MIT repeats title win
Men’s track and field team claims first place in the New England Division III Championships for the second year
Eric Hao—The Tech
On Saturday, February 22, the second and final day of the New England Division III Championships, the No. 4 MIT men’s track and field team won the title for the second year in a row, wrapping up the weekend in first out of 26 teams with 121 points. No. 7 Tufts University finished in second with 74 points and Williams College was third with 58.
In the preliminaries of the 60m, Taylor D. Njaka ’17 finished in 12th place with a time of 7.16, while three Engineers finished in the top four of the 200m. Tyler S. Singer-Clark ’14 was second with 22.53, crossing the line a tenth of a second behind Graham Beutler of Tufts. Michael S. Kaba ’16 and States Lee ’16 were third and fourth with times of 22.94 and 22.98 respectively.
Singer-Clark took second in the next event, the 400m, completing the event with a time of 49.81. Lee followed just two one-hundredths of a second later in third place with a 49.83 and Derek C. Barnes ’16 was eighth with 51.06. It was after this event that MIT took over as the first place team.
Brian M. Gager ’14 was fifth in the 600m with 1:23.47, while Henry Tareque ’17 was 13th with 1:25.67. In the 800m, Samuel G. Parker ’15 and Harrison A. Hunter ’14 both earned points towards MIT’s final score, with Parker coming in fourth with a time of 1:56.37 and Hunter taking eighth with his 1:57.48. Tech’s lone victory of the day came in the 1000m, with Chadd T. Kiggins ’15 crossing the line two seconds ahead of the competition with his time of 2:30.11. Ricardo Paez ’15 came in third place in 2:32.85.
MIT’s highest finisher in the 5000m was Benjamin X. Xie ’15, who came in fifth place with a time of 15:04.46. Roy A. Wedge ’14 was sixth with a time of 15:05.31 and Allen K. Leung ’15 came in seventh with 15:09.80. All three Engineers earned points for MIT. Kaba fared well in the 60m Hurdles, completing the event with a time of 8.36 to finish in fourth place.
Tech came in eighth place in the 4x800 relay with its time of 8:04.27, crossing the line over a second ahead of Connecticut College’s A relay. The Distance Medley Relay earned eight points when it came in second place with 10:30.83.
In the Pole Vault, junior Benjamin J. Schreck ’15 was second when he cleared the bar in 14-11, the same height as Ben Wollhaupter of Coast Guard who took first. Ian Perry ’17 finished in fifth place with a 13-11.25 and Marshall P. Wentworth ’16 was seventh, also with a vault of 13-11.25. In the Long Jump, David C. Motley ’15 and Adrian C. Samsel ’16 were fifth and sixth, both with jumps of 21-07.25. Motley went on to come in third place in the Triple Jump with a 45-01.75.
Just shy of his season best performance, Kenneth B. Cooper ‘15 was second in the Shot Put with a throw of 54-07.50. In the next event, the Weight Throw, he also finished in second place with a throw of 60-11.50.
MIT returns to the track next Friday, Feb. 28 for the NEICAAA Championships, which will take place at Boston University through Saturday, March 1.