McKinley Polen, Laena Tieng Lead MIT Performances at Gordon Kelly Invite

February 15, 2020

While a few of their teammates competed over at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational, most MIT Track & Field student-athletes were competing at MIT in the Gordon Kelly Invitational

While there were numerous outstanding performances, McKinley Polen '23 and Laena Tieng '23 showed their exceptional skills by leading the way for MIT in two events.  Polen took first place honors in the 60 and 200 meter events. In the 60, not only did he set the freshman record, he tied the varsity record of 6.99.  Coming back in the 200, the rookie ran an indoor best of 23.10 to win the event over teammate Andrew Shao '22 (23.12).

Tieng performed well in the horizontal jumps, setting college and indoor bests in winning the Long Jump and placing fourth in the Triple Jump.  Tieng jumped 17-0 3/4 in her winning effort and 37-01 3/4 in the Triple Jump.

Although he did not win an event, the return of Joa Kennedy '21 from injury was a welcome sight. The junior knocked off some rust in jumping 20-8 1/2 in the Long Jump and running 8.99 in the 60HH.

Lianna Reilly '21 won the High Jump, clearing a college best 5-5 3/4.  Sonia Purohit '23 took first place in the 600 with a personal best 1:41.61, just beating out fellow freshman Nina Rhone '23 (1:42.71). The other victory for the women came by the feet of Anna Chau '23.  In her MIT Track & Field debut, the freshman won the 3K in 10:54.26.

Ryan Nall '22 had a big day in the throws, leading his teammates in both the Weight Throw and Shot Put.  Nall placed second in the Weight Throw with a 57-4 1/4 effort.  Teammate, Albert Menio '20 placed third with a PR of 56-10.  In the Shot Put, Nall threw a season best 46-0 3/4 for third place.

Bobby Upton '20 cleared 15-5 to win the Pole Vault.  Teammate Bryan Sperry '23 cleared a season best 14-5 1/4 for second place.

On the track, the Engineers supplied two victories.  Kent Slaney '21 took first place in the 1000 in 2:37.12 and Vedang Lad '23 won the 3K in 9:04.57.

Next week, MIT will mostly rest for the New England Division III Championship on February 28-29.  A few will be competing at Springfield College to try and get the needed improvement to make an event or fast section for the following week's championship.

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