Based on Tufts' entries, the April 19 meet in the cold and windy conditions at MIT, should have gone to Tufts. However, a couple of injuries combined with performances not close to entered seeds were Tufts downfall. MIT won every running event and held their own in the field events to come away with a 99-64 victory to remain undefeated at 6-0.

The meet did not start well for Tech as Tufts went 1-2 in the Hammer and Discus to start the throws with a 16-2 lead. Due to the wet weather the jumps were contested inside. Tufts added to their lead with a triple victory from Rommel Childress in the Long Jump, Triple Jump, and High Jump. Trailing 14-31, MIT began to put things together. In the Pole Vault, Sam Thibault '00, led the MIT sweep with a 13-06 vault.

Back outside, the running events were about to start. The first event was the 400 relay. Still without the services of Matt Sandholm, the 400 Relay Team was anchored by Dafe Ogagan '97. The consistently great handoffs of Brad Geilfuss 'G to Lincoln Bonner '97 and Lincoln to Neal Karchem '99 once again put MIT well in the lead going into the anchor leg. Still safeguarding his recent injury, Dafe cruised in to win.

Coach Halston Taylor made the decision before the meet not to double any of the middle distance or distance runners. This meant that the fewer runners in those events had to get the job done. With that in mind, Mike Parkins '99 got things started with an easy victory in the 3000 Steeplechase (9:46.8). The wind was so strong, the MIT runners forgot about times and just went for the victories.

In the same fashion, Leif Seed '99, not running the Steeplechase for the first time this year, went up against perennial national qualifier Mike Northrop of Tufts. Both runners sat behind the other pace setters until with 300 meters to go, Leif decided he had waited long enough and kicked in with a 46 last 300 into the wind to win in 4:06.61.

MIT was now within 6 at 33-39. Tufts was heavily favored to win the next two events, but someone forgot to tell the Tech runners. The first event was the 110HH, in which Lincoln beat Tufts' Jesse Chertoff for the first time in over a year with a fine time of 15.67. Dafe followed in third with a 16.36 to pull MIT within 3. Neal Karchem '99 won the 400 for the first time this season with a fine time of 51.68.

With Matt out of the sprints, Lincoln was forced to come back in the 100. Brad had MIT's first false start this year, but Lincoln came through with a 11.58 victory to put MIT 1 point behind Tufts.

The 800 has been a big event for MIT all season. To be certain that Tech was capable of handling the runners from Tufts, all of the MIT runners were fresh. Joel Ford '98 did not disappoint as he won from behind in 1:59.02. Martin Suresh '99 did an excellent job with a ferocious sprint down the home stretch to pass Northrop of Tufts and garner second place.

Finally gaining the lead, Tech was not about to give it up. The only setback came with Tufts getting 1st and 3rd in the Shot Put, but that was quickly made up with a 1-3 effort by MIT in the 400IH. Leif led the way with a season best of 57.21. Dafe again tried a new event, and did so successfully with a 60.20 for third.

In the 200, MIT put things away for good with a Bonner, Karchem, Geilfuss sweep. Lincoln and Neal had season best times of 23.15 and 23.54.

Chris McGuire '00, the 4th leading scorer on the team, followed the Tufts' runners for 3 miles of the 3.1 mile race. At times there were as many as 4 Tufts' runners surrounding or leading Chris, but it did not seem to shake his confidence in his ability to win. With just more than 200 meters to go, Chris started his kick, running the last 200 meters in 28 seconds, and winning by 10 seconds in 15:33.27.

The Javelin and the 1600 Relay were both going to finish at the same time. For the first time in Coach Taylor's memory, MIT swept the Javelin. Rookie Chad Souke '99, throwing for the first time, and after 1 practice with the spear, threw 148-1 to win. George Torres '99, after placing 3rd in both the Hammer and the Discus, moved up to 2nd in the Javelin. Rounding out the scoring was Andres Morin '99.

The relay, trying for a season best time, got things off to a bad start as Edgar Ngwenya 'G led off with a 54.1. Ford made up the difference with a 52.6 and handed off to Seed, who ran a 52.3. Anchoring with his best leg of the season was Karchem with a 51.5. The 3:30.70 was far from a season best, but provided a 4 second margin of victory.

MIT's next meet will be the last home meet of the season on April 26th with Springfield College and the Coast Guard Academy at 1:00.