ENGINEERS SWEEP PLANSKY INVITATIONAL VICTORIES

October 18, 2008

MIT traveled to Williams College for the Plansky Invitational, which is actually run at Mt. Greylock High School, to run the course on which the NCAA Division III Regional qualifying race will be run and to race the competition from the region as well as a few colleges from outside the region such as College of New Jersey. The weather provided a perfect 55 degree, sunny day, which MIT gladly took advantage of as both women and men claimed victories in the 6K and 8K races respectively.

The women ran first, and even though Adrienne Bolger and Katy Gordon were not running, Jennifer Doyle rejoined those racing after a bout with an IT band inflammation. Jacqui Wentz went out conservatively in the first mile but steadily moved up in that first mile to sixth and eventually finishing fourth with a fine time of 23:06 on the hilly course. Finishing second for MIT was Anna Holt-Gosselin, who moved up to seventh place by the end of the first mile and maintained that position throughout the rest of the race, finishing with a time of 23:26. Jennifer Doyle, running her typical come from behind race, was only in 17th position at the mile mark, but finished in ninth in 23:32. Andrea Bradshaw, a converted 800 runner, participating in her first cross country season held onto 11th place from the first mile on, finishing one second behind Doyle in 23:33. Completing the scoring for the Engineers was freshman Janice O'Brien, who ran a very tough race, running in step with Bradshaw throughout the first three miles. O'Brien faded a little in final three quarters of a mile to finish in 13th place with a time of 23:39. Fellow freshman, Alicia Kaestli was sixth for MIT in 23:56 and Elizabeth Finn, a national qualifier last year, completed the top seven with a 24:00 performance.

MIT's 44 points, outscored The College of New Jersey by 10 points even though MIT put seven runners ahead of C of NJ's seventh runner. Tufts was in third with 56 points, led by individual winner, Stephanie McNamara in 22:17. All together eight teams competed in the race.

The men's race started very conservatively for the main pack, although Williams College alum, Neil Holtschulte and College of New Jersey's Christopher Guerriero took the pace out very hard. In the early going, the College of NJ had three runners considerably ahead of MIT's quartet of Jake Ruzevick, Paul Welle, Yermie Cohen and Hemu Arumugam. By the three mile mark the quartet had passed a Williams runner but were still five seconds behind the second and third C of NJ runners. At the four mile mark, Cohen tried to catch the two and partially succeeded, but eventually only caught one of them as he also was caught by Ruzevick and Welle, finishing fifth overall in 26:41. Ruzevick made a dash at the end to claim third overall in 26:32. Welle was less than a second behind in 26:33. Arumugam fell off on the final big hill but managed to come back a little at the end and finish in eighth in 26:52. Trevor Rundell fell off the pace after the first mile but came back strong in the fifth mile to claim 11th overall and fifth for MIT. Richard Prevost finished in 12th, one second behind Rundell in 27:02 to add support.
MIT claimed the team title with 31 points to 45 for the College of New Jersey and 62 for Tufts in the nine team field. MIT held out Dan Harper, Gihan Amarasiriwardena, Chris Wong and Bill Phipps, all who have been in the team's top seven.

Next for MIT is the NEWMAC Conference Championship on November 1 at Franklin Park. The men will be trying to upset a strong Coast Guard team to earn their 11th consecutive conference title. The women are trying to defend their title from 2007. The challenge will be a difficult one, but both teams are healthy and seem up to the task.