Department of athletics, physical education and recreation
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Rasin and Sutton Represent MIT at NCAA Division I National Championships
April 13, 2007
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Sophomore Boris Rasin and senior Brad Sutton represented MIT at the 2007 National Collegiate Men's Gymnastics Championships on Thursday afternoon, as they competed in the session one qualifier at Pennsylvania State University's Recreation Hall. Rasin, who served as Tech's first ever all-around competitor in the Division I championships, secured a point-total of 45.650 to finish in seventh-place, while Sutton notched a 7.950 on the parallel bars to earn a tie for 33rd. The results mean that neither of the Engineers qualified for the finals, which will take place on Friday and Saturday, also at Recreation Hall. Despite not extending their stay in Pennsylvania with a trip to the finals, both gymnasts entered into exclusive company with their inclusion in the national championships field. Prior to Rasin and Sutton, only one other MIT men's gymnast had ever earned the right to compete in the prestigious event. Damian Engen took part in the competition on floor exercise and parallel bars in 2002. Rasin's most impressive events were the rings and the pommel horse, earning a 29th-place finish in each. His 8.700 on the rings put him in 29th all by himself, while his 7.450 on the pommel horse tied him with Lucas Hughes and Andrew McIntyre of Stanford and Willie Ito of Ohio State. The native of Brookline, Mass., also finished 38th on the high bar (7.550), 40th on the floor exercise (7.950), 40th on the parallel bars (7.050) and 42nd on the vault (6.950). Sutton, who hails from Rochester Hills, Mich., competed as an individual event qualifier on the parallel bars and earned his 33rd-place finish with a score of 7.950. Stanford (216.35), Illinois (216.30) and Michigan (215.35) booked their places in the team finals, while Illinois' Wesley Haagensen, Stanford's David Sender and Michigan's Justin Laury earned the right to join Iowa's Jonathan Buese and Illinois-Chicago's Tim Morrison and Anthony May in the all-around finals. The rest of the finals field was scheduled to be set following the second session of pre-qualifying last night at 7:00 p.m. |
