MONKS LEADS WOMEN TO 6TH PLACE FINISH
SUB-VARSITY MEN DOMINATE DIVISION III FIELD
October 7, 2007
On a humid, 80+ degree day with dust and dirt filling the lungs, mouth and nose of every runner due to a lack of rain over the past month, Maria Monks led the women to a remarkable sixth place finish among the 44 teams in the All Division New England (NEICAAA) Championship held at Franklin Park. This was the highest finish ever for the women's team, placing them third among Division III teams and beating most of the Division I teams in the region including their Ivy League rivals and all Division II teams.
With the conditions being what they were, the MIT harriers were supposed to get out hard but settle into position and work their way up in the field. Monks got out strong and slowly worked her way to 17th position by the 2nd mile. Behind her were fellow sophomore Jacqui Wentz who continued to press the pace. Jennifer Doyle, Elizabeth Finn, Katy Gordon and Liz Labuz were working well as a group and moving up towards Wentz. By the end of the third mile of the 5K race, Monks had started to dehydrate and was having trouble holding her place, eventually falling back to 23rd in 18:56. Doyle caught Wentz at three miles but got outkicked at the finish, although the officials messed up the chute, placing Doyle just ahead of Wentz in 49th place, running 19:23 and 19:24 respectively. Finn had a great race, moving up to 64th place in 19:35. Gordon dropped out in the second mile with a severe quad cramp but Liz Labuz stepped up and held strong through the final mile and a half to round out MIT's scoring with a 20:02 for 101st place.
Even though they finished third among Division III teams, the MIT runners know nationally ranked Middlebury, Keene State and Bowdoin as well as some other teams that finished behind them are better than they showed today. The battle to be one of the top teams in the region with a chance to go to the NCAA Division III Championship in five weeks is a long way from over.
The men ran the middle part of the first mile too hard and paid the price. However, many other teams also had difficultly with the fast pace and difficult positions. Overall, MIT placed 12th and fourth among Division III teams. Losing places throughout the final four miles and having number one runner, Jake Ruzevick, drop out due to the effects of a lingering illness that caused him to feel sick and dizzy despite his best effort, had the effect of making the very respectable team finish seem tainted.
Yermie Cohen showed everyone that he has successfully made the transition from outstanding track runner to outstanding cross country runner. Trailing Ruzevick through the mile, Cohen did not hesitate to pass his ailing teammate, working his way up into the top 25 by the third mile. It was not until the final mile that Cohen lost some ground, finishing in 26:00 for 35th place. Thirty six seconds behind in 80th place was Brian Jacokes, running a solid race but one of those suffering from a fast start. Joe Roy-Mayhew was only three places back in 26:40. Running a very solid race, Chris Bruce, placed 95th in 26:45. Trevor Rundell rounded out the scoring for MIT, finishing 117th in 27:07.
The encouraging part of the men's races is that the MIT sub-varsity team placed third in their race, behind two Division I teams. Their closest Division III competitor was Williams College in sixth place, 86 points behind. Even more impressive is that the first five for MIT were four freshmen and one sophomore. Gihan Amarasiriwardena led the way with an eighth place finish in 26:12, which would have been good enough for 50th place in the varsity race. Jack Bourbonnais, the one sophomore in the mix was 12th in 26:33. Kevin Kleinguetl was only 10 seconds back in 16th place. Finishing up the scoring were Paul Welle in 26th and Richard Prevost in 27th, running 26:57 and 26:58 respectively.
The sub-varsity team would have finished 14th in the varsity race. Being able to place two teams in the top 15 of 43 teams in all of New England says a lot about the years to come for MIT. All together, MIT had nine runners in under a minute delta. The depth of the team, combined with a healthy Ruzevick should put the team in a strong position to contend for a national birth come November.
Next week, both teams travel to Williams College to race shorter distances (4K for women and 6K for men) in the Plansky Invitational.