THE BASICS:
 
- Location: Birmingham Crossplex (Birmingham, Ala.)
 
- The Lead: Led by the fourth NCAA individual title by senior Kenneth Wei (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.), the No. 1 ranked MIT men's track and field team leads after day one of the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship with a total of 13 points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- In the long jump, Wei sat in second for most of the competition as he trailed Geni Roberts of Virginia Wesleyan. He made the final jump count though as he unloaded a leap of 24 feet, three inches to claim his fourth NCAA championship and his third in the long jump. First-year Nathan Shapiro (Glenview, Ill.) finished in 14th place in his first appearance at Nationals as he registered a distance of 22 feet, 10.75 inches.
 
- Senior Matthew Kearney (Austin, Texas) finished in sixth to earn All-American honors for the Engineers in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:14.73. Senior Sam Acquaviva (Newburyport, Mass.) placed 14th as he crossed in 14:45.64. The final race of the day for MIT was the distance medley relay as the team finished in 11th place at 10:09.13.
 
- Wei, the 2022 NCAA National Runner-Up in the 60-meter hurdles, advanced to Saturday's final with the top time of 8.01 seconds. First-year Enoch Ellis (Garland, Texas) was 20th overall at 8.53 seconds, along with sophomore Walter Truitt (Houston, Texas) crossing in 18th overall with a time of 8.33 seconds.
 
- Senior Jeremiah Budiman (Plano, Texas) finished in a tie for 17th place as he ran an identical prelim time of 6.913 seconds to tie Brady Fowler of Roanoke.
 
- Graduate student Ryan Wilson (Redwood City, Calif.) qualified for the finals of the mile on Saturday as he was second in his heat with a controlled time of 4:07.24 to place second in the first heat. Sophomore Pablo Arroyo (Richardson, Texas) was 14th in a PR of 4:09.84, along with junior Henry Hardart (Annapolis, Md.) in 15th at 4:11.40 and first-year Tim Neumann (Downers Grove, Ill.) in 19th place with a time of 4:19.30.
 
- First-year Charlie Glass (Austin, Texas) finished second in heat one of the 800 to automatically advance to Saturday's final as he ran a time of 1:51.73. Sophomore Ziyad Hassan (Ashburn, Va.) ended up in 15th place overall in 1:54.53.
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT is back in action on Saturday, March 11th as the Engineers compete on the second and final day of the 2023 NCAA Division Indoor Track and Field National Championship.
 
STAY CONNECTED:
 
- For the latest on MIT Athletics, follow the Engineers via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.