MIT Sweeps New England Division III Championships

Women Claim Nine Individual Victories - Virdi Sets National Record

April 30 - May 2, 2015

It appeared the MIT Men's and Women's Track & Field teams had won the New England Division III (NED3) Championships, being hosted by the Engineers in Cambridge, MA, before the meet had ever begun. With the women having won three of the past four years, the men two of the last three, and both being defending champions, last week's powerful victory over their NEWMAC rivals convinced their NED3 opponents that they did not have a chance to upset MIT, particularly at home. MIT owned the meet, the outcome and the atmosphere as it was obvious no other team had the same enthusiasm in support of their teammates. When the dust settled and the implements and spikes were put away, the men had defended their title with 172.5 points, 97.5 points more than the next closest team, Bates. The women claimed their third consecutive title, scoring 180 points, 91 more than second place Williams.

The women dominated their opponents by not only claiming nine individual victories, but also claiming at least two of the eight places in seven events, and four in the 10K. Not having anyone entered in the Heptathlon or the Steeplechase, the Engineers scored in all but two of the remaining events, demonstrating team balance and overwhelming strength.

Maryann Gong '17 was the only Engineer with two victories, taking individual titles in both the 1500 and the 5K. Having the first good weather day this spring, Gong took advantage of the 60 degree, sunny day with little wind and took the lead right at the gun. Going out a little too fast at the 200 (34), she backed off a bit to hit quarter splits in 70, 2:21 and 3:33. The first 200 had it's effect as she slowed a little to a 55 second final 300 for a 4:28.43 wire to wire victory. She is now second on the NCAA 1500 list. She also raced in the 5K, more to get some quality work in and to work on a relaxed kick. With the pace pretty slow through 1600 splits of 5:46 and 5:53, Gong dropped the hammer with 800 to go to win going away in 17:36.40.

The performance of the meet was far and away owned by Cimmy Virdi '16. The two-time indoor national champion put an exclamation mark on the record books, not only setting the MIT, facility and meet records, but also taking the NCAA Division III record with her vault of 14'. The junior, who came in at 3.77 meters, missed once at 3.97, 4.17 and 4.27. On her final attempt at 4.32 meters, despite the miss, she had what it took to make the vault, indicating she has not finished her assault on her competition or the records books.

The women set three more varsity records, all in the field events, and all improvements on their own records. Tilly Taylor '15 won the Javelin in convincing fashion, throwing 151-9 1/4 on her first throw in the finals to move to number five on the NCAA list. Ashley Wheeler '15 took the Hammer Throw with a throw of 175-9 1/4, having four throws over 50 meters. Wheeler is now eighth on the NCAA ranking. Michelle Johnson '15 added to her record with a second place in the Triple Jump at 38-6 3/4, one centimeter out of first place. The mark put her 13th on the NCAA list. Johnson also placed eighth in the Long Jump.

Isabella Stuopis '16 added to the field event victories with a PR in the Shot Put of 43-9 3/4. The junior claimed the victory and personal best on her final throw, showing the competitor she is. Completing the sweep of victories in the throwing events, Jackie Vahey '17 took the Discus Throw by one centimeter, throwing 136-7 3/4 on her second throw in finals. Vahey also placed sixth in the Hammer.

The Engineers earned two more victories on the track. Hannah Chen '18 ran a nearly perfect race in the 400IH, only stuttering the final hurdle as she accelerated coming off the ninth hurdle, breaking her rhythm, but maintaining the victory with a personal best 61.45 for third on the NCAA list and a new MIT freshman record. Chen also placed fifth in the 100HH and anchored both the 4x100 (Szklarzewski '15, Okonkwo '18, Knittel '17) and 4x400 (Dai '18, Knittel '17, Harris '15) relays to second and third place finishes respectively. On the first night, perfect temperatures set the stage for Elaine McVay '15 to not only win the 10K, but run an amazing 36:01.36 to move to 11th on the NCAA list. McVay, despite still suffering from back spasms, persevered, lapping most of the field as she won by 59 seconds.

Kendra Knittel had a fantastic day, running the 100, 200 and both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Knittel had the fastest time in the 100 trials, running 12.40 after not being seeded to make the final. In the final she ran a 12.36 to place third. In the 200 she ran a best of 25.36 for fourth place.

Veronica Szklarzewski, perhaps a little fatigued from her amazing NEWMAC Championship one week ago, still managed a sixth in the 100 in 12.49, a seventh in the Long Jump at 17-4 1/4 as well as running an excellent leadoff leg in the 4x100.

Mary Eccles '18 completed an excellent freshman year by scoring in the 10K and 5K on successive days, setting personal bests in both. In the 10K, the freshman was patient with the slow early pace of her group, hitting 1600 splits of 6:03, 6:06, 6:07 and 6:03, before taking the initiative and running 88-89 second pace the remainder of the way to finish fourth in 37:32.10. The next day in the 5K, Eccles handled the faster pace to PR in 17:59.99 and place fifth.

The men earned four individual victories, as well as seven second place finishes and numerous other high finishes to pull away from the competition early on the second day of competition. Missing a possible four individual champions due to injury, all of who will return for another season or more, Tech was uncertain going into the season if everyone could step up enough to make up for the loss of so much top talent. They needn't have worried.

The distance runners came through in a big way, claiming 41 points in just the 5K and 10K. In the 10K on the first night, Matt Deyo '16 and Allen Leung '15 took off at the beginning, hoping to take advantage of the excellent weather conditions. For the first three miles or so, as they went through 1600 splits of 5:01, 5:00, and 5:00, the pair swapped off taking the lead. Towards the end of the fourth mile, they decided to start pushing the pace. The fourth 1600 was 4:56 and the fifth 4:52. Deyo pushed the pace even more in the final 800, hitting the sixth mile in 4:47 before closing in 66 seconds to win in 30:42.78. Leung held on very nicely, finishing second in 30:49.98. Freshmen Nicholas Waltman and Alex Knoedler had their own battle with three other runners, who were all vying for the final two scoring positions. Waltman and Knoedler tried to break the pack, but could only drop two of them. Waltman ended up eighth in 31:48.42 and Knoedler ninth in 31:58.37, a very impressive showing for the freshmen. The next day, Deyo and Leung, having the option to not race, decided to run and work on their kick while supporting teammate Cooper Sloan '18. Sloan took the pace out, but the chase pack led by Deyo and Leung caught him in the ninth lap. Leung opened up a 60 flat final 400 to win in 14:58.68. Deyo was second in 15:00.81 and Sloan third in 15:10.11. This was the only 1-2-3 sweep in the meet. Deyo and Leung are ranked 15th and 19th respectively on the NCAA 10K list.

States Lee '16 won the 400 in 48.30. He was a little disappointed in the time, but he knew he had gone out too hard in the opening 200. Earlier he had run an excellent third leg in the runner-up 4x100 team, comprised of Tre Albritten '18, Luca Cacopardo '18 and Michael Kaba '16, that ran 42.04. Later in the day, Lee ran a season best 21.95 in the 200 to place third, just .03 out of first. In the final event, Lee anchored the 4x400 relay of Kaba, Derek Barnes '16 and Danny Newman '17 with a 48.2 to place second in 3:16.78.

Kaba also was quite busy in this championship. On day one he had the fastest qualifying time in the 110HH with a 15.34. In the 100 trials, he had a very poor start and did not qualify for Saturday's final. After his excellent anchor leg in the 4x100, Kaba claimed the 110HH victory in 14.98. In the 400IH, he had unfortunately drawn lane one. The inside lane combined with his inability to get the proper rhythm in the 400IH caused him the stutter step early in race. Finishing hard, he came from behind to finish fourth in 54.52. His opening leg in the 4x400 was not up to his usual standards but was still a solid 49.8.

Ken Cooper '15 did not have a victory, but he scored 22 points for his team, the most of any MIT athlete, while going up against the top throwers in the country. Cooper earned second place in both the Shot Put and Discus Throw with performances of 51-8 1/2 and 158-11 3/4. In the Hammer, Cooper placed third with a throw of 193-8, just short of his best, which at 193-9 is sixth on the NCAA list.

Arinze Okeke '17 also placed in multiple events. On day one Okeke finished fifth at 22-0 1/4. The next day in the Triple Jump, Okeke led his teammates to a 3-4-5-6 finish for a big 18 points. Okeke jumped 47-4 1/4, Carrington Motley '16 47-0 1/4, Billy Ruschel '18 45-10 3/4 and Angel Ecchevarria 45-9 3/4. Okeke is 11th on the NCAA Triple Jump list.

Marshall Wentworth '16 showed his victory last week was no fluke as he finished second in the Pole Vault at 14-9. The junior had a nice attempt at 15-3 in a three way jump off, but did not quite clear. Sam Ravnaas completed his freshman year with a fifth place, also clearing 14-9.

Other personal bests were had by Ben Freed '18 in the Steeplechase, who placed third in 9:31.54, Luke Gray '18 who scored 5532 points to place seventh in the Decathlon, and the 4x800 team of Rick Paez '15, Henry Tareque '17, Michael Picchini '18 and Sam Parker '15 placed fourth in 7:50.92.

Next week MIT hosts their third championship in a row, the NEICAAA Championship, better known as the All Division New Englands. Giving many of their athletes the weekend off from competing, the Engineers will now focus on the NCAA Division III Championship in three weeks.

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