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This weekend, the Bulldogs showcased their talent in three different states, bagging four new school records along the way.

While some stayed home to compete at the Mark T. Young Invitational, the rest of the team headed down to the University of Virginia’s Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Va., or to the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide Invitational in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

“The Alabama meet is where we sent most of our sprinters,” men’s captain Juma Sei ’22 said. “So if you hit the qualifying standard, if you’re running fast, you’d go down there to get some good weather and to run some really fast times in preparation for Heps. The Virginia meet is kind of the same philosophy but for distance runners because it’s a more distance-oriented meet. And then the at-home Yale meet is for people who kind of don’t hit those qualifying standards or for a number of people who for one reason or another were not able to travel this weekend.”

At the Virginia Challenge, the highlight was Kayley DeLay ’22, who took the gold as she crossed the 3000 meter steeplechase finish line to the tune of 9:44.71. Her time was almost 20 seconds faster than that of second place, and it allowed her to smash her own school record.

Another new school record was broken in the men’s 5000 meters as Robert Miranda ’22 ran a time of 13:52.43. He broke a record set last month by Stephen Moody ’24.

In the 400 meters, Samantha Friborg ’23 broke her personal best with a time of 56.68 seconds, good enough for 37th place.

Thomas Cirrito ’24 also brought home a new personal record, crossing the finish line of the 800 meters in 1:50.63, placing 11th.

The women also performed in the 1500 meters, with senior Jocelyn Chau ’22 breaking her season best time with a new time of 4:26.90. In the same race, Kyra Pretre ’24 and Kosana Weir ’23 ran personal best times of 4:28.154 and 4:28.155, respectively.

Meanwhile, at the University of Alabama, there were even more broken records.

“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,” Sei said ahead of the meet.

In the women’s 4×100, the team of Ava Thomas ’22, Libby McMahon ’22, Aliya Boshnak ’23 and Sophie Isom ’22 once again broke the school record with a time of 45.58 seconds — a feat they had previously accomplished just two weeks ago. The time was good enough for third place in the competition. McMahon, Isom and Boshnak came back to break yet another school record with Addison Coy ’22 in the 4×400 relay. The quartet finished the race with 3:41.14 under their belts.cq

The women staying home for the Mark T. Young Invitational were mostly rookies, while many of the men’s fastest runners competed.

In the 400 meter dash, Ella Mainwaring Foster ’24, who placed third, and Bridget Vitu ’25, who placed 4th, ran times of 56.66 and 57.42 seconds respectively.

Arielle Moore ’25 ran the 800 meters to the tune of 2:16.42 and took the bronze.

“It is a race I have not competed in before coming to Yale and I have really enjoyed experimenting with it,” Moore wrote. “I PR’d again this meet, and I’m excited to continue to improve and see what distances I can run in the future.”

With a time of 17:26.20, Kathryn Rodrigues ’24 took second place in the 5000 meter run.

Only two Yalies ran in the 3000 meter steeplechase, and Kaity Chandrika ’25 took the top spot with a time of 11:32.61, and Sophia Karperos ’24 followed right after her with a time of 11:45.40.

Eileen Yang ’24 took the gold once again in the pole vault as she reached 3.57 meters. In the discus throw, Violette Perry ’25 also took the top spot with a throw of 45.11 meters.

As for the men, Trent Charles ’22 brought home the gold in the 100 meter dash as he crossed the finish line to the tune of 10.43 seconds. Once again, the wind was not in his favor and did not allow his time to be considered for any records.

The men’s captain also took the top spot as he finished the 400 meter dash in 47.76 seconds, a time very close to his personal record of 47.67 seconds which he set back in 2019.

“There’s been a universal sentiment that your track and field is stronger now than it ever has been,” Sei said. “I think that’s evidenced by the amount of records that we broke in the season. And quite frankly, we just really want a championship performance that reflects that.”

In the 1500 meters, the Bulldogs sweeped the top five starting with Jack Sendek ’25 who ran a time of 3:51.91. He was followed by Liam Garrett ’24 who ran 3:52.27, Winslow Atkeson ’25 who ran 3:52.36, Richard Sturtevant ’23 who ran 3:52.44 and Hugh Sadler ’22 who ran 3:53.76.

First place was also secured in the 4×400 meter relay as Christopher Brown ’24, Calvin Katz ’25, Atkeson and Garrett ran the race in 3:17.53.

Odera Nweke ’23 also took the gold with a long jump of 7.23 meters.

These home performances allowed the women to tie with Columbia for third place overall in the competition, and the men to place third.

“I think the increase in good competition helped a lot with the new school records and personal bests,” Vitu said. “Our team’s hopes for Heps are to improve our standing in the Ivy League and bring home as many ivy champions and medals as we can and just to compete at a level we know we are definitely able to.”

This weekend, the Bulldogs will divide and hopefully conquer once again as some will head to the University of Pennsylvania for the Penn Relays that start this Thursday, and others will stay home for the Yale Springtime Invitational on Sunday. The Ivy League Heptagonal Championships are less than two weeks away.