DMR Earns All-American Accolades as Men's Track & Field Opens NCAA Division III Indoor Championships

ROCHESTER, NY – The MIT men's track & field Distance Medley Relay capped the day with a third place performance as the the Engineers opened the 2025 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championship on Friday at the Golisano Training Center. The Engineers are currently in 13th place in the overall team standings with six points.

THE BASICS:

MIT Team Score: 13th of 24 (6 points)
Top-Five Team Scores: 1. Wis.-La Crosse 24; 2. Wis.-Oshkosh 18; 3. Johns Hopkins 18; 4. Wilmington (Ohio) 15; 5. Wis.-Whitewater 11

HOW IT HAPPENED - RUNNING EVENTS:

Distance Medley Relay: Senior Simon Opsahl (Redlands, Calif.), juniors Kristian Praizner (Folsom, Pa.), Jared Steins (Chino Hills, Calif.), and Tim Neumann (Downers Grove, Ill.) combined for a time of 9:54.18 to earn All-America honors in third place in the DMR. MIT had a hold on second for long stretch of the race but Lynchburg moved in the final leg to claim runner-up honors.
60m Hurdles: Senior Walter Truitt (Houston, Texas) finished fourth in his heat and ninth overall, matching his PR with a time of 8.10 seconds. Truitt did not advance to Saturday's final.
Mile: Senior Ziyad Hassan (Ashburn, Va.) and Pablo Arroyo (Richardson, Texas) automatically advanced to Saturday's final. Hassan was the runner-up in the opening heat, finishing in 4:10.54. Arroyo took fourth behind Hassan in 4:10.83. Senior Sam Coutts (Pacific Grove, Calif.) finished 18th in the qualifying heats, Coutts was in the pack coming around the final turn in the second heat but unfortunately fell on the curbing in a collision as he entered the home stretch.
800m: Sophomore David Whitaker (Northville, Mich.) finished 18th in 1:56.62, taking sixth in the second heat.

HOW IT HAPPENED - FIELD EVENTS:

Pole Vault: First year Jaden McKee (Riverside, Calif.) finished 17th. McKee cleared 4.60m (15'1") on his third attempt but did not progress past 4.75m (15'7").

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Truitt matched his PR from last week's NEICAAA Championships. Friday was his second appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
MIT is the only school with two competitors in the field for tomorrow's final in the Mile. Hassan enters as the top-seed based on his qualifying time of 4:01.13 for the NCAA Championships.
Whitaker and McKee were both making their first NCAA Indoor appearance.

NEXT UP:

Day two of the 2025 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championship begins on Saturday, March 15 at 10:00 AM.
Anthony Meng (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Jackson Bliey (Talleyville, Del.) will compete in the High Jump at 12:00 PM.
Hassan and Arroyo will run in the mile at 4:00 PM, while Coutts and Neumann will run in the 3000m at 5:40 PM.

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