Courtesy of Yale Athletics

Hungry for victory, the men and women’s track and field squads lace up for three different meets this weekend after the cancellation of the War Eagle Invitational.

The Bulldogs will compete at the Virginia Challenge at Charlottesville, Va., the Crimson Tide Invitational at Tuscaloosa, Ala. and the Mark Young Invitational at Yale.

“I’m hoping we can continue on our path of upward trajectory through the rest of the season,” women’s captain Emma Vasen ’22 wrote to the News. “As a team, we are hungry and ready to go.” 

Originally, the Bulldogs were scheduled to take part in the War Eagle Invitational last weekend at Auburn University. However, there was a switch to the schedule and the squad added the Crimson Tide Invitational to the schedule instead. 

“After our meet at UConn, our coach felt it best that we take the week off from Auburn to rest and recover, alternately going to Alabama the week after,” men’s captain Juma Sei ’22 said.

The meets at the University of Virginia and the University of Alabama will be challenging for the Bulldogs as they will be running against some highly competitive teams.

As for the home meet, the Bulldogs expect a great performance and perhaps more personal bests. 

“I’m excited to see everyone race again especially as the season ramps up,” Bridget Vitu ’25 said. “It’s really exciting to watch people get new personal bests and I think we will see a lot of those this weekend hopefully.”

Many of the women’s and men’s squads still do not know what they are competing in or where they will head the coming weekend, but Dominique Romain ’25 expressed excitement for it regardless.

“For the next meet I hope to improve on my jumps,” Romain said. “I was super happy with my performance at the last meet, so to improve on that performance would be amazing!”

The Ivy League Heptagonal Outdoor Track & Field Championships are also looming near, with only three more weeks to go. The competition will take place at Yale on May 7 and 8, and is the most important competition of the season for the Blue and White as it is where the Ivy League champions will be decided. 

“As a group, it is very exciting to have Outdoor Heps at home this year,” Vasen wrote. “There is something special about being at home for the biggest meet of the year. It definitely sets us up for some huge performances and I really think we are going to surprise the league this season.”

The Crimson Tide Invitational and the Virginia Challenge will begin this Friday, April 22.