September 18, 1999

MIT made the trip to Lewiston, Maine on Saturday with high hopes of winning the Bates, Tufts, MIT triangular meet for the third year in a row. Realistically, the Engineers did not have a good chance of defeating Tufts, and only a slim one of defeating Bates, but the MIT harriers went into the race to do their best to upend the nationally ranked teams (12th and 19th respectively).

In MIT's favor, the number 2 and 3 runners for Tufts, and the number 3 runner for Bates were out with injuries. MIT was healthy and took advantage of the injured squads with a hard fought, very close battle, that went down to the very end as MIT came home with 40 points to 41 for Bates, and 44 for Tufts.

The course was extremely hilly, pretty wet, and a little long at 5.05 miles. the rain from Hurricane Floyd caused a course alteration at the last minute, making it new to everyone. The first mile, even though it had a lot of rolling hills, went out in a quick 5:03 for the leaders, who were Mike Danahy of Bates, Matt Lyons of Tufts, and Dan Feldman '02, from MIT. A couple of Bates runners followed closely, and then a group of MIT, Tufts, and Bates runners trailed between :13-:22 back. By mile two, the lead group of three had expanded their lead to nearly :30 over the main pack. However, that main pack had begun to make up ground on the two Bates runners.

At mile three, Danahy had pulled away from Feldman, and Dan pulled away from Lyons. Ed Keehr '01, and Sean Montgomery '01, had nearly caught up to All-American Miler, Matt Twiest from Bates in 4th position, and were closely followed by one Bates and two Tufts' runners, giving all teams three runners in the top 9. The third group, consisting of two MIT runners (Phil Loiselle '01, and Liyan Guo '01), two Bates runners, and two Tufts' runners were waging their own battle. The one difference in MIT's favor was a group of three runners (Frank Johnston '00, Chris McGuire '00, and Sean Nolan '03) who were closing quickly on the other team's fourth and fifth runners.

By mile four, Keehr and Twiest were pulling ahead of everyone else to battle for 4th place. Montgomery and Loiselle were not catching the #3 Tufts' and Bate's runners, but Johnston, Guo, McGuire, and Nolan were pulling away from both team's 5th runner. Coaches always tell their runners that one place could make a difference, and that the 6th and 7th men can win the meet. Well, here was the often told story coming true.

The finish did not change any. All three teams interchanged places for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th runners. Through four runners, the score was Bates 24, MIT, and Tufts 27. Johnston finished 5th for Tech, and Guo, McGuire, and Nolan all finished ahead of both team's #5 runner, securing the victory by 1 point over Bates.

Next week, MIT's plans to race in the Codfish Bowl at Franklin Park have been detoured as the Ryder Cup has displaced the meet to Tufts' course out in Grafton.