Courtesy of Yale Athletics

Juma Sei ’22 won the 500 meter dash, joining his teammates Libby McMahon ’22 and Addison Coy ’22 in setting new Yale records.

The IC4A Indoor Track & Field Championships of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) took place last Saturday and Sunday at Boston University’s Track & Tennis Center.

“The way that we generally handle ECAC/IC4A’s is we’ll bring the whole team down, we’ll run in the preliminary rounds, and then leave the same day” Sei, the men’s captain, said. “So everyone just is supposed to treat their preliminary as though it’s a final end, like a one and done thing.”

Sei ran the 500 meter dash on Saturday to the tune of 1:02.24 in the preliminaries — which was very close to the record of 1:02.09. After being “crestfallen” for coming so close, he decided to stay one more day and compete in the finals. This was the same event he ran the weekend before when he became Ivy League champion.

Once again, the captain took home the gold as he crossed the finish line with a time of 1:01.83, smashing the school record. 

“I just felt like it’s my last race of the indoor season, last indoor race, you know, while wearing the Y, like, just gun it and hold on for dear life,” Sei said. “And it worked out.”

The Oregon native was the sole Yale winner of the weekend.

Simon Jupp ’25 also ran the 500 meter on Saturday with a time of 1:03.89, making it to 10th all-time on Yale’s record book and becoming one of the fastest first-years in Yale’s track history.

Chris Colbert ’22 also had an eventful weekend as he placed third in the preliminaries of the 400 meter dash with a time of 47.98 seconds. He currently holds the fifth all-time Yale record.

“Running in the 47s has been an athletic dream of mine ever since I started running eight years ago,” Colbert wrote. “This past weekend was the last indoor 400 meter race for me as a college athlete and I had a goal of leaving one last one, fast one, before moving on to the outdoor season.”

Another highlight was Austin Montini ’25 — who became the fastest first-year Bulldog to ever run the mile with a time of 4:05.97 — earning 13th place of the preliminaries. He came in right after his teammate, Will Laird ’22, who placed 12th. James Randon ’17 still holds the meet record for the mile with a time of 3:58.85 in 2016. Also in the mile, Varun Oberai ’25 ran a personal best time of 4:09.51.

Montini came back to run the 4×800 meter relay with three other first years — Oberai, Calvin Katz ’25 and Elon Abergel ’25. They placed sixth in the preliminaries with a time of 7:37.49.

As for the women, the highlights of the weekend were McMahon’s and Coy’s record breaking performances, as well as Friborg’s second place win in the finals.

“I couldn’t think of a better way to end my indoor career at Yale, than breaking the 400m record,” wrote McMahon to the News.

McMahon ran the 400 meter dash and placed second in the preliminaries as she crossed the finish line in 54.29 seconds — smashing the school record with a time that could have meant gold in last weekend’s Ivy League Heps. The Connecticut native now holds the most Yale all-times with three under her belt according to Yale Athletics.

In the 500 meter dash, Coy followed McMahon’s lead and took second place in the preliminaries by running with a time of 1:12.96 seconds. This performance also set a new school record.

Maya Sharp ’22 ran the 500 meter in 1:15.27 and also qualified for the finals.

McMahon, Coy and Sharp decided not to compete for the finals the next day although they had all qualified.

Samantha Friborg ’23 placed third at the 800 meter run’s preliminaires with a time of 2:07.41, but came back the next day in the finals to run an even faster time and place second with 2:06.34. This latter time is now the new second all-time Yale record, and also her new personal best.

“We are hoping to carry over the excitement and momentum gained this past weekend at the ECAC meet to our outdoor season,” McMahon said. “Most members on the team haven’t had the chance to run outdoors since 2019.”

The IC4A Indoor Track & Field Championships marked the end of the indoor season of track and field for the men’s and women’s team. Now, the teams turn to their outdoor season and look forward “to keep moving up,” Colbert wrote.

The Blue and White’s next meet is the Raleigh Relays, which marks the start of the outdoor season, in two weeks time after spring break in Raleigh, North Carolina. Kayley DeLay ’22 will be running the five kilometers at the NCAA Indoor National Championships in Birmingham, Alabama next Friday.