MIT
Varsity Sports Fact Sheet
Basic
Information
With 41 varsity intercollegiate
sports teams—21 for men, 17 for women, two co-educational, and a varsity club
program in men’s ice hockey—MIT has the largest number of NCAA-sponsored
programs in the nation.
Approximately 20 percent of MIT
undergraduates, supported by more than 50 full- and part-time coaches,
participate in at least one varsity program,
MIT competes primarily against New England
colleges. In addition to the NCAA, it is a member of
the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), the Massachusetts Association
for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW), and several sport-specific
conferences.
The institute’s primary league
affiliation is with NEWMAC—the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic
Conference, where MIT competes against Babson, Clark, the Coast Guard Academy,
Mount Holyoke, Smith, Springfield, Wellesley, Wheaton and Worcester Polytechnic
Institute.
A complex tangle of governing
bodies regulates varsity sports around the country. The majority
are governed by the NCAA, but there are a number that aren’t
NCAA-regulated, for example, sailing and squash.
For the recent achievements in
each varsity sport, go to the Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and
Recreation home page (http://web.mit.edu/athletics/www/index.html).
On the upper left is the “Choose a Sport” pull-down menu that directs you to
the past-season highlights of each team and also links to the coaches, the
roster and this year’s schedule. (Note: not all of the links work.)
Team Facts
Basketball
Men’s Coach: Larry Anderson
Women’s coach: Kristi Staub
Season: November-February
The men’s team has 13 members; the
women’s team has 14.
2002-2003 triumphs
Women
- With a 14-11 overall record, women’s basketball had its best
season ever, closing at second place in NEWMAC.
- Melissa Hart, who coached the team from 1998 until Kristi Staub
succeeded her this season, was named 2003 NEWMAC Coach of the Year. She is
the first MIT basketball coach to receive this honor. (Hart, who also
coached women’s soccer, earned the NEWMAC soccer coach of the year award
in 2001.)
- Crystal Russell ’03 was named 2003 NEWMAC player of the year.
Men
- With a 16-10 record, and a 9-2 home court record, the team
qualified for the ECAC Championship series for the first time in its
history.
- It was ranked 11th in the nation in scoring defense
and 16th in field goal percentage.
- Captain Kyle Doherty ’04 was named to the NEWMAC All-Conference
Team for the second year in a row.
- Neal Brenner, Andrew Tasi and Danny Kanamori earned NEWMAC
All-Academic honors.
Both teams competed in the annual
Lopata Classic at Washington University in St.
Louis.
Fencing
Men’s and Women’s Coach: Jarek Koniusz
Season: November-March
The men’s team has XX members; the
women’s team has YY. Last season they played in tournaments around New England
and traveled to New York for the NCAA Regionals as well as to Colorado Springs for the NCAA National Championships.
2002-2003 triumphs
Women
- The MIT women’s team took first place at the New England
Championships for the sixth consecutive year.
- Its 18-3 season record included victories over Division I
schools North Carolina,
Duke, Boston College,
Brown and Cornell.
- It also finished third overall at the Intercollegiate Fencing
Association Championships, MIT’s best finish ever.
Men
- The men’s epée squad had a first-place finish in the New
England Championships, while the team finished in
second place overall.
Other notable accomplishments
- Jarek Koniuzs has headed MIT’s fencing program for 10 years. In
1982, he placed third in the saber World Championships. In 1989, he placed
second. Under his coaching, the MIT women’s varsity team has won the New
England Collegiate Championships for five of the last seven years. The
men’s varsity team won them in 1999, 2000 and 2002, finishing second in
2001.
- As a sophomore, Caroline Purcell ’02 won the national
championship in the NCAA saber competition, and earned a 14th-place
finish in the national rankings. The next season, she won a gold medal in
the saber competition at the Junior Pan American Fencing Championships in Brazil.
- Evan Efstathiou '00 began fencing as a freshman at
MIT. Three years later, he led the MIT fencing team to victory in the New
England Championships. Now a coach of MIT's fencing team, he has continued
to compete and currently ranks 14th in the United States and 89th in the world in men's saber. Says
Evan, "Who says you can't combine world class academics with world
class athletics?"
Sailing
Coaches: Francis Charles, Michael Kalin
Season: September-November, and March-May
There are XX men and YY women on
the team. It competes against the best teams in New England
and around the nation, including many Division I teams.
2002-2003 triumphs
- MIT currently ranks 15th in North America.
- The team qualified for the National Championships in Detroit
and finished 11th overall. Led by J.M. Modisette, Gigi Gu,
Dan Bercovici, Emma Bassein, and Libby Wayman, the team is aiming to
compete in the National Championships again this year on the Columbia
River in Oregon.
- MIT finished among the top 10 in every regatta.
Other notable accomplishments
- The MIT sailing team routinely has been one of the best sailing
teams in the region, and has been featured on the national charts every
season for the past five years.
- In fall 1999, it was named the sixth-best sailing program in
the nation.
- Fran Charles oversees MIT’s entire recreational sailing
program, which consists of over 2000 members and a fleet of more than 100
boats.
- Assistant sailing master Mike Kalin was the Canada
double-handed youth champion and has been an active racer at the World
Team Championships. In August 2000, he was highlighted in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the
Crowd.” Later that year, he finished 6th at the Canadian
Olympic Trials.
Squash (men’s
varsity team only)
Coach: Jeff Hamilton
Season: November-February
There are 10 men and 2 women on
the team. It is a member of the College Squash Association, a national league
of more than 40 teams. MIT competes primarily with East Coast teams, such as Dartmouth, Brown, Navy, and Tufts, but also has competed recently
against Stanford and UC Berkeley. The team plays about 15 to 18 games a year.
2002-2003 triumphs
- MIT was ranked 18th in the nation.
- The team closed the season winning three out of four against
strong rivals. Its 7-9 season record is impressive, since the team usually
plays East Coast teams, which are in the top tier of the national competition.
Other notable accomplishments
- In nearly every year of Jeff Hamilton’s 16-year team
leadership, MIT has been ranked in the top 20 nationally. During this
time, three MIT students have won All-America honors, which recognize
students for their athletic and academic
accomplishments.
- Because they don’t have a team of their own, MIT women who want
to play varsity squash must play on the men’s team. To date, four women
have gone this route, and two of them currently are on the team. In 1999,
the squash team voted its only female team member, Amalia Londono ’99,
team MVP.
Swimming
Coach: Dawn Gerken
Season: November-February
The men’s and women’s teams each
have 30 members. They compete against NEWMAC schools, so stay primarily in New England
except when they travel to national competitions.
2002-2003 triumphs
- The men’s team finished last season with a 9-1 record, its best
mark ever en route to the club’s second consecutive NEWMAC title.
- The women’s team assembled its best record (8-3) ever.
- Five swimmers were invited to compete in the NCAA Division III
Championships, and 13 swimmers qualified for the national championships,
with five earning All-America honors.
- The squads also established five new MIT records.
- Nicholas Sidelnick, who was the 400 individual medley champion
at the NEWMAC Championships, made national news after swimming the English
Channel in August. (In the individual medley, a swimmer
follows an order of all strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and
freestyle. There are three different classifications—the 100, 200 and
400.)
Other notable accomplishments
- Yvonne Grierson ’90 is the only person ever to be twice named
the New England Division III Woman Athlete of the Year. She also won the
1990 Honda Award as the finest women’s Division III athlete in the nation,
an honor bestowed annually by the American Honda Motor Company for
superior athletic skills, leadership abilities, academic excellence and
dedication to community service.
- Two members of the Class of 2007 on this year’s team achieved
NCAA consideration times in high school. [still awaiting an explanation]
Tennis
Men’s Coach: Jeff Hamilton
Women’s Coach: Carol Matsuzaki
Sports Season: September-October; March-May
Twelve students compete on the
men’s team; 13 on the women’s team.
The men’s team competes primarily
with New England teams, but its geographical reach expands when it competes
in national championships, and when it travels for spring training. For two of
the last three years, it has qualified for the Intercollegiate Tennis
Association (ITA) Minnesota Court Classic, the national team indoor
championships played in Minneapolis.
The women’s team competes again Wellesley, Clark WPI, Wheaton, Babson, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Springfield, Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, Vassar, Trinity, Brandeis and
Tufts.
2002-2003 triumphs
- MIT won its fifth straight NEWMAC championship, while carrying
two of the top five ranked singles players in the nation.
- Vitaly Pereverzev ’04 competed for the national title before
being eliminated in the semifinals.
- Evan Tindell ’06 was named National Rookie of the Year after a
freshman campaign that included a New England Division III championship
and a No.1 ranking in the Northeast Region.
- The women’s team earned the best win-loss record in the history
of the program (11-1), topping the 10-1 record turned in by the 1984
squad.
- Caroline Tien ’04 won the No. 2 flight at the New England
Championships. She also qualified for the semifinals of the Northeast
Region ITA Championships.
Other notable accomplishments
- Men’s tennis has appeared in four straight NCAA Championships,
and in eight of the last 12.
- During that time, MIT has produced 12 All-Americas,
a national championship doubles team, a New England Division III
Championship, and numerous top 10 national rankings.
- In 2002, Jeff Hamilton was named NEWMAC Coach of the Year for
the fourth straight season. In 2000, he was named the NCAA Coach of the
Year.
- This season, Evan Tindell ’06 won the ITA’s national singles
championship. He is ranked as the top singles player in the nation.
- The Lady Engineers have won four straight NEWMAC Championships,
led by three-time conference Coach of the Year, Carol Matsuzak
- Throughout the program’s history, many players have qualified
individually for the national championships with an 11th-place
position in the 1993 national rankings serving as the team’s marquee feat.
Men’s Track and
Field and Cross Country
Coach: Halston
Taylor (who also is housemaster of Burton-Connor)
Indoor track season: December-February;
Outdoor track season: March-May
Cross country season: August-November
20 men are on the cross-country
team, 45 on the track team. They compete against the best New England Division
III schools. The cross country team travels to the NCAA championship site when
it qualifies, and the track team goes west annually for spring training.
2002-2003 triumphs
- The team had an undefeated record, winning the NEWMAC and New
England Division III Championships.
- Coach Halston Taylor was named NEWMAC Coach of the Year for the
fourth time. He has produced a combined coaching record of 215-21,
solidifying MIT’s position as one of the dominant programs in the region.
- Last season, MIT earned five All-America citations, set four
school records and finished among the nation’s top 20 teams for both the
indoor and outdoor season.
Other notable accomplishments
- Under Taylor’s
guidance MIT students have won 114 All-America honors, and 10 have been
named national champions.
Women’s Track
and Field and Cross Country
Coach: Paul Slovenski
Indoor track season: November-February
Outdoor track season: February-May
Cross country season: August-November
Thirty-five students compete on
each team. Both compete in NEWMAC and in the New England Small College Athletic
Conference (NESCAC). The students pay for an annual fall training trip to Maine.
2002-2003 triumphs
- The track team had the best record (19-3) in the indoor
program’s history and established seven new MIT records. According to
Slovenski, the team continues to rewrite the MIT record books,
- Julia Espel ’05 finished seventh overall at the NCAA
Championships and was the first sophomore in program history to be named
All-American.
Other notable accomplishments
- Since Paul Slovenski began coaching women’s track five years
ago, the team has consistently finished among the NEWMAC top 10.
- Slovenski’s 85-33 record makes him the program’s all-time
winningest coach.
- In 2001, he was named NEWMAC Coach of the Year in track. He was
named NEWMAC Coach of the Year in cross-country in 2001 and 2002.
- In 2001, the women’s cross country team won the NEWMAC
Championship. It used to place annually among the teams ranked 5-7. Now it
places consistently among the top 3 in both NEWMAC and NESCAC.
- Track also now places consistently among the NEWMAC top three.
Some amazing
facts
MIT ranks first in producing
Academic All Americas among Division III schools, and is third throughout all
divisions. The Academic All America Award recognizes students for their
athletic and academic accomplishments.
Based on annual reports collected
by the National Collegiate Scouting Association, which included data on
competition and student-athlete graduation rates, in 2003 MIT ranked 16th
in the country in all NCAA divisions. In NCAA Division III¾the group of more than 300 teams with whom MIT competes¾the Engineers are ranked fifth overall.
In 2002-2003, MIT earned one New
England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Player of the Year Award
(in basketball), five Rookie of the Year Awards, and seven Coach of the Year Awards.
Thirty-nine students qualified to compete as individuals in national
championships.
MIT teams in fencing, track,
sailing, and men's and women’s tennis regularly qualify for national-level
competitions.
All coaches are full-time faculty
members who teach physical education classes as well as coach varsity teams.
Other amazing students
In 2001, Jennifer Harris Trosper
’90, captain of the 1989 MIT volleyball team, was inducted into the Verizon
Academic All America Hall of Fame. Now a project systems engineer for the Mars
Exploration Rover Mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Trosper earned four varsity letters in volleyball and one
in softball during her MIT career.
Audrey Wang ’03 is the only woman
in the country to earn All-American status at the NCAA pistol championships.