CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- On the second and final day of the New England Division III Championships, No. 4 MIT won the title for the second year in a row, wrapping up the weekend in first out of 26 teams with 121 points. Seventh-ranked Tufts finished in second with 74 points and Williams was third with 58.
In the preliminaries of the 60-meter, freshman Taylor Njaka finished in 12th place with a time of 7.16, while three Engineers finished in the top four of the 200. Senior Tyler Singer-Clark was second in 22.53, crossing the line a tenth of a second behind Graham Beutler of Tufts. Sophomores Michael Kaba and States Lee were third and fourth with times of 22.94 and 22.98 respectively.
Singer-Clark took second in the next event, the 400, competing 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 fellow sophomore Derek Barnes was eighth in 51.06. It was after this event that MIT took over as the first place team.
Senior Mac Gager was fifth in the 600 in 1:23.47, while freshman Henry Tareque was 13th in 1:25.67. In the 800m, juniors Samuel Parker and Harrison Hunter 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 1000, with junior Chadd Kiggins crossing the line two seconds ahead of the competition with his time of 2:30.11. Classmate Ricardo Paez came in third place in 2:32.85.
MIT's highest finisher in the 5000 was junior Benji Xie, who came in fifth place with a time of 15:04.46. Senior Roy Wedge was sixth in 15:05.31 and junior Allen Leung came in seventh in 15:09.80. All three Engineers earned points for MIT. Kaba fared well in the 60 Hurdles, completing the event with a time of 8.36 to finish in fourth place.
In the pole vault, junior Benjamin Schreck was second when he cleared the bar in 14-11, the same height as Ben Wollhaupter of Coast Guard who took first. Freshman Ian Perry finished in fifth place with a 13-11.25.
Just shy of his season best performance, junior Ken Cooper 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.
No. 6 Haverford at Keogh Invitational
HAVERFORD, Pa. -- Saturday afternoon's non-scoring Keogh Invitational at Haverford's Gary Lutnick Tennis & Track Center served as the Fords' final tune-up for the upcoming Centennial Conference championship.
The host team Saturday posted several strong performances including Charlie Marquardt's winning time of 1 minute, 54.64 seconds in the Eddie Papalia Memorial 800-meter run. Marquardt's collegiate-best result is the second-fastest in the Centennial this winter and, after conversion using the NCAA's banked-track index (1:53.03), is the 17th-fastest time in the event among Division III runners.
Marquardt also anchored the winning quartet in the 4x400-meter relay. Gebby Keny, Cormac Rada and Soren Rasmussen joined Marquardt on the relay.
The Fords also captured the 4x200 when Jeffrey Ainsley, Jonathan Yellets, Sam Callon and Alex Frost combined to post the Centennial's fastest time this winter with a clocking of 1:32.61.
Yellets had a strong day in addition to his relay contribution. The sophomore raced to his collegiate best in the 60 with a fifth-place time of 7.26 seconds and posted the conference's third-fastest 200 result with a time of 23.01 in a third-place finish Saturday.
Also posting a collegiate best for Haverford on the oval was Sam Fujimori whose time of 4:22.34 in the mile was good for third place.
Michael Iannacone registered a career-best -- indoor or outdoor -- in the pole vault Saturday afternoon, clearing 4.26 meters (13 feet, 11.75 inches) on the last of his three attempts at the height.
No. 7 Mount Union at Kent State Tune Up
KENT, Ohio -- Tyler Mettille bested his own school record in the 400-meters to headline the performances of Mount Union on Saturday at the Kent State Tune-Up.
Mettille's time of 48.10 was second at the meet and is the best time in nation so far this season in Divison III.
Gerardo Vargus had a career-best and 10th best mark in Division III this season in the pole vault as he placed fourth at 15-7.
Sean Donnelly had a second place finish in the weight throw (68-2.25).
Dan McGeary was fourth in the 3000 (8:33.31) while the duo of Bryan Derr and Wade Clark each finished fourth (2:36.57) and fifth (2:37.05) respectively in the 1000.
The other top five finishes on the day came from Dan Thornberry, who went fifth in the high jump (6-3.5) and Levi Simmons with a fifth in the long jump (21-4.75).
