson, nor Quinn were expected to score, both thought they had a good chance. However, the fast pace was the worst thing for Quinn's calves and Johnson's confidence. Quinn deserves a lot of credit for never giving up and fighting as hard as she did given the lack of training over the past four months due to her injured calves. The first quarter was 69 and the 800 at 2:19, yet Quinn was right there in the thick of it. At 1200 her calves were tightening up, but she kept pushing through 3:33, but that was the end of the line for the freshman. Her final 300 was a 61 second death, but she still netted a 4:34.30. Johnson was not mentally prepared for the pace, and although she came through the 800 in 2:21, she had already given up and checked out. Her final time was 4:45.29.

Tilly Taylor '15 was up in the Javelin, seeded 12th, but hoping for a big throw to move up. Her best throw in the first flight was 131-8, getting her fourth in her flight. Unfortunately, the top seven throws in the trials came from the second flight, placing Taylor in 11th overall and out of the finals.

Marx was mentally ready for the 800 final, but could not overcome his habits of the past three years. He got out well, but did not move up with the leaders, instead he settled near the back of the pack rather than closing the gap. At the 300 mark he moved to fix his position but did not finish it, falling back more as runners passed him on the inside. After the 55.1 first 400, Marx made a strong move on the turn, moving up in the pack by swinging wide to lane three, but then settled back again, allowing opponents to pass him. He sped up again, but was now too fatigued to get the job done, fading to ninth on the final straight, ending up with a 1:52.53.

Johnson was back in the 5K. Seeded 22nd, not a lot was expected, but her potential was enough to put her in scoring position. However, her failure in the 1500 set her up for failure in the 5,000. The pace started out perfect for sub 17:00 pace as the pack clicked through 81 second quarters. Johnson hit 5:25 at the 1600 and looked strong. After the 2K, she pulled the parachute, giving up the race. Her final time was 17:46.19

The Men's 4x400 was what the team was really looking forward to. Despite the three freshmen on the squad, their inexperience did not appear to get in the way of their amazing talent. States Lee tore out of lane three, dropping a 47.5 to put MIT at least tied for first at the handoff to Michael Kaba. Kaba got out pretty well, but did not push hard enough to take the lead at the break from the three turn stagger, instead was stuck in fifth and boxed on the outside by the sixth place runner. He had to cut his pace to get out and lost a lot of energy, and time trying to get back. He nearly pulled even at the exchange, but only ran 48.5. Derek Barnes got out well, putting MIT in third. The runner behind him was crowding his lane and seemed to touch his foot with his leg, causing Barnes to trip and hit the ground hard. He rolled and recovered pretty well but still lost four seconds to run a 52.7, handing off to Singer-Clark in eighth place. Singer-Clark pulled even with the seventh place team, but despite a 47.2 leg was unable to move his team up. The 3:15.85 placed MIT eighth, getting the quartet All America honors.

All in all, the two varsity records, one freshman record and the invaluable experience made the NCAA Championship a great event for MIT. Nevertheless, there was the feeling of unfinished business. Even though Tech finished higher than their seed in many cases, only three of the 13 events represented earned All-America honors (top eight).

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