MuscoSportsPhotos.com

On Saturday and Sunday, Yale’s track and field teams competed in their most important races of the indoor season at the Ivy League Championships. Despite stellar performances from a few individual athletes, both the men and women came in at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Coming into the weekend, the Bulldogs knew from experience that they would have their work cut out for them, having finished third out of three across two meets, one in Hanover and one in Cambridge, against four different Ivy League opponents earlier in the season. However, although the Bulldogs weren’t able to improve upon their overall finishes from earlier in the season, the Elis certainly had a few bright spots this weekend.

“Samantha Friborg, Matt Appel and Brian DiBassing had great meets,” head coach David Shoehalter wrote to the News. “Matt in particular was outstanding. One of the best events I have ever seen at the Ivy Champs and Matt stepped his game up with each throw. Our relays at the end of the meet also showed me something. They all competed extremely well.”

Matt Appel ’24 and Brian Di Bassinga ’26 both shined in their performances, reaching the podium in their individual competitions. Appel took home silver in the shot put and bronze in the weight throw with respective distances of 18.35m and 19.63m, while Di Bassinga took home bronze in the triple jump with a distance of 15.13m.

Another notable finish for the men’s squad was the men’s 4×400 relay of Andrew Farr ’26, Simon Jupp ’25, Jacob Kao ’25 and Aaron Miller ’25, whose time of 3:13.91 would be a Yale all-time record once converted to the equivalent time on a banked track.

Appel, who achieved personal records in both of his events and has shined all year for the Bulldogs, said the meet represented the fruition of all his hard work this season.

“From the beginning of the season I knew I had the capability to throw pretty far, but for whatever reason the ‘range busters’ as my coach and I call them weren’t happening,” Appel wrote to the News. “I’m happy with the placement as well as this was maybe the deepest field in indoor HEPS history in both throwing events, and to come out top 3 in both is something I feel proud of.”

On the women’s side, the team was led by Samantha Friborg ’23, whose time of 2:06.98 in the 800m dash brought home a silver medal for the Yalies. For Friborg, this marked her third podium finish in the 800m for the Bulldogs in as many years and her first silver medal.

In addition, Sydney McCord ’24, Molly Harding ’26, Mira Thakur ’24 and Aliya Boshnak ’23 brought home fifth in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:47.80. Iris Bergman ’25, Linde Fonville ’26, Kyra Pretre ’24 and Friborg also brought home fifth in the 4x800m relay with a time of 8:53.96, while Carmel Fitzgibbon ’26, Bridget Vitu ’25, Ruby Barton ’26 and Claire Archer ’26 finished fifth in the distance medley relay with a time of 11:39.22.

“I’m so grateful that the Ivy League is full of very competitive middle-distance runners – we all make each other better every time we line up to race,” Friborg wrote to the News. “I’m excited to keep working and keep the momentum going for this outdoor season.”

Following this weekend, the Bulldogs will continue to compete beyond the Ivy League in the ECAC and IC4A Championships this Friday in Boston, Massachusetts.