May 1, 1999

Enjoying the first warm day of the spring season, MIT went to Williams College for a non-scoring invitational against Williams, Tufts, Westfield State, Keene St., Plattsburgh State, and UMass-Dartmouth. 11 personal bests were set with many of MIT's better performers back at home with strep throat and walking pneumonia.

In the field events, Jason Dailey put it together in the Hammer Throw with a 154-7 effort to qualify for the New England Division III Championships (NEDiv.3), and close in on the national qualifying mark of 162-5.

Freshmen had strong days in the running events. In the 100, freshman Robbie Gray ran a best of 11.50. In the 400, Yuval Mazor, another freshman ran the fastest 400 of the season with a 50.90 time. Yuval was followed by Neal Karchem with a season best of 51.07. Tony Pelosi ran almost two seconds faster than before in the 400 IH with a 58.69 performance. Alan Raphael, yet another freshman held on to a very fast first 400 of 56 to finish in a personal best of 1:58.73 in the 800. Also running a best in the 800 was Matt Yarosz with a 2:01.38 time.

In the distance events, Mike Parkins led the way with a season best of 9:26.77 in the 3000 Steeplechase. Phil Loiselle also ran a best in the Steeplechase with a 9:50.88 performance. Liyan Guo ran a great 5000 in the heat, running a consistent pace and finishing with a best of 15:45.60.

The final event was the best one of all. Williams, Tufts, and MIT had all already run 3:20 to 3:22 in the 1600 Relay. MIT was without anchor Sean Montgomery, buy nevertheless fielded a very competent team. Mazor led things off with a 50.4 and was slightly behind both teams. Karchem took over and brought the baton home in first by a step in 49.5. Todd Rosenfield was next with a 50.6 that put Tech about 5 meters behind Williams and about 10 meters in front of Tufts. Leif Seed took over anchor duties and ran a strong 49.8 to finish in a season best of 3:20.42, the fastest time since 1990. Williams won with a 3:18.44 and Tufts finished 3rd in 3:22.05.

Next week, MIT travels to Colby for the New England Division III Championships. If the sick can get healthy within the next week, the Engineers hope to place in the top 3 teams. Williams and Wheaton will probably be the favorites going into the meet.