Junior clocks best NCAA time for 3000m, finishing at 9:41.34
Women’s track and field secures victory at Bowdoin
Maryann Gong ’17 registered a first place finish with a time of 9:41.34 in the 3000m, an NCAA record, which helped the Engineers to victory at the Bowdoin Invitational II on Jan. 22 inside the William Farley Field House.
The top ranked Engineers accumulated 203 points, which was ahead of Merrimack College (90), Tufts University (89), Bowdoin College (70), the University of Southern Maine (65), Connecticut College (34), the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (23), Keene State College (7), Plymouth State University (5), and UMaine Farmington (2).
Gong’s time in the 3000m, 9:41.34, is 2.32 seconds ahead of Amy Regan of Stevens Institute of Technology, whose current best time is 9:43.66. Both Gong and Regan are the only two women who have registered times below ten minutes this season.
As a team, MIT notched seven individual first place finishes, the top three spots in the 5000m, the top two finishes in high jump and weight throw, and first, second, third, and fifth positions in pole vault.
Bailey Tregoning ’19 led the way for MIT with a win in the 800m race with a time of 2:20.97, before teaming up with classmates Leandra Zimmermann ’19, Megan Montgomery’ 19, and Gong for first in the 4x800m relay in 9:41.94.
Individually, Montgomery went on to place first in the one-mile in 5:15.81 and fifth in the 1000m in 3:08.22, while classmate Bailee Margolis ’19 crossed the finish line first in the 5000m in 18:46.55.
In the field events, Natalie Alper ’17 was first in high jump with a height of 1.62m, 5-3 3/4”, Cimran Virdi ’16 was first in the pole vault with a height of 3.67m, 12-0 1/2”, and Jackie Vahey ’17 was first in the weight throw with a distance of 16.05m, 52-8”.
The Engineers secured 19 qualifying times for the NCAA Division III New England Indoor Championships, 13 qualifiers for the ECAC Division III Championships and five qualifying times for the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Indoor Championships, all which are going to be held later in February.