THE BASICS:
 
- Location: Mackal Field House (Kingston, R.I.)
 
- The Lead: Paced by a pair of school records from junior Kenneth Wei (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.), four event wins and five top-20 nationally-ranked performances, the MIT men's track and field team competed at the Coaches Tribute Meet at Mackal Field House at the University of Rhode Island on Saturday.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- Wei captured the long jump with a leap of 23 feet, 11 inches, which broke Stephen Morton's school record set in 2010. He is now ranked third in the country. In the prelims of the 60-meter hurdles, Wei narrowly broke his own school record by .01 seconds as he ran a time of 8.09 seconds. He followed that with a time of 8.13 seconds in the finals to place second overall and rank No. 4 nationally.
 
- Senior Ryan Wilson (Redwood City, Calif.) took the 800 meters in a time of 1:55.05 and is ranked sixth in the country. Sophomore Henry Hardart (Annapolis, Md.) placed ninth in the event as he ran 2:04.14. Graduate student Benton Wilson (Dublin, Ohio) won the 200 in 22.24 seconds and is ninth in the nation, while first-year Ian Koe (San Mateo, Calif.) finished fifth in a time of 22.82 seconds.
 
- Graduate student Liam Ackerman (Miami, Fla.) led five Engineers in the top 10 of the pole vault as he won the event by clearing 15 feet, three inches and is currently No. 12 in the country. Senior Max Hardy (Houston, Texas) and senior Everett Brandyberry (Hill City, Kan.) both cleared 14 feet, nine inches to finish second and third, along with first-year Luka Srsic (Worthington, Ohio) in eighth and junior Ben Urquhart (Lansing, Mich.) in ninth (both cleared 13 feet, 3.5 inches).
 
- In the 4x400 relay, the team of Wilson, junior Evan Schaefer (Frederick, Md.), Koe and sophomore Garrett Whitmore (Webster City, Iowa) placed third in 3:28.09 and is 26th in the country. Sophomore Spencer Yandrofski (Chapel Hill, N.C.) debuted in the high jump and finished second with a height of six feet, five inches.
 
- In the throws, senior William Woltmann (Secaucus, N.J.) finished third in the shot with a toss of 49 feet, 2.5 inches. Senior Nathan Basinger (Dalton, Ohio) was close behind in fourth at 49 feet, 0.25 inches, along with first-year Sam Engebretson (Sioux Falls, S.D.) in eighth with a throw of 45 feet, one inch. The places flipped in the weight throw as Basinger finished fourth at 53 feet, 0.75 and Woltmann was eighth at 50 feet, 9.25 inches.
 
- In the 60 meters, junior Jeremiah Budiman (Plano, Texas) finished third overall in a time of 7.01 in the finals. In the prelims, Budiman posted a time of 6.99 seconds and was just .03 off the MIT school record currently held by junior McKinley Polen (Los Altos, Calif.).
 
- Junior Vedang Lad (Plainsboro, N.J.) made his season debut in the mile and he was seventh in a time of 4:24.09. The Engineers also had two in the top 10 in the 400 with first-year Walter Truitt (Houston, Texas) placing eighth at 53.27 seconds and Schaefer ninth at 53.32 seconds.
 
- Below are the current top-20 rankings for the Engineers, from meets up to this point in the season as listed at www.tfrrs.org.
 
200 Meters
9. Benton Wilson - 22.24
 
400 Meters
15. Benton Wilson - 50.32
 
800 Meters
6. Ryan Wilson - 1:55.05
 
5,000 Meters
6. Matthew Kearney - 14:32.72 * @
12. Sam Acquaviva - 14:51.91 @
 
60-Meter Hurdles
4. Kenneth Wei - 8.09 *
 
Long Jump
3. Kenneth Wei - 23' 11" *
 
Pole Vault
12. Liam Ackerman - 15 3"
15. Luka Srsic - 15' 1"
20. Max Hardy - 14' 11"
 
Shot Put
10. William Woltmann - 51'
13. Nathan Basinger - 49' 9"

* Denotes School Record
@ Denotes time converted from a banked track to flat track
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT returns to action next weekend on January 28th and 29th as the team competes both days at the Branwen Smith-King Invitational at Tufts University and the John Thomas Terrier Classic at Boston University.
 
STAY CONNECTED:
 
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