Yale Athletics

The Bulldogs traveled to Hanover, N.H., on Jan. 18 for the annual Yale-Dartmouth-Columbia, or YDC, tri-meet. The women’s track and field team won the meet with 79 points, and the men’s team placed joint first with Columbia, scoring 59 points. 

Nolan Recker ’26 grabbed the spotlight at the start, breaking his own school weight throw record in his third attempt with a throw of 20.80 meters. He told the News that his new workout regimen, including training with the Yale football team, helped him reach the milestone.

“The workouts I did with the football team over the summer and fall definitely transformed me into a much more conditioned and capable athlete,” Recker wrote to the News.

He hopes to help the team shine at both the indoor and outdoor Ivy League championships and expects to continue to improve until then.

Victoria Guerrier ’27 joined Recker in his success, breaking the school 500-meter record with a time of 1:12.57, which converts to a 1:11.66 on a standard indoor track. The previous record holder was her twin sister, Gloria Guerrier ’27.

“The race turned into a true twin showdown, and we were both excited for it,” Victoria Guerreir wrote to the News, “[Gloria] broke her own record in the first heat, but just five minutes later, I ran my heat and stole both records from her – much to her dismay and my amusement!”

The News recently spoke to the Guerrier twins about their success at the U20 CARIFTA Games. The twins shared in their ambition to win Heps and improve Haiti’s reputation internationally in the upcoming track and field season. 

She credits much of her recent success to a “transformative change in [her] mental training.” She is building mental strength through stress management and empowerment techniques, more polarized physical training and more adaptive nutrition habits — including a pre-race ritual the night before of three peanut butter Clif bars and two bananas. 

Her hard work is reflective of the complete team mindset shift that contributed to a strong season start.

On the track, the Bulldogs dominated the sprinting events. The Yale women’s team secured the top four spots during the 400-meter race, and their 4x400m relay team closed the race with first place, running a time of 3:45.30.

Lucija Grd ’27, another school record holder, placed first in the 60m hurdles, just 0.02 seconds behind her record. 

“I see the school record as a target to aim for and a source of motivation to improve with every race,” Lucija wrote to the News. 

The men’s team led the 200-meter race, sweeping the top three spots with captain Jacob Kao ’25 placing first.

“We didn’t expect to perform well in the 200m and actually had fewer athletes than expected because a few got sick the day of the meet,” Kao wrote to the News. 

In addition to illness and injury, the Bulldogs have been ramping up their training rather than scaling back in preparation for the race. In past years, the team would avoid hard workouts before a race, but this season has looked different for them. The Bulldogs intend to save their taper, or recovery period, for the end of the season for a bigger build and stronger outcomes.

The meet’s outcome also speaks to the new coaching staff appointed this year. Courtney Jaworski, Yale’s new Director of Cross Country and Track and Field, invited two new staff members to the team.

Laura Broderick serves as assistant coach for both track and field and cross-country teams, and Jeff Forino serves as head coach of men’s track and field and associate head coach of women’s track and field, handling jumps and multi-events. Duke Taylor was retained to continue serving as an assistant coach for both track and field teams, working primarily with throwers.

The Bulldogs will travel to the UMass Lowell River Hawk invitational this weekend at the Track at New Balance in Boston, Mass.