Due to exams and stiff standards, MIT Men's Track Team only had 4 entries in this weekend's NEIAAA Championships. This is the only meet in the season where all NCAA Divisions go head to head in a championship. The format is a two day meet with trials taking place on Friday and finals on Saturday except for a few of the field events and the 5 and 10K.

Dafe Ogagan '97, and Andrew Jamieson '99 qualified in the Pole Vault, but Dafe tore some cartilage in his knee last week and Andrew wanted to prepare for exams. Likewise, Leif Seed, bothered by a tendonitis in his lower leg, did not run in hopes that he will be able to race better at Nationals. Entered athletes who did not make the fields were Morio Alexander 'G, in the Triple Jump with a 45-00 mark, and Joel Ford '98, in the 800 with a 1:55.44 time.

Those who did make it in were Lincoln Bonner '97 in the 110HH, freshman Chris McGuire in the 5000, and Mike Parkins in the 3000 Steeplechase.

On Friday, Lincoln, seeded 12th, ran the trials and turned in a time of 15.45 to qualify for Saturday's Final. Also on Friday was the 5000. The fast and slow sections were combined and run at an earlier than usual time. Neither Coach Taylor nor Chris McGuire noticed the change printed on the seed sheets. Hearing over the loudspeaker, 20 minutes before the event that it had been moved up, Chris immediately began his warmup.

Chris warmup up okay and appeared ready to go, but with 1 mile to go his stomach began to cramp from a late snack and probably due to the rushed warmup. He nevertheless ran his second best time of the season with a 14:57.53, but was not his usual self at the finish.

On Saturday, Lincoln competed in the Finals. He had a pretty good start, but was off balance after the 2nd, and 3rd hurdles. A slow trail leg was his problem on this his final 110HH race for MIT. Lincoln placed 6th and scored with a time of 15.47.

Last up for MIT was Parkins. Mike was seeded 4th, but with Seed out of the field, he moved up to 3rd seed. The race was a perfect pace for Mike, but later in the race he was sloppy over a couple of water jumps, nearly stopping on the last one. He had taken the lead with 500 meters to go and held it until the last 200. The last water jump was the difference as he lost by a little over 1 second, but finished 2nd in 9:12.78.

Going into this week's National Championships, Seed and Parkins are seeded 7th and 8th respectively in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase. McGuire is seeded 7th in the 5000 Meters. The Steeplechase is contested on Wednesday and Friday and the 5000 on Thursday and Saturday.