Four-time national champion Cimran Virdi ’16 reflects on amazing 4 years at MIT
In this commencement edition, we feature a sensational senior who has four individual national titles to her credit and has literally jumped higher than any female athlete in division III history. Cimran Virdi ’16 gives us a glimpse of what it takes to be an elite student-athlete at MIT.
Q&A with DAPER director Julie Soriero
Soriero spoke about how DAPER is always trying to provide the right environment for MIT student-athletes to thrive, how the coaches try to attract the best talent, the culture of appreciation or lack thereof of student-athletes’ achievements, what DAPER does to incentivize club and IM sports, and what it means to her to have been awarded the Athletics Director’s Award for the year 2014-15.
Engineers produce a stellar athletic 2015-16 school year
The 2015-16 school year was not just an eventful period for MIT academically but it was also a year of immense success by a number of its athletic teams. We highlight a few of the most memorable moments of MIT sports from this school year.
Softball to head to College World Series
Softball is headed to its first College World Series appearance (NCAA Final 8 to be held in Salem, VA) after defeating WPI 2-0 in a best-of-three series in the NCAA Super Regional championship.
Cycling clinches conference championship
The MIT cycling club capped off its road regular season by clinching the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Championships (Easterns) held on the weekend of April 23-24 at Warwick and Turners Falls, MA.
Alexandra Marshall '16 talks pitching, statistics and teamwork
Marshall holds the school record for most strikeouts in program history. She talks about scouting opponents, reliance on data, battling Type I diabetes, and reveals her favorite pitcher and the baseball team she roots for in this interview with The Tech.
Okonkwo '18 sets long jump school-record at Sean Collier Invite
Nneoma Okonkwo '18 set the MIT record in the long jump on Saturday afternoon at the Sean Collier Invitational with a best leap of 18-feet, 11.25-inches (5.77m).
MIT announces gift to endow Director of Sports Medicine position
DAPER has received a 2.5 million dollar gift from Walter Price '70 that will be used to endow the department’s Director of Sports Medicine position.
Women's rugby hosts the 8th annual Prom Dress Rugby Tournament
The MIT women's rugby team hosted the 8th annual Prom Dress Rugby Tournament this weekend, matching up against several nearby schools including Amherst, Wellesley, Boston College, and Holyoke.
Women's ultimate frisbee qualifies for regionals
The MIT women’s ultimate frisbee team, also known as sMITe, is heading into the New England Area Regionals this coming weekend.
Celtics gain footing in Game 3 of playoffs
Isaiah Thomas finished the game with a career-high 42 points, and heard MVP chants all game long. His dominant play may not have been the sole reason for this win but it certainly played a large role.
Men's lacrosse edges Clark 9-8 in overtime thriller
Luke Verdi '16 scored with six seconds remaining in overtime to give the MIT men’s lacrosse team a 9-8 victory over Clark University in NEWMAC action on Saturday afternoon.
Taekwondo takes 2nd at University of Vermont
The MIT Taekwondo team placed second in Division I at the final Eastern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference (ECTC) tournament of the year. This tournament was held at the University of Vermont on April 9, hosting 17 schools with about 290 competitors.
Lakers legend Kobe Bryant bids farewell to NBA
This past Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers played the Utah Jazz in each team’s last game of the regular season. Without context, this would not seem like a historic night, but all eyes were fixated on the Staples Center court as an NBA legend prepared to suit up for the final game of his career.
Cycling team overcomes odds to win at Shippensburg
The MIT cycling team placed first overall at the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) Shippensburg Scurry race with contributions from each of its seven team members.
Baseball scores 31 runs in a single game against Emerson
MIT’s offense cranked out a total of 44 runs and its pitching allowed just three as the Engineers swept a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball doubleheader from Emerson College to complete a three-game sweep of the series. In the first game, MIT set a new school record for runs scored in a 31-2 win and then completed the sweep with a 13-1 decision in game two. Max Lancaster ’18 hit three home runs and drove in a total of seven runs over the two games for the Engineers.
Alumni have summitted the highest points of every North American country
Scaling new heights or overcoming the insurmountable have become cliches associated with the achievements of MIT students. But for Matthew and Eric Gilbertson (both PhD ’14) those phrases apply almost literally. In just over five years the twin brothers have scaled the highest peaks of every single country (23 to be exact) in North America. In an interview with The Tech, they reflected on their incredible journey — from the hours of careful planning, to treading surreptitiously on the edge of perilous cliffs, to the sheer exhilaration of reaching the summit and the realization that they are the only breathing human beings in a quarter-mile radius with nothing but tranquility and snow for company.
Douglas A. Kogut ‘18 wins 200-fly national title at NCAA meet
Douglas A. Kogut ’18 won the 200-fly individual title at the recently-concluded NCAA Division III national meet, thereby becoming the first student athlete from MIT to win a title in that category and fourth to win an individual event at the national meet. His time of 1:47:28 was both a personal and a school record and he clinched it when the spotlight shone brightest. He was also part of the 400-free relay team that won silver.
MIT tennis matches wits against Loughborough in Trans-Atlantic Challenge
The MIT tennis team squared up against a team from Loughborough University visiting from England for the second annual Trans-Atlantic Challenge. Although MIT put up a spirited showing and the Loughborough players said they were impressed with the level of play, the MIT men’s and women’s teams were defeated with an overall score of MIT 3-13 Loughborough. While the three days of tennis were an important aspect of the trip, the goal of the Trans-Atlantic Challenge is to explore and develop academic and research collaborations between these two prestigious institutions.