TECH TUNES-UP AND RESTS FOR UPCOMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
April 19, 2008
After the apparent fatigue displayed at the previous meet, many of the MIT Engineers were given an easy week, including competing in only one event, or not at all, in the MIT Spring Invitational. Good weather promoted solid performances for Tech in the non-scoring meet for those who did compete.
On the track, the most significant performance was run by freshman, Gihan Amarasiriwardena. Fighting off a cold and a strong wind, he qualified for the New England Division III Championship in the 5000 with a time of 15:32.70. Jack Bourbonnais also ran well, particularly given the conditions, clocking 15:43.37. In the 1500, Jake Ruzevick showed he is nearly back to his old self, running 4:03.77. Close behind Ruzevick were freshmen steeplers, Paul Welle (4:04.65) and Richard Prevost (4:05.27).
In the hurdle events, Anthony Teixeira returned to hurdle form with a personal best of 15.21. Also running a personal best for Tech was Dave Fernholz, breaking 16 for the first time with a 15.96. In the 400IH event, Nick Leonard continued to improve, running 58.28.
In the field events, many performances by MIT were of note. In the long jump, the second tier of Tech jumpers all improved with Michael Fitzgerald leading the way with a 19-4 1/4 jump. Right behind him in the standings were Adam Hartz at 19-4 and Oliver Yeh at 19-2 1/2. Similarly, in the triple jump, Mattias Flander jumped 45-5 3/4 to easily win the event and Obinna Anyanwu had his best jump of the year with his 43-1 3/4 effort. Also, in the high jump, Eric Beecher had his best jump of the year, clearing 5-10 3/4 and narrowly missing 6-1.
Among the throwing events, the shot put was the best event for MIT. James Oleinik returned to 49' territory with a winning toss of 49-2 1/2. Throwing personal bests for MIT were Tony McDonald (44-1 1/4), Adam Mustafa (42-4 1/4), Coco Agbeyibor (39-3 3/4) and Mitch Kelley (38-9 3/4). In the discus, Oleinik again had the winning toss, throwing 128-4. Throwing for PRs were Mustafa at 121-10 and Kelley, also at 121-10.
Next Saturday, MIT travels to Smith College to defend their NEWMAC Conference title, a meet they have won the past seven years in succession. Coast Guard appears to be the favored team with both good quality as well as depth in nearly all of the events. The Engineers will need their best effort of the year to come out ahead.