Championship weekend preview: what to expect
Brace yourself! It is the championship weekend for winter sports. MIT swimming and diving (men and women), track and field (men and women), fencing (men and women), and squash teams will battle for regional or conference titles starting February 18. Here we include a snapshot of what to expect and where you can catch all the action.
Fencing: The New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference Championship will be held at Wellesley College on Saturday, February 20. The MIT women’s team went 17-9 on the regular season and featured three All-Stars. Cordelia Avery ’17 made the sabre first team to join captain Jessica Li ’17 who made the foil first team. Rookie Helen Sakharova ’19 was named to the epee second team.
The men’s team finished with a 10-14 overall record in the regular season. Benjamin Lin ’17 and Tzer Wong ’18 were both named to the Northeast Fencing Conference All-Star sabre first team.
Swimming and diving: MIT will host the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) swimming and diving championships from February 18-21.
The MIT men’s team has posted a perfect regular season and will look to dominate at the weekend championships.
The women’s team posted a 6-3 record along with a third place finish at the MIT Winter Invite. Veronika Jedryka ’17, who holds the record for the fastest time in the 50, 100, and 200 meter freestyle for the Engineers in 2015-16, will look to add to her tally of NEWMAC championships following her two victories in 2015.
Track and Field: MIT will host the men’s track and field New England Division III championship on February 19 and 20 while the women’s team will be travelling to Middlebury College.
The MIT women’s track and field program is the highest rated division III program in the country. Maryann Gong ’17, who ran NCAA Division III top times for three straight weeks, will be in action for the Engineers along with pole vault record-holder Cimran Virdi ’16.
The men’s relay team had their best effort (NCAA Division III best for the season) last weekend at Boston University and will look to take that form into this weekend’s championship.
Squash: The College Squash Association team nationals will be held at Yale University from February 19-21. MIT went 17-7 during a regular season that included a program-high nine-game unbeaten run.