HARRIERS DISPLAY DEPTH IN CONN. COLLEGE INVITE WITHOUT TOP RUNNERS
September 22, 2007
MIT traveled on Saturday to Harkness Park in Waterford, CT, to race in the Connecticut College Cross Country Invitational. The day was hot and humid whenever the sun was out and it seemed to come out as soon as the women's race was about to start and didn't go back in until both races were over. Despite the excellent competition and the flat, fast course, MIT held out the top two runners from both the men's and women's teams for a combination of reasons. The supporting runners needed to step-up and take ownership of the outcome and they did not fail. On the women's side, Jacqui Wentz lady the Lady Engineers to a fifth place finish among the 14 teams with 109 points on the 6K course. Their total was 36 points behind the winning team, the host Camels. The men were led by Brian Jacokes to a sixth place finish among the 19 teams with 129 points.
The NCAA Division III Regional Qualifier will be held on this course so the Engineers wanted to get a good look at the course. The women planned to get out a little faster than usual, hoping to take advantage of the flat course. The extremely humid conditions took a toll on the runners but most runners managed to endure the discomfort. Wentz is returning to her form she displayed early in her freshman year last year. She went out in ninth place and managed to stay there, finishing in 23:34. Katy Gordon stayed with Wentz stride for stride through three miles but didn't have the finishing speed, falling back to 12th in 23: 43. Liz Labuz, who went out just off of Wentz and Gordon, fell back a bit in the second mile but ran tough in the third mile to hold onto 19th in 23:59. If Monks and Bucala had raced this would have meant a team victory, but rest and recovery are more important this early in the season.
Without Jake Ruzevick and Yermie Cohen racing for Tech, Joe Roy-Mayhew, Brian Jacokes and Trevor Rundell shared the pace setting honors for MIT. The trio ran outstanding, coming through the mile in 5:00 and only having a very small deviation between mile splits with Jacokes having the best at 17 seconds. The group could not move up on the talented field, which included the second ranked team in the country, New York University, nationally ranked St. Lawrence University and Brandeis University as well as Division II New England powerhouses, Stonehill College and Southern Connecticut State and Division I juggernaut, UConn. They did hold on however, Jacokes finishing in 18th place in 26:04 with Rundell and Roy-Mayhew supporting with 19th and 26th place efforts in 26:07 and 26:19 respectively. Finishing the scoring for Tech were Hemu Arumugam, finishing 32nd in 26:25 and Chris Wong, placing 36th in 26:30. The :26 delta was impressive for MIT as they also had three additional runners under 27:00.
The Engineers do not race next weekend, not racing again until October 6 at the New England Intercollegiate Championship at Franklin Park with the women starting at 12:00 and the men at 1:30.