CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Ephs came up short on Saturday against Division III rival M.I.T., finishing second in a three team meet hosted by M.I.T. Both the Ephs (136.5 points), and Coast Guard (47) finished behind M.I.T.'s impressive team score of 192.5 points. While the scoring discrepancy seems significant, it is important to note that tri-meets have that effect on scoring; subtle differences in performances often manifest large gaps in team score. While Saturday's meet remains disappointing in that it was the first meet the team truly tried to win, the Ephs remain confident in themselves with their eyes still affixed on repeating as New England Division III Champions.
The Ephs got a boost going into the weekend on Friday when junior Isaac Nicholson finished 1st of 11 competitors at the Tufts Pentathlon. Nicholson scored big in the 60m hurdles (8.97 sec, 752 points), the high jump (1.89m, 705 points), and the 1000m race (2:46.29, 805 points). His combined score of 3409 points easily topped 2nd place Matthew Blazon of UMASS Lowell.
Freshman Jabs Blyden competed in an unlikely combination of events, the 55m hurdles and the 800. Even more impressively, he finished 2nd in the 55 (8.05 seconds) and won the 800 (1:58.89). To score in both disciplines demonstrates a remarkable amount of talent and event range. Blyden is perhaps the first runner in Williams history to earn D-III qualifiers for the 55m hurdles and the 800 on the same day. Taylor Fitzgerald '11 was also impressive, winning the 400m for the first time this year in 50.86 seconds, a solid time for the indoor track. The effort earned "Fitz" an ECAC qualifier. He also finished second in the 200m dash, thereby scoring an important 12 points on the day. Don Polite Jr., freshman, scored for the first time in his Williams career, running the 55m dash in 6.97 seconds.
In longer distances, Edgar Kosgey '10 and Tommy Gaidus '13 finished 1st and 3rd respectively in the 1000m. Although not exceptionally fast, Kosgey's 2:33.31 constituted a more than one second victory over the 2nd place runner Bill Phipps of M.I.T. Josephat Koima '12 and Cullen Roberts '10 were 2nd and 3rd in the 1 mile. The Ephs best event of the day was undoubtedly the 3000, where the team finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th, scoring 19 of their 136.5 points in that one event. Connor Kamm '10 led the way in 8:37.90 (an ECAC qualifier), followed by Anthony Raduazo '12 and Brandon Abasolo '13. Finally, Corey Watts '10 came up victorious in the 5000m, with his 15:08 time earning an ECAC qualifier and beating second place by almost seven seconds.
Rusty Cowher's name is becoming synonymous with strong Eph performances in the throwing events; Saturday was no exception. Cowher finished 2nd in the weight throw and 5th in the shot put, with the former deserving of an ECAC qualifier. Johnny Ray Hinojosa grabbed a pair of points in an event typically dominated by M.I.T., the pole vault.
Tomas Kearney '12 was up to his scoring ways once again with a second place in both the long and triple jump. Both times he was bested solely by M.I.T. athlete Stephen Morton. He completed the jumping trifecta by winning the high jump (thank goodness Morton was not competing), totalling an impressive 17 points for the Ephs. Steve Rubin '11 nabbed a pair of 5th place finishes in the same events as Kearney, scoring 4 points for the team.
Fletcher Brooks offered these comments about the team's 2nd place finish: "I was proud of both the men and women. The men did better than we expected given that we did not try to stretch some of our athletes as much as they are capable of. We gave MIT a good fight and in two weeks expect to fight even stronger and battle them even harder."
He concluded an e-mail sent to the team with this brief by telling line: "Two weeks: New England Division III Championships."
