Sophomore athletes stood out for the men’s and women’s track and field teams this week at the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton, helping the team take home a number of top-10 finishes at the meet, while eight distance runners headed west to face a higher level of competition at the Stanford Invitational.

In California, Kevin Dooney ’16, Duncan Tomlin ’16 and James Shirvell ’14 competed in the 10,000-meter race, 3,000-meter steeplechase and 1,500-meter race, respectively. Dooney placed second in his heat and ran a new personal record, running the second-best time in Yale history in the process with a time of 29:10.13.

“I was happy with how I got on in my race. Overall the team performed very well in California,” Dooney said.

Tomlin took 13th in his heat with a time of 9:10.85, and Shirvell placed 16th overall in his event. All three Bulldogs qualified for the outdoor IC4A Championships with their performances.

The rest of the Eli men spent the weekend in New Jersey. Brendan Sullivan ’16 took second in the pole-vaulting competition, just inches shy of the first place Binghamton finisher. Freshmen James Randon ’17 and Andre Ivankovic ’17 took to the track in the 1,500-meter elite race. Competing in the event for Yale for their first times, they took fifth and ninth place, respectively.

The second day of competition was also successful for the Elis. Alexander McDonald ’16 took 10th in the 800-meter run. Jacob Sandry ’15 also placed in the top 10, taking ninth in the 1,500-meter open race. The highlight of the day came from the 4×400-meter relay team. Marc-Andre Alexandre ’17, Chandler Crusan ’17, Dylan Hurley ’15 and William Rowe ’15 took fourth overall.

The women’s team split between Stanford and Princeton as well over the weekend. Kira Garry ’15 set a personal record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:21.01 and finished eighth in her heat. Emily Stark ’16 also set a personal best, recording the fourth best time in Yale history in the 10,000-meter run.

“Six of the eight athletes we brought ran personal records. We also got several regional qualifiers out of the trip,” Dooney added about the male and female Bulldogs in California.

Karleh Wilson ’16 started off the Sam Howell Invitational with a fifth place finish in the discus on Friday. Saturday began with a 10th place finish in the 100-meter hurdles by Mackenzie Mathews ’16. The women’s 4×400-meter realy team also finished in good standing, taking 10th overall. Grace Brittan ’16, Elle Brunsdale ’15, Kelsey Lin ’14 and Kristen Proe ’14 finished with a time of 4:04.46. Emily Urciuoli ’14 took fifth in the pole vault with a finishing height of 3.45 meters. Taylor Eldridge ’16 also broke a Yale record in the hammer throw, making the 10th-best Yale throw ever with a distance of 47.20 meters.

Rivalry will flare when the Bulldogs compete against Harvard this coming weekend. The whole team will be at Harvard, so the Elis will be going into the meet with full force.

“We definitely know that it’s a really important meet coming up since Harvard will be one of the top teams to beat at the Heptagonal Championships,” Katerra Logan ’17 said. “As long as we go in with confidence like it’s any other meet, we will get the results we want.”

Events begin in Cambridge, Mass. on Saturday, April 12 at 12 p.m.