Morton Headlines Impressive Track Victory

By Jeff Lemieux Apr. 20, 2007

122 track 32 — Aron Walker '07 clears a hurdle during the men's 400-meter intermediate hurdle race. Walker placed fourth in the event with a time of 58.91 seconds.
William Yee—The Tech

123 track 33 — William B. Fedus '10 hands off the MIT baton to Christopher T. Bateman '07 during the men's 4x100-meter relay. The MIT relay team took first with a time of 43.55 seconds.
William Yee—The Tech

124 track 34 — Emily Hwang '09 clears the bar during the women's pole vault competition. Hwang won with a clearance of 10'5.5".
William Yee—The Tech

Sprinter and jumper Stephen A. Morton '10 dominated his events, winning three and placing second in one, leading the Engineers in defeating four opponents from Maine on Saturday at Steinbrenner Stadium. MIT closed with 262 points, well ahead of second place Bates College (191), while Colby (91), Southern Maine (85), and Colby-Sawyer (43) finished third through fifth, respectively.

MIT was dominant in nearly every part of the meet, winning every event on the track from 100 to 5000 meters with the exception of the steeplechase and the 400 hurdles. Morton was in spectacular form as he easily swept the sprint events, breaking the tape in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.88 before cruising to a split of 21.91 in the 200-meter.

Morton also led a tremendous team performance in the jumps. The freshman jumped 22'8" to outdistance teammate Anthony D. Teixeira '08 for top honors in the long jump, although Teixeira paced a 1-2-3 finish in the triple jump after a leap of 43'6". Morton equaled Teixeira's distance later in the event to secure second (he lost on a tie-breaker), while Christopher B. Bateman '07 followed up a fourth-place finish in the long jump to finish third in the triple.

Teixeira's win in the triple jump was his second victory of the day. He also outdueled Omari S. Stephens '08, Tech associate photo editor, for a 1-2 finish in the 110-meter high hurdles.

Highlights for the Engineers on Saturday were numerous. James R. Oleinik '09 enjoyed an easy victory in the shot out as his toss of 48'11" was over three feet further than the nearest competitor, while Gregory D. Tao '08 won the pole vault. William B. Fedus '10 ran a 50.07 to win the open 400-meter and followed up with a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter at 23.37. The 4 x 100-meter relay unit was also convincing in its first-place showing.

William S. Phipps '10 finished on top in the race of the day, the 800-meter run, splitting 1:58.14 to finish three-one hundredths of one second ahead of Southern Maine's Jimmy Sawyer (1:58.17). MIT had three runners under the two-minute mark in the race and three of the top six finishers.

MIT was even more dominant in the 5000-meter. While Eric A. Khatchadourian '07 cruised to victory in a time of 15:10.4, the Cardinal and Gray also grabbed third through fifth, with Christopher Wong '08, M. Brian Jacokes '07 and Trevor B. Rundell '09 authoring a mighty team effort.