TRACK & FIELD: Kayley DeLay ’22 earns second All-America recognition this season at indoor track nationals
Yale’s distance runner Kayley DeLay ’22 finished 15th in the 5k race at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships Friday.
Courtesy of Yale Athletics
Cross country captain Kayley Delay ’22 took to the national stage for the second time this season. She came home with another All-American title.
The distance runner represented the Blue and White in the 5000 meter race at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships last Friday in Birmingham, Alabama. DeLay placed 15th overall in a pool of 16 competitors.
“I am always grateful to have the chance to compete,” DeLay wrote in an email. “It was an incredible opportunity to get to race some of the best in the country and I am excited to get to do it again outdoors!”
DeLay started the final leg of the competition in 11th place, hovering around fifth for the first half of the race. She persisted and saw the race through with a time of 16:19.14. The winning time of 15:30.17 was set by Courtney Wayment of Brigham Young University.
“Seeing someone from Yale able to achieve that high a level of performance is so incredible,” Bridget Vitu ’25, one of DeLay’s teammates on the women’s track and field team, said.
The Florida native ended her indoor collegiate career with three Ivy League indoor championship wins.
DeLay was also one of three other Bulldogs that won the most recent Ivy League Heptagonals two weekends ago. At Heps, she ran the 3000 meter to the tune of 9:09.19, setting a meet record.
“The special thing about Kayley is she had the confidence in herself to believe that and whenever she believes something I have yet to see her not achieve it,” head coach Taryn Sheehan said to the News.
DeLay currently holds the program record in the 3000 meter event over previous record holder and Olympian Kate O’Neill ’03, as well as the school record in the 5000 meter race.
“Outdoors starts in less than two weeks,” DeLay, who is also the captain of the women’s cross country team, reminded the News. “I am excited to have the chance to race other outdoor events for Yale besides just the steeplechase — as I have exclusively done in the past. I am looking forward to Heps at home in May, and NCAAs and USAs in June at Hayward!”
The track and field teams will travel south next week to Raleigh, North Carolina for their first outdoor meet on March 24. This will be the first time the Bulldogs compete in the outdoor track since 2019.