ATHLETES’ CORNER
Shotokan club competes in Battle for Boston
The MIT Shotokan Karate Club sent four competitors to the Battle for Boston 2010 competition on Sunday, April 18. Vazrik Chiloyan ’11, a purple belt, won first place in intermediate kumite (sparring) against fierce competition in a large field of competitors, winning gold for MIT in his event.
Vazrik also won first place in intermediate kata (forms) for his performance of Bassai Dai, “Storming the Fortress”. Grandmaster Kazumi Tabata, an Eighth Degree Blackbelt, was so impressed with Vazrik’s performance that Vazrik was promoted to brown belt on the spot and asked to compete in advanced kumite as well.
Emily K. Rosser ’12, an orange belt, was originally scheduled to compete in beginner kumite. However, she was bumped up to the intermediate division at the last minute, where she made a valiant effort and placed second despite having less experience than her opponents.
Carlos E. Salinas ’13 and Julian Lemus ’13 also competed in the event in the beginner division where they fought with great spirit, but they fell short.
Lightweight crew is last place in Geiger Cup
This past Saturday, the Men’s lightweight crew team raced league rivals Cornell and Columbia in Ithaca for the Geiger Cup. The 2000 meter course features a pronounced turn at the halfway mark.
The varsity crew rowed a quick first thousand, holding close to the strong Cornell crew and picking up a one second lead on Columbia.
Through the turn, the Engineers lost momentum in the outside lane, and dropped back on the Lions. The rowers struggled to regain their speed in the final thousand of the race, but ended about 3 seconds behind Columbia, who finished 7 seconds behind Cornell.
“The beginning of our race was great, but we didn’t hold it together too well for the end. I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to put together a more complete race going into next week and then the championships.” said captain Richard A. Suarez ’11.
The Freshmen eight fared better, defeating Columbia by three seconds, but finishing thirteen seconds behind Cornell.
The Men’s lightweight team faces off against University of Delaware next Saturday on the Charles River. This will be their last race before their league championships in three weeks.
— Aaron Blankstein, Team representative