Yale Athletics

This past weekend, the Bulldogs hosted Ivy League rival Harvard at Coxe Cage here in New Haven, and both the men’s and women’s teams walked away with victories.

Head coach David Shoehalter, who has been with the Bulldogs since 1994, said this was the first time in recent memory that both the men’s and women’s squad have taken home head-to-head victories against their arch-rivals from Cambridge.

“Always good to beat our rivals, and it’s the first time both our men and women have won the meet in recent memory,” Shoehalter wrote to the News. “We still have a long way to go in the season but the results are improving and I am looking forward to what the second half of outdoor brings.”

On the men’s side of events, Nolan Recker ’26 and Chris Ward ’24 led the throws group. The former took first in the hammer throw with a PR of 58.24m and the latter took first in both the discus with a distance of 51.18m and shot put with a throw of 16.44m. Brian Di Bassinga ’26 led the rest of the field athletes with consecutive leaps totaling 14.66m in the triple jump, earning him first place.

On the track, Tanish Chettiar ’26 took first place in the 1500m with a time of 3:56.79, and Aaron Miller ’25 took first in the 400m with a time of 50.17 seconds. In the 200m, Jacob Kao ’25 blitzed his way to first place with a time of 21.64 seconds.

“I think we did what we needed to do,” men’s team captain Matt Appel ’24 wrote to the News. “They’re a super talented team with loads of star power, but we have really great depth on our squad and we showed it off this weekend. It’s a long season, and there’s still a lot of work to be done leading up to HEPs, but it always feels nice to get a win versus that team up North.”

On the women’s side of competition, the Bulldogs started off strong in the relays, with both the 4×100 and 4×400 teams taking first place with times of 48.29 seconds and 3:59.96, respectively. The 4×100 consisted of Sophie Spokes ’27, Makayla White ’26, Dominique Romain ’25 and Juliette Kosmont ’27 and the 4×400 consisted of Gloria Guerrier ’27, Bridget Vitu ’25, Peyton Parker ’25 and Molly Harding ’26. 

Meanwhile, in the individual events, Gloria Guerrier also took home first place in the 400m hurdles with a PR of 1:04.38, and fellow first year Kalista Villatoro ’27 earned gold in the 800m with a time of 2:15.93. Rounding out the track victories was Sophia Karperos ’25, who earned the top spot in the steeplechase with a time of 11:35.19. 

In the field events, Romain earned herself another gold medal in the long jump with a 5.60m leap, and Abrianna Barrett ’24 took first in the high jump with a 1.68m clearance.

“We had quite a few good performances on the women’s side this past weekend,” assistant coach Connor Shannahan wrote to the News. “As is expected from early April outdoor meets, the weather was less than ideal, however it is always exciting to get a win over our rivals. We are looking to keep the momentum going this weekend as the team travels to invites at both Princeton and UConn.”

The Bulldogs will compete next at two meets this upcoming weekend, Princeton’s Larry Ellis Invitational and UConn’s Northeast Challenge. Both will take place on Friday and Saturday, April 12-13.