Yale Athletics

Following their first weekend off since their indoor season picked back up in 2023, Yale’s men’s and women’s track and field teams are ready to give it their all this weekend at the Ivy Indoor Championships.

This Saturday, the Elis will head to Hanover, New Hampshire, to compete in the culminating meet of their indoor season, the Ivy League Championship. The meet will span two days and feature all eight Ivy League Schools, four of which Yale has already faced head-to-head this season.

“There hasn’t been a bigger meet for the team thus far,” Matt Appel ’24 told the News. “I know we’re all looking forward to showing how our hard work has carried us throughout the season. We’ve been improving across the board all season so far and it all culminates in Hanover on Saturday and Sunday.”

In their last two weeks with competition, Yale’s athletes have had strong showings across the board, with several personal records broken and numerous positions on the school’s all-time leaderboard secured. 

In the last two weekends alone, five athletes cracked Yale’s top three finishers at their respective events.

“We’ve worked through the season to run fast times but when Ivy Championships come around, the only thing that matters is how hard you compete and where you place,” Cade Brown ’23 told the News. “When we succeed in competing to beat those around us, it is reflected in our team score, which is our most valued metric at this time of the season.”

The Bulldogs have already had the opportunity to face off against some of their competitors this weekend earlier in the season. In January, they headed to both Hanover and Cambridge, where they faced Ivy League rivals Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Harvard University and Princeton University. Having taken home third in both of these meets, the Elis are looking to improve upon their team finishes this weekend.

When asked about his excitement to compete this weekend, men’s thrower Appel said he’s hoping improvement over the season will translate to results on the podium for the men’s throwing squad.

“We’re bringing along six really quality athletes who can go big at any time and turn some heads,” Appel told the News. “The Ivy League is really deep this year in the throws on the men’s and women’s side so scoring points is going to be a huge deal. We’ve been improving all season, and we’re looking forward to putting together a really strong team showing.”

Since their last meet two weekends ago, the Bulldogs have taken a break from competition to prepare for this weekend, both mentally and physically. It was their first weekend off since mid-January.

“This last week is primarily about going through our last reps with intention and not doing anything drastically different to get ready for the weekend,” Bella Bergloff  ’24 wrote to the News. “It will be exciting to see how all of our preparation throughout the season – plus the adrenaline from the atmosphere of the meet – will culminate into our performances.”

After this meet, the team will compete at the IC4A championships in Boston, Massachusetts.

PETER WILLIAMS