ENGINEERS CLAIM FIFTH AT NATIONALS

Maria Monks and Jacqui Wentz Lead the Way With All America Honors

November 21, 2009

You know you have a team accustomed to success when placing fifth at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship is a disappointment. That is exactly what happened to the Engineers from MIT on the course hosted by Baldwin Wallace College in Cleveland, Ohio.

Seeded third going into the meet, MIT, co-winners of the New England Region Championship the week before, did not get out well at the start, finding themselves behind over 200 runners as the course narrowed after a little over 200 meters. Running out of box 46, the furthest outside box and downhill from those boxes on the other side of the split start, Tech failed to compensate for the uphill start, misjudging as they were not able to see across the field for their opponents.

Realizing their error, most of the Engineers worked hard to get around the mass of runners. Maria Monks '10, was the best at this as she angled across and fought her way towards the leaders. Monks came through the mile in 5:36 to lead MIT at that point. Jacqui Wentz '10, last week's regional winner, has been dealing with a severe case of plantar fasciitis and the start really hurt, making it difficult to run up on the ball of her foot. Nevertheless she was only two seconds back of Monks at the mile. The next three MIT runners, Alina Gatowski '11, Tania Morimoto '12, and Brooke Johnson '13, were between six and eight seconds back of Wentz, which at the mile mark was about 100 runners.

At two miles, Monks had moved up to ninth place and looked to be still running strong on the slippery and soggy course. Wentz was around the mid 20's but did not look to be gaining any ground. The soft ground from all the rain was further compounding her foot pain. Gatowski was up around 60th place while Morimoto and Johnson were around 90th position. Missy Showers '13, and Katherine Eve '12, were six and eight seconds behind Johnson respectively at this point and not looking as though they were moving up. At this point however it was reported via the chip system that MIT was in second place.

With three quarters of a mile to go, the Engineers began to fade a bit as the course turned uphill. Tech runners had worked so hard moving up from the poor start that the final uphill took its toll. Last week, on a very difficult course, the Engineers had run with a 1:01 delta for runners one through five, the largest delta of the season. This week it was 1:29 with 17 seconds coming in the final three quarters of a mile.

Monks held onto 13th place, the highest national finish ever for the Lady Engineers. Wentz earned her first cross country All America honor by placing 29th despite her injury. Gatowski ran a gallant race, finishing in 51st place. Morimoto and Johnson suffered a difficult last mile, finishing in 127th and 144th respectively.

The fifth place finish marks the highest national finish for male or female cross country teams from MIT. The hard fought finish made the Engineers that much more hungry to return and improve on their mark in 2010.

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