September 22, 2001

Dan Feldman led the MIT Engineers to the Codfish Bowl Championship, which goes to the top Division III team, but his winning effort was not enough to win the overall title, which went to UMass/Lowell (51 points). The hot and humid conditions on the wet course was cause for slow times and in some cases made it difficult to focus well enough to race well.

Sean Montgomery, Craig Wildman, Jeff Billing and Greg Fonder were resting minor injuries, which meant the pressure was on some other MIT runners to step up and fill the void. MIT has demonstrated a strong top 3 with Feldman, Sean Nolan and Montgomery getting the job done. The gap between number 3 and 4 has been about :50, which is too much for a nationally ranked team. The goal for this race was to close the overall delta between runners 1-5 to within 1:00. Without Montgomery running, it was hoped George Hanson, Brian Anderson and Carlos Renjifo would be able to make a dent in closing down the delta.

MIT got a good start in the 17 team field, showcasing 180 of New England's Division II and III runners but was behind UMass/Lowell. UML went out to the front of the pack with one large group in the top 10 and another large group back around 30th. Feldman went out to the lead by the mile mark in a quick 4:54. Nolan and Ben Schmeckpeper followed closely in 4:57 with Liu, Hanson and Anderson following at 5:05. Both Nolan and Liu's group went out a few seconds too fast, particularly with the conditions being what they were.

Going into mile two, Feldman was closely following a runner from UMass/Lowell. Nolan had moved up to 4th position and was not satisfied. Liu had caught up to a fading Schmeckpeper and was moving on the rest of the field. Hanson and Anderson were also starting to fade, but Renjifo was making a strong effort to close the gap and help out with the scoring.

By mile three, it was obvious that Feldman and Nolan would finish 1-2, but even with UMass/Lowell fading, it seemed MIT's #4 and $5 runners were fading worse and would not help enough to catch UML. At the fourth mile, Feldman and Nolan had a comfortable lead over the rest of the field. Liu had moved to the top 15 and was still closing. Schmeckpeper had lost another :18 to Liu and Renjifo passed Hanson to move into 5th for Tech another :29 back. Trinity College, themselves missing a couple of runners, were packing 4-5 runners between MIT's 3rd and 4th men. UML had the race locked up with 3 runners between Nolan and Liu, and 2 more closely behind Liu.

The finish was about the same as few gained any ground. Feldman finished with a 25:23, :09 faster than Nolan. Liu, normally Tech's #5 runner, did his job well, closing the delta to 1:05, but with Montgomery out and Schmeckpeper having a bad day and going out a little too quickly, it was not enough to win the meet.

Next week, MIT travels to Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois to race in the National Championship Preview Meet.