November is Championship Month for Several MIT Squads

Cambridge, Mass. – Several teams representing MIT athletics had impressive showings at their respective Championship tournaments during the month of November.

Both the men and women cross country teams are headed to Waverly, Iowa for this Saturday’s NCAA Division III National Championships. After each squad captured the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) crown, the men were victorious at the New England Regional Championships , hosted by Williams College. Paul Welle placed sixth overall for Tech, who had two other runners in the top 12 of the meet.

The women punched their ticket to Iowa thanks to an eight large bid, and will head to Nationals on the legs of a fourth place finish in Williamstown. Tania Morimoto and Alina Gatowski placed eighth and ninth, respectively to pace the Engineers, who are currently ranked 7th in the nation. This is the first time in school history that both the men and women have qualified as a team for the National Championships.

After winning the Division III Eastern Championships at Connecticut College at the end of December, the MIT water polo team came home to host the Northern Division Championship, where they came into the tournament as the 3rd ranked team. Despite falling to Fordham in the third place match, the Engineers still earned a berth into the College Water Polo Association Eastern Championships, held Friday, November 19th to Sunday, November 21st at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The Engineers are again the fourth seed in the tournament and will play top seeded Princeton at 11:30 AM on Friday. Each team is guaranteed a game each day, so Tech will be fighting for position in the pool all weekend.

Finally, the MIT coed sailing team ended a very successful fall season by placing 13th at the 2010 Atlantic Coast dinghy championships, hosted by the Naval Academy. The Engineers were one of 18 teams from up and down the East Coast who had qualified for the championship weekend thanks to previous finishes, including a seventh place finish at last month's Erwin Schell Trophy.

Congratulations to all of the MIT fall teams and good luck to those still competing and the winter sports that are about to kick off their campaigns.

More Coverage on the Fall Championships at MIT Fall Championship Central.

Healthy Halloween Open House

This year's healthy halloween open house was a great success!  Thank you everyone that joined us for the fun. Here are some pictures of the event for you to enjoy.

Healthy Halloween

Tech Tip

The holiday season is right around the corner and scam artists and spammers will be out in full force to contaminate your computer, hi-jack your information or make offers that seem too good to be true.  You have to be strong and use common sense.  The adage "if it sounds too good to be true ..." applies in the electronic age more than any other time.  If an email is out of character for someone you know, question it, they should know that something has happened to their email.  Delete suspicious or unknown emails with attachments, it only takes a milisecond to hit the delete key as you go through your daily email.  Be sure to empty deleted items from time to time.

The end of the year is a good time to do some email filing. For example, select all those messages in your inbox from January 2010 to August 2010 and move them to a subfolder within Outlook, Entourage or OWA.  This could speed up your email retrieval and actually make it easier to find that one email that will answer all your project questions. Did you know that the search in Outlook, Entourage and OWA is quite robust and will allow you to search in all your email folders at one time?

Club Sports

MIT Triathlon has wrapped up a great season.  Their recent outing in the Max Performance race series gave them a first place finish.  In the Northeast College Triathlon Conference(NECTC) three women placed in the top 15 while the MIT team placed fifth in the all-Northeastern conference.
    

Katie Quinn places 1st out of 145 women competitors

MIT Cycling had another championship year.  This is their third year in a row winning the Omnium team award for being best overall at the 2010 Collegiate National Track Championships.

  

 Laura Ralston, Nick Loomis, Zach Labry and Michael Garrett

MIT Graduate Soccer Club earned a spot in the 2010 Cup Final of the Bay State Soccer League, against Mass Premier Soccer. The squad hoped to repeat it's last cup victory, which happened in 2007 and was also against Mass Premier. This time around MIT entered halftime down 1-0, but was outmatched in the second half to lose 7-0.

Graduate Soccer Club vs. Cambridge Arsenal in June

Physical Education

Physical Education wrapped up a very busy and successful fall term.

Physical Education Class backpacking at Mt Tom

Freshman Pre-Orientation Program - Discover Exercise & Wellness,

The Recreation Department offered its first ever Freshman Pre-Orientation Program (FPOP) this fall. The program, titled Discover Exercise & Wellness, focused on exposing the students to DAPER’s various resources and programs which encourage physical fitness and mental wellness so the students could easily initiate and maintain a healthy lifestyle at MIT. Ten incoming students participated in the program and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

Led by Lauren Hanley and Jamie Drahos, the majority of the five days were split between team building activities, recreation games, introductory fitness classes, educational sessions, and exciting excursions around the Cambridge and Boston area. The students learned how to measure their heart rate, appropriate heart rate ranges for aerobic and anaerobic activity, mechanics of exercise, basic nutrition and its impact on the brain, swimming stroke efficiency, the importance of sleep, and relaxation techniques. Team building activities included high and low ropes course challenges which encouraged the students to step outside their comfort zones and grow as individuals and bond as a group. The freshmen were able to meet upperclassmen as they explored campus and the Harvard Square area together. The group also toured Fenway Park, Faneuil Hall, and the Freedom Trail, and enjoyed a BBQ at the sailing pavilion and an evening of sailing on the Charles River.

Thank you to everyone within the department who assisted with this program to make it a success!

Head of the Zesiger 2010

Check out some pics from this year's Annual Head of the Zesiger Cardboard boat regatta!





MIT's Largest Zumba Class

On September 23rd MIT Recreation held it's first annual outdoor Zumba class.  Approximately 100 people attended.  Checkout the video below!

For more information on our group exercise program visit click here

MIT's Largest Kickboxing Class

On Tuesday, April 6, those working out in the Zesiger Center saw an unusual sight: a hoard of people punching, kicking and shadowboxing on the Kresge Lawn. The Fitness department within DAPER offered an event called MIT’s Largest Kickboxing Class, and with 60 participants, the class was true to its name. Recreation Instructors David Lee, Liz Hamp, Elena Byrne and Lauren Hanley led an hour long cardio-kickboxing class that was free to students, faculty, staff, gym members and the MIT community. The class was a great success! When surveyed, 90% of participants said the event was “awesome.” Many participants wanted to know when the next outdoor group exercise class would be, we are looking to organize another for the fall.

Thank you to the participants who made MIT Recreation's outdoor kickboxing event such a great success. Enjoy the video and pictures!

Click here to watch the Video

Video Tour of the MIT Zesiger Center

Click here to view at YouTube.com

FREE- Fitness and Aquatics Summer Sampler Wellness Event - NEW

Day/Time: Wednesday, July, 14
5:00 – 7:00 pm

Certified instructors will be on site to introduce our private instructional programs at the Zesiger Center. Participants in the event who register will receive 10% off any of our private programs. Services that will be available are listed below along with the location. Stop by and try out something new. Check in at the main desk lobby and then feel free to mingle!

• Chair massage (main lobby)
• Golf (Rudovsky Indoor Golf Range in du Pont)
• Swim instruction (teaching pool)
• Personal Training (2nd floor fitness)
• Squash (3rd floor squash courts)

No fee for this event. Members and Non-members welcome at no charge. All participants must first check in at the main desk lobby.

MIT's Inaugural Dodgeball Tournament

Congratulations to the winners of our dodgeball tournament, the BearCats!

Thank you to all the other teams that made this event a success!

Sports Medicine presents at MIT Medical

On December 17th, the athletic training staff; working with team physicians, Dr. Shawn Ferullo and Dr. Arturo Aguilar, were invited to speak on the topic of concussion during a clinical staff continuing education luncheon at MIT Medical.

Athletic trainer, Michelle McLeod, successfully organized and delivered a presentation on the contemporary assessment and management of sport-related concussion. The content of the talk included pathology, signs/symptoms, diagnosis, return to activity guidelines, and the influences of this injury; and its recovery, on the student-athlete engaged in the rigors of MIT academics.The topic stimulated some lively discussion among the attendees and will create new opportunities for collaboration between the athletic training staff and the health care providers at MIT Medical.