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3 April 2004 On a pleasant TechTrack opened the outdoor season with a second place finish at the Engineers Cup in Troy NY. Host RPI had the numbers and depth to win with 168 points, followed by MIT with 134 and WPI with 87. Leading the charge of 46 personal bests were jumpers Nalini Gupta and Chinwe Nyenke, who continued their indoor season ending ways by establishing new school standards. Gupta's 17'0" added 2 inches to the old record in the long jump, with Nyenke also bettering the previous chart-topper by 1/4". Following with the triple jump, positions were reversed as Chinwe pushed her own record almost five inches to 36'5", giving her the top 5 ever Tech marks in the event. Nalini improved her own best to 35'6" (which keeps her at #2 on the Tech list) and then added a first in the high jump to her point total. In the throws, top placing was the winning javelin toss of 103'1" by Chi-Fong Wang (#4 Tech). Julia Espel began her season with a win in the steeplechase (11:55.80) for the team's only track gold. The season continues Saturday afternoon when TechTrack hosts the State of Maine at Steinbrenner Stadium. 12-13 March 2004 Cat Tweedie is now MIT's third indoor all-American after taking eighth at the NCAA Division III Nationals at Whitewater Wisconsin last weekend. Her 11'5 1/4" clearance matche the 5th place finishers who joined for a 3 way tie, but a errant miss at a lower height put her three places arear of that trio. Cat reportedly had a pair of close misses at 11'11 1/4". The men's team produced a national champion as Uzoma Orji set personal best of 59'6 1/4" to win the shot put. That, combined with an all-American placing in the weight earned him field event athlete of the meet honors. Thus ends a record filled indoor campaign; a summary of the team's successes will be posted following the awards dinner after break. Outdoor track kicks off in Troy NY on April 3 with the always feisty Engineers' Cup versus RPI and WPI. March 5-6, 2004 The weather in Maine was better than some past outdoor meet conditions, but the action was indoors as MIT travelled to Bowdoin for the ECAC Division III championship. Tech scored fifteen points, placing 20th as the 39 schools from New England, New York, and New Jersey variously used the meet as a season capper, a last chance qualifier, or tune-up for the NCAA meet. In the former category, Nalini Gupta continued a, placing in both the long jump (2nd) and triple jump (8th). Her long jump, at 17'1.5", was her 2nd meet in a row over 17'; she now has the 1 and 4 performances on the MIT lists, and her 35'11.25" hop, step, and jump is fourth on the list. Among athletes in the latter grouping, Cat Tweedie cemented her spot as TechTrack's top point scorer for the season by placing third with a 11'6.5" clearance - her sixth meet of the season over 11'6". Chinwe Nyenke (triple jump - 9th), Andrea Staid (500 - 11th), Christine Fanchiang (pole vault - 10th), and Adrienne Irmer (weight - 19th) rounded out the MIT participation. It's now down to two to the season finale, as Tweedie and Martha Buckley (5000) head to Wisconsin in pursuit of national honors. February 27-28, 2004 The banks of the Charles conjure up a pleasant walking or jogging location, but the image that track teams have is speed on another type of bank on the Chuck - specifically Boston University's banked track. Competing at Boston University in the All-Division New England Track & Field Championships, TechTrack women had their most impressive record setting weekend in years. The 5 points for 25th place don't indicate the quality of performances, split between field and track. On Friday, Nalini Gupta upped the MIT record in the long jump to 17’3.25, and picking up a point with her eighth place finish. At that point, the junior held both horizontal jump school bests, but that honor lasted less than 24 hours as Chinwe Nyenke stretched her best in the triple jump out to 36’7.75 and top spot on the record board; that effort garnered her first NCAA provisional standard mark. Moving to the horizontal Cat Tweedie upped her PR and provisional NCAA mark in the pole vault to 11’ 9.75" with her fourth place finish. Relay times provided the two additional board updates. Friday's Distance Medley Relay finished ahead of the one year old mark by 13 seconds. As was the case in 2003, Julia Espel (1200) led off and and Martha Buckley (1600) anchored, while juniors Chi-Chi Obi (400) and Andrea Staid (800) filled the middle legs, turning in a time of 12:21.99. Buckley was a freshman the last time the 4x800 record was broken, and as a senior this year she helped bring that time down by another 10 seconds. All classes were represented on the record quartet, as the senior captain teamed with rookie Staid, junior Alisa Lehman, and sophomore Liz Walker to clock 9:46.88. The squad will be smaller next weekend as the team heads to Bowdoin for the ECAC Division III Championships. February 21, 2004
TechTrack hosted the New England Division III for the first time in the team's history, and turned in some admirable performance in front of the home crowd with a win and two varsity records that led the team to a tenth place finish. The competition was keen all around as the record book for the Shobrys and Aronson Track was literally rewritten with fifteen new facility standards being set. The sole TechTrack victor was Cat Tweedie who again cleared 11'0" in the pole vault. Adding to her 10 points were a pair of thirds. Andrea Staid clocked her second record in the 600 with a 1:40.98 clocking to place third in the 600 out of section 2. Martha Buckley lowered her record in the 5000 by 10 seconds to place third behind all-Americans Carter Hammill - who lapped all but second place in running the second fastest D3 time in the country this year. The distance medley opened the scoring in the lead-off event, the distance medley relay, carrying the stick in 13:25.96. Remaining points came in the horizontal jumps where Nalini Gupta and Chinwe Nyenke continued their consistant performing; the former placing seventh in the long jump in 16'8" and the latter taking fifth in the triple jump (35' 1/4"). While not advancing to the final, both Christine Fanchiang and Chinwe Nyenke dropped their 55 meter hurdle times into the top 5 Tech list. Williams led from the first events, winding up with 154 points, holding off a surgint Tufts squad who wound up as runner-up with 133.5; Amherst was best of the rest with 60 points aided by 4 winners.
An even more select group will cross the river to Boston U. next weekend for the all New Englands. February 14, 2004 TechTrack's season of personal best performances continued at Saturday's Coed Invitational, highlighted by a varsity record and provisional national qualifier. As a non-scoring meet, individuals were able to focus on preferred events and take one more shot at qualifying for the various upcoming championships; Meri Silberstein did just that by leaping 15'8 3/4" in the long jump. A big PR, it moved her to #5 on the Tech indoor list and gave her a pass into the New England Division III Championships. That meet will be hosted by the Engineers at Johnson Athletic Center next Saturday, February 21. February 7, 2004 Numerous PR's and top 10 marks; story to follow January 31, 2004
Holy Cross 128.5; MIT 85.50; Mt Holyoke 78.5; New York U. 74.5; Wellesley 13; Regis 2. Division I Holy Cross had more overall depth and led from the outset to win the TechTrack Invite at the Shobrys/Aronson Track on Saturday. The host Engineers prevailed for second after a close meet-long battle with Mt.Holyoke and New York University, with Wellesley and Regis completing the scoring. Totals seee-sawed back and forth in mid meet, with MIT dropping as low as fourth when scoring only 6.5 points in the four races of 600 meters and below. But big scores in the shot and triple jump, as well as a skein of personal bests and near-bests secured necessary points to the runner-up spot at the meet end. Three track records were established in the meet. If it's sounding like a broken record, it's because she continues to break records. Martha Buckley's varsity bests in the mile and 1000 give her three new marks for the year and five indoor standards overall. Buckley didn't score a win in either event, but her competitiveness pushed both race winners to their limits. After not running at Williams a week earlier, coach Slovenski commented beforehand that she was hungry for some fast times. In the day's first individual race, Buckley ran just off the pace of top seeded Johanna Thomas of Mt.Holyoke for the most of the mile. Both runners cranked it up on the the final lap the gap closed along the homestretch but only to a mere .02 seconds at the wire, the new MIT record clocking 5:10.23. Less than an hour later, the team's erstwhile scribe for The Tech took out the 1000 meters; Julia Gillis of Holy Cross moved in front in the final laps to earn a facility record with her 3:03.91, and Thomas moved to second in the final strides, but the Engineer captain lowered the kilometer mark by nearly 3 seconds to 3:05.05. Also on the oval, Chinwe Nyenke and Christine Fanchiang clocked identical personal best times of 9.41 in the hurdles, #4 on the Tech lists, to secure points in the hurdles. On the field, Cat Tweedie continues to push the bar upwards, scoring a personal best and track record of 11'9 in the pole vault, with Liz Au backing her in a best of 9'7". In the circle, Adrienne Irmer and Kelly Johnson threw personal bests in the shot and weight, respectively. Nalini Gupta's 16'9 1/4" PR led a 13 point charge in the long jump, and Nyenke and Gupta then bulked up the score with a 1-2 finish in the triple jump, the penultimately scored event to put Tech back in second for good. Saturday will find the team across the river at Harvard for the Greater Boston Collegiates, the first event at 2:00 p.m. January 24, 2004 TechTrack returned from Purple Valley a bit blue, finishing third at the Williams quad meet on Saturday. The host 262.5, followed by RPI (153), MIT (148), and Westfield State (34.5). A perennial Division III National power, the Ephs dominated most events and led from the opening events. A close battle ensued between the two Engineers' Cup rivals, with RPI narrowly prevailing. The team was without the services of the pair of aces in the distance races, as Julia Espel did not make the trip and Martha Buckly sat out with a calf injury. Best team placings were a troika of seconds; Cat Tweedie bettered her indoor PR with a 11'7" clearance in the pole vault (same as the winning height but 2nd on misses), Alisha Schor clocked a personal best in the 3000 at 11:16.93, and Adrienne Irmer spun the weight 44 11 1/2". Other notable performances were turned in by Nancy Benedetti who scored PR's in both the 1000 and 1500, moving up the indoor lists in both, Andrea Staid who moved to #5 all-time in the 800, and Christina Fanchiang and Liz Au who both upped their vault bests to 9'4 1/4". January 17, 2004 Martha Buckley's twin wins led TechTrack to second place at the Brandeis Invitational on Saturday. The Engineers totaled 127 points in the 8 team meet behind the Sluggo-sibling-skippered Bowdoin team's 162. The senior captain bettered her own school record in the 1500 to 4:49.50, improving the standard by almost 2 seconds. Julia Espel dropped her personal best by 7 seconds to 4:57.53 for second. Buckley also won the 3000, barely missing a double record day, clocking 10:23.53. January 10, 2004 Good alum turnout but not enough to beat the varsity who prevailed 81-39. January 10, 2004 Gordon Kelly, former men's head coach and director of physical education, was feted by his former athletes, celebrating 42 years at MIT. The "roast and toast" followed the 30th annual alumni meet, and was attended by past and some present members of the men's and women's teams. Coach Kelly was instrumental in getting the women's indoor program off the ground and up to varsity status.
December 10, 2003 TechTrack opened the scoring meet season Wednesday, hosting Springfield and Southern Maine under the lights (but aren't all of MIT's indoor home meets in the windowless JAC under the lights?), emerging with a split decision. Southern Maine was added to the traditional mid-week dual duel after last Saturday's snowstorm forced cancellation of the USM-MIT dual. Springfield topped the totals with 136.5 to MIT's 113.5 and USM's 66. A tight battle was waged through the first 12 events of the contest, after which Springfield swept the top 5 places in the shot put and put the meet away. Tech athletes set 35 personal bests on the night. Co-captain Cat Tweedie hit the heights at night by vaulting 11'2" - the team's first NCAA provisional qualifier of the season - and turned around on the infield to place 2nd in the high jump in 5'0", an indoor personal best by 5". Christine Fanchiang (after winning the 55) and Liz Au both scaled 9'1" and now share the #5 spot on the Tech rankings for the event. Nalina Gupta won the triple jump and placed in two other events, and MIT boasted only one additional individual winner, Julia Espel in the mile, 5:31.83. Closing up the track races for the evening, the 4 x 800 saw Springfield winning by a scant .08, 10:22.16 to 10:22.24, but the many lead changes produced "the most exciting race I've seen the team run indoors", mused coach Slovenski. "A race like that is really what track is all about". With classes concluded, the indoor facility set up to host finals, and break looming, the team will not return to action until the Alumnae meet on January 11. Stay fit! December 7, 2003 TechTrack was slated to open their 2003-04 campaign against the Huskies, but record snows cancelled a northern trip to Southern Maine. However, the team found themselves a different doghouse and was sill able to open the season on schedule by bussing across the Charles to take part in the Northeastern Husky Winter Carnival held at the Reggie Lewis center in Boston. There was no team scoring in the meet which was the indoor debut for all local competitors and teams, but the team picked up 8 New England Division III qualifiers during the day. In the straightaway races, freshman Christine Fanchiang proved she'll be an immediate "impact player" by making the Tech top 10 list in two events in her first meet, running 7.80 for the 55 (#6) and 9.61 in the 55 hurdles (#7). A rare chance for MIT to compete on a banked oval, other runners responded with fast opening times, particularly those coming of the cross country season. The distance crew recorded a number of personal bests from Liz Walker's 500 meters (#4 MIT time) to milers Alisha Schor (8th place) and Nancy Benedetti (5:34.06 and 5:35.96, the latter a 17 second PR) to Karen Condon's 3K (11:14.08, #4).
On the field, Nalini Gupta and Cat Tweedie had matching 15'8 1/4" distances in the long jump, tying for 7th place. Gupta and Chinwe Nyenke both passed 34' in the triple jump and took 2-3 overall. Adrienne Irmer pushed her personal best in the weight out by three feet with a toss of 42'8" and added a PR in the shot as well (34'10 1/4"). The squad will square off against Springfield and Southern Maine on Wednesday evening before heading off for semester break. November 22, 2003 Twenty athletes were presented with Certificates of Participation: Kate Wasserman, Agnieszka Koscielnak, Heather Phipps, Brita Mittal, Lauren Tashima, Fran Weld, Jenna Matheny, Jen DeBoer, Alisa Lehman, Becky Idell, Becky Romatoski, Jordan Wirfs-Brock, liz Walker, Rachel Niehuus, Kelly Kuo, Hana Adaniya, Andrea Dooley, Hilary Dyer, Jessie Thompson, Katrien Brak. Each athlete, in fact, received Shirt-ific-hat awards - a seasonally appropriate winter running hat, and an instantly classic HBH "Callous the mind" t-shirt. Ten Letterwinners were recognized:
Additional honors were presented to team members:
(Note that the NEWMAC Coaching Staff of the Year as voted on by peer colleagues in the league was MIT for the third season in a row).
The best new addition to the festivities was a slideshow extravaganza of the 2003 season and a 4 year retrospect for the captains. Created by Jen Gaugler and team photog Stanley Hu, these are available for your viewing pleasure. Coach Slovenski opened and closed the evening with acoustic solo songs (a rare treat) and a good time was had by all. Happy Trails, and Go Tech Track! November 22, 2003 To give everyone a perspective of how competitive the New England DIII meet is, take at look at the National results. Middlebury won their second championship in 3 years with 135 points, leading four local schools among the top 5 places. Following in second was Trinity (174), fourth was Williams (206), and fifth was Amherst (225). Only Wisconsin-Stevens Point broke them up. Bowdoin (coached by Bro de Sluggo) finished 19th (392). November 15, 2003 The 2003 MIT Cross Country team finished its season with a 14th place finish, their highest in recent years, at the NCAA Regional qualifier at the Twin Brook course in Cumberland Maine on Saturday. Senior caption Martha Buckley ended her harrier carear with a 48th place finish to lead the team. Following hher were Julia Espel (61) and Karen Kinnaman (70) with another cluth performance. Alisa Schor (82) and Karen Condon (107) completed the scoring 5 with Jen Gaugler (110) and Nancy Benedetti (116) just seconds behind. Pre-race hopes were for a top 10 finish, but that would be a challenge for any team as the New Englad region has four of the top five ranked squads in the country, and seven of the top 27.
After the team awards night on November 22, attention will turn to the indoor season, approaching all too soon.
MIT Results | Full Results | Photos November 1, 2003 Coach Harold Hatch predicted that it would take 60 points to win the 2003 NEWMAC Championship; he also noted that it would also take a little bit of luck, but was confident that TechTrack had prepared well for luck. The Engineers utilized that preparation to record a 61-66 win over Wellesley for their second ever conference championship; Wheaton was third with 72 in the 10 team field run on the Clark University course in Boylston MA. The course measured just about three miles, but was likely the toughest that MIT, or any of the league schools, had encountered in the past few years. Dubbed by one coach as "the Tufts course on steroids", the lap and a half route combined an opening half mile climb on the hilly grass fields, some rolling woods trails mid-race, and a second traverse of the opening stretch before a steady downhill to the finish line. Individual winner and NEWMAC runner of the year Marisa Clapp of Springfield took the pace out from the gun and recorded her third consecutive conference win (17:31) with a 51 second margin over her competition as the race behind her changed through the ups and downs of the route. Martha Buckley proved to be the strongest of all challengers, running among the top five from the start, climbing to second on the final long uphill, and holding that spot on the steady downhill to the line, clocking 18:22. That placing matched the best ever by an MIT harrier, Debbie Won twice being runner-up in the meet. Julia Espel was never far off the captain's pace, and came home in fifth (18:36). Karen Condon took the final all-conference spot (14th, 19:10), and Alisha Schor (18, 19:18) and Karen Kinnaman (23, 19:27) rounded out the scorers, the 1:05 spread from 1-5 being the smallest of the season. Jen Gaugler (29) and Kelly Kuo (42) rounded out the top 7, with co-captain Katie Huffman (45) had her best effort of the year as eighth runner. The ultimate result was proof positive of the true team effort turned in by TechTrack (now sporting new uniforms and warm-ups); despite having five among the top 25 at one mile, the quickscore put them third, and similar placings at mile 2 had not secured the win. Springfield had the best top 3, and Wellesley was first with five in the chute, but MIT turned in the low score in the final accounting. The MIT men's team duplicated the women's win, scoring 29 points, as Ben Schmeckpepper matched Buckley's silver medal. The team has two weeks to prepare for the final meet of the season, the New England Division III and NCAA qualifier on November 15 at the Twin Brook course in Cumberland ME. Teams may put 7 runners on the line for the 6K race that will determine the five teams and 9 individuals who will advance to Nationals. MIT Results | Full Results | Photos "The real contest is always between what you've done and what you're capable of doing. You measure yourself against yourself and nobody else." -Geoffrey Gaberino |
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