CROSS COUNTRY | New coaches for Elis

August 31, 2011 2:23 am Leave a Comment

The men’s and women’s cross country teams are looking to a new coaching staff this season as they seek to improve on their poor performances — seventh and eighth respectively — at last year’s Ivy League Championships.

This is the first season since 1981 that Mark Young ’68 will not be coaching a Yale cross country team. After Young retired at the end of last year, Coach David Shoehalter, former men’s head coach, became the Mark T. Young ’68 Director of Cross Country and Track and Field. With the change, Paul Harkin will take over Shoehalter’s role as the men’s head coach, while Amy Gosztyla will serve as the new women’s head coach.

Harkin was just hired on August 29 and is not currently on campus, but he is set to arrive next Monday.

“It will be a change, but a change for the good,” men’s captain Nathan Richards ’12 said.

Shoehalter announced that Gosztyla, who spent her last three years

as an assistant coach at Harvard, would assume the role of head women’s cross country and middle distance coach earlier this month. In a press release, Shoehalter explained that he was impressed with Gosztyla’s coaching style when the Bulldogs and the Crimson travelled to the U.K. for the annual Yale-Harvard vs. Oxford-Cambridge meet.

“[Gosztyla] brings an enthusiasm to practice every day that makes you happy to be there,” Jacque Sahlberg ’13 said. “Her passion for the sport is obvious and contagious. She’s making the transition really easy.”

Though the women’s team is losing several cross country veterans, including last year’s captain Liya Assefa ’11 and Celia Stockwell ’11, many of the Bulldogs’ frontrunners are still participating this season. In fact, the first five finishers in both the Heptagonal Championships and NCAA Northeast Regional Championships last year are returning, including this year’s captain Anne Lovelace ’12.

This season, the men will be without standout runner Jeff Perrella ’11, who graduated last year. Perrella became the first Yale runner to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championship since 2004 last season. This year, teammates hope to fill his shoes with stronger team performances.

“We have a lot of great guys who worked hard over the summer,” captain Nathan Richards ’12 said. “Rather than one individual, we have a solid core team. We are in better shape as a group.”

The men’s team has added seven freshmen to its roster while the women’s team has added four. Because of NCAA regulations, those 11 freshmen will not be able to practice with the team until Thursday. Still, Julian Sheinbaum ’12 said it was a good recruiting year.

“I’m really looking forward to this season,” Sheinbaum said. “We are really committed to the team. It’s a really exciting time for a fresh start and to do some new things this year.”

The teams’ first meet will take place at Harvard on September 17.

TRACK | Elis gain momentum for H-Y-P meet

February 8, 2011 12:00 am Leave a Comment

While hosting the seventh annual Giegengack Invitational last weekend, the men’s and women’s cross country teams gained confidence in preparation for next week’s Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet. The Bulldogs had strong performances all-around, especially dominating the distance races, and took a combined 12 IC4A or ECAC-qualifying times.

Though the meet was unscored, Matthew Thwaites ’13 said it was the most competitive meet of the season.

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“For a lot of people, it was a good chance to run fast times, get good marks, and throw far on a setting where the team score didn’t matter,” Christopher Ramsey ’13 said.

In one of the most impressive races of the weekend, James Shirvell ’14 completed the 1,000-meter run in 2:25.98, winning the race and breaking Yale’s indoor record. Following Shirvell was Julian Sheinbaum ’12 in eighth (2:28.93), who ran the race for the first time Saturday.

In longer distances, the Bulldogs displayed tremendous strength. Nathan Richards ’12 won the 3,000 (8:20.22) and Samuel Lynch ’12 came in second in the 5,000, besting his previous personal record by 43 seconds (14:35.61).

In addition, Matthew Bieszard ’12 placed second in the 200 with a time of 22.18. Captain Marty Evans ’11, who was notably absent from the individual races, was a key contributor to the two relays: the 4×400, in which the Bulldogs placed fourth, and the distance medley, in which they took second place.

“It was a good meet with good competition, providing people with good chances to get a good performance and to be ready for the championship part of our season,” Ramsey said.

Bieszard, Shirvell, Sheinbaum, Richards and Lynch all qualified for IC4A championships in March.

In the meet, the Bulldogs faced competition from Brown and Penn. While the results for most races were neck-and-neck, the Bulldogs learned they still have some work to do in the mile: the Quakers and Bears finished six runners before Yale’s first racer came in.

“It’s really important to fight through everything, whether it’s the last mile of a 5K or the last 50 meters of the 500,” Thwaites said. “You can pick up a lot of points that way. That’s how a meet can be won.”

The women’s team trimmed time from traditionally strong events, such as the 800, and proved their prowess in middle- and long-distance races.

“As a team, we wanted to get some good times in because we have some very big races coming up,” Elizabeth Marvin ’13 said.

Continuing her record-breaking run in the 800, Kate Grace ’11 knocked another two seconds off her time, winning the event in 2:06.94, a season-best time. Teammate Nihal Kayali ’13 finished in fourth (2:11.86), the eighth-fastest time by a Yale athlete. In the past two meets, Kayali has set records in other events and stands in fourth place in Yale history for the one mile and 1,000 meter runs.

“I know that ultimately the mile is what I want to be working on, but we didn’t know if I’d be fit enough [after her injured cross country season],” Kayali said. “We wanted to ease into it.”

Marvin won the 3,000 by three seconds, completing the race in 9:50.34. Melissa Chapman ’14 finished just after, taking third in 9:57.13. Another freshman, Sarah Barry ’14, came within a third of a second of first place, finishing the 1,000 in 2:53.99.

The 4×400 relay team placed third, but perhaps more impressively, the distance medley came in first. The team, composed of Grace, Gabriella Kelly ’12, Barry and Kayali, finished 14 seconds ahead of the next group — Yale’s second relay team.

In addition, Emily Standish ’11 placed second in the high jump (1.60 m), and Allison Rue ’13, Annalies Gamble ’13 and Kelly repeated their 3, 4, 5 finish in the 500 (1:16.55, 1:17.36, 1:17.86).

“This is where it’s crucial that everyone performs to the best of their ability,” Kayali said. “There is no room for error in the next two weeks.”

Grace, Kayali, Marvin, Chapman, Barry and both relay teams qualified for ECAC championships.

Yale competed against around 15 other neighboring schools, including Brown. The Bulldogs bested the Bears in five of the eight track events, though Brown showed its dominance in field events, notching wins in the long jump and pole vault.

The Elis raced at Coxe Cage, their home stadium, which the Bulldogs said gave the meet an air of familiarity and an opportunity for friends to come and watch.

“There’s a certain comfort to racing at home — it’s one less factor to worry about,” Kayali said.

Both teams will next compete in the Harvard-Yale-Princeton tri-meet at Coxe Cage next Saturday. Harvard and Princeton are both very strong teams, but the Bulldogs, buoyed by a boost of confidence from this meet, said they are ready to show them some good competition.

“We want to show that we’re ready to give Harvard and Princeton a run for their money this weekend,” Marvin said.

CROSS COUNTRY | Perrella reflects on Yale career

November 30, 2010 1:42 am Leave a Comment

After placing eighth at the men’s cross country NCAA Northeast Regional Championships earlier this month, Jeff Perrella ’11 earned a spot at the NCAA National Championships, which were held last Monday. At the national championships, he ran the 10-kilometer course in 31:21.4 at a pace of just over 5 minutes a mile and placed 120th out of 246 total runners, meeting his goal of finishing in the top half. Perrella, who transferred from the College of William and Mary in 2007, is the first Bulldog to make it to nationals since Lucas Meyer ’05 in 2004. He spoke with the News about the recent National Championships and his cross country career at Yale.

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Q First of all, congrats at your performance in NCAA nationals. That must be really exciting. Can you tell me a little about the race itself?

A Obviously it went out pretty quick. I was pretty excited about it. I’m not sure what time the leaders were at — they were probably around 4:35 or so [minutes per mile] — but I wasn’t too far back, at about 4:45. From my standpoint, I was trying to stick to the race plan that my coach and I had worked out ahead of time.

Q What was that plan?

A It was to go out a little bit more conservative and then work my way in with the pack, keeping up in the race. It was a very windy day, and if you got caught running alone, you essentially were completely sapped. Whenever I was out of the wind, I had to just move up a little bit, and I think I consistently did that throughout the race, which was good.

Q Was this a different strategy than other races that you’ve ran?

A Yeah, absolutely. Each race you approach a little bit differently. This was certainly a different approach than what we used at Regionals and what we used at Heps. You have to adapt your race plan for every race.

Q Did you ever expect to make it to nationals?

A It was always my goal, since I came here, since I started running. I had always expected to get there a lot sooner, but I have dealt with a number of injuries. I always knew I had the talent and I’ve always worked very hard at it.

Running is very simple. You get out of it what you put into it, and I put in four-and-a-half years of working just as hard as I could possibly work day in and day out. I seldom missed a day that I took completely off in the past four-and-a-half years. So I knew I had the cumulative work behind me coming into the season, and I knew based on the work I’ve done and based on times that I’ve run, that [making it to nationals] was a possibility. I never went into a race thinking that I didn’t have a chance to win. If you want to be good at this sport or at anything that you do, you can’t go in conceded. So much of what you do is confidence. You just have to have confidence in yourself.

Q How long have you been running cross country?

A I started my junior year of high school.

Q Why did you start?

A I’ve always been pretty quick. I was a soccer player pretty much all of my life. My freshman year, I went out for the track team as well. I lost a lot of weight running. When I went out for the team again my sophomore year playing soccer, I wasn’t nearly as effective as I used to be, being 30 pounds lighter, so I got knocked around a lot more. I saw that and I realized that I was going one way. I saw the potential. I saw that it was something I enjoyed. I just like going out for runs every day, so it made sense to make the switch.

Q Why did you choose to come to Yale?

A A whole host of reasons. Certainly a lot that has to do with it is Coach Ireland. I remember him from the initial recruiting process. He was someone I always respected and I really liked. He was a straightforward guy who definitely had his act together in that respect. He was the one who always told it to you like it is, and I certainly like that about Coach. When I made the decision that I wanted to transfer [from William and Mary], he was the first coach I called, the first person I talked to.

The guys on the team are another huge factor. One of them was a high school rival of mine that I have known for a number of years [Kevin Brown ’10]. It seemed like a very good environment for training. There was a great group of guys who are very hard working and all have their minds set in the right direction. For me, the most important thing was that I felt comfortable in the group. I felt there were a lot similar like-minded people who have similar goals to mine.

Q What will you be up to for the rest of the year?

A Well, I graduate in December. After that, I’m definitely taking a little bit of time off from running—which means that I’ll still be running every other day for a couple of months, while I get healthy and get my foot healed up. Also, I’m going on a cross country road trip with a teammate who’s graduating in December as well — Eric DePalo ’11. We have a two- to three-month road trip planned where we’re going to do a lot of hiking and camping, which I’m really looking forward to. After that I’m hoping to get into the running world again and possibly try to run professionally.

Q What was the season highlight for you?

A The biggest highlight for me of the season was when we beat Harvard at home. That was a huge victory personally for me. Even though I didn’t win the race, I executed the race plan that we worked out ahead of time perfectly, and so did the rest of the team. Everyone came in to do exactly what we were supposed to do, and we got the results that we wanted and the results that we knew we could get and we planned to get. Frankly, it doesn’t get any better than that, than to see the whole team carrying off the trophy at the end of the day.

CROSS COUNTRY | Heps brings disappointment for Elis

November 2, 2010 12:46 am Leave a Comment

Despite strong races at their last few meets, the men’s and women’s cross country teams left the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships echoing their lackluster performances of the last two years: seventh and eighth palce, respectively.

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The No. 18 Princeton women’s team took first place for the fifth year in a row with 33 points. The No. 18 Tiger men’s team also took first, with 33 points, after losing by one point to Columbia last season; it was their fourth win in five years. Dartmouth (55) and Columbia (94) took second and third respectively in the men’s meet, while Columbia took second (60) and Brown third (63) on the women’s side.

Jennifer Downing ’12 said the women’s team, coming off of an eighth place finish at the Penn State Nationals, knew that they had a shot of finishing anywhere from fourth to eighth place. They were aiming especially to place ahead of Penn, which the Bulldogs beat two weeks ago, and Dartmouth, which was ranked 15th to Yale’s eighth in the Northeast region prior to Friday’s meet.

“If you look at our individual performances we ran a strong race, but it never feels good to be last,” Downing said.

Elizabeth Marvin ’13 was the first Bulldog to finish, completing the five-kilometer race in 25th place (18:03.9). Following her were Anne Lovelace ’12 in 33rd (18:20.3), Melissa Chapman ’14 in 38th (18:27.2), Downing in 40th (18:29.8) and Jacque Sahlberg ’13 in 52nd (18:38.5). Of the top seven Bulldogs racing, six had their best race of the season.

“No one bombed the race,” Downing said. “We ran the race [that] we were in shape to run.”

Downing said the results were especially disappointing given that this was Coach Mark Young’s ’68 last Heptagonal Championships.

“We can’t be too down on ourselves because we raced hard, we raced well and we put it all out there,” he said. “We just wished that what we placed was a better reflection of the progress and work we put in this season.”

Princeton won the meet by a significant margin; their fifth runner finished 11th overall. Princetonian Alex Banfich finished first with 16:58.9.

The men’s team was also disappointed in their seventh place finish. According to Matt Thwaites ’13, the team expected to “get on the podium” or, at the very least, finish within the top half, something they considered a “fairly achievable goal.”

The Bulldogs placed ahead of only Brown, losing to teams they had beaten earlier in the season, such as Penn and Harvard.

“We learned not to take anything for granted,” Thwaites said. “There is really no given until you cross the finish line. That’s not the way it panned out. In hindsight, we should have just gone for it.”

Jeff Perrella ’11 had a career-best meet. Breaking his personal record, Perrella finished first for the Bulldogs and broke into the top 10 overall, completing the eight-kilometer race in 24:44.3 and placing ninth. Captain Max Walden ’11 placed 26th (25:14.8), Julian Sheinbaum ’12 placed 35th (25:27.7), Conor Dooney ’12 placed 40th (25:37.1) and Demetri Goutos ’13 placed 45th (25:40.8).

As in the women’s race, Princeton both won the meet and boasted the leading racer, Donn Cabral, who finished in 24:03.8.

“The season’s not over, and that’s important to remember,” Chris Scavone ’11 said.

The men’s and women’s teams will next race at the NCAA regional championships in Madison, Conn,, on November 13. At the meet, the Elis will again compete against all the other Ivies except Penn and Princeton.

“We have to continue working as hard as we’ve been working,” Downing said. “Our team has been on an upward trend since the beginning of the season, but we’re not there yet.”

At the NCAA meet, both teams hope to redeem themselves for their disappointing performances in the Heptagonal Championships.

“We must not get down, stay positive and believe in our fitness and training,” Thwaites added. “We know we’re way ahead of where we were in the past, so we have to go out and get revenge.”

CROSS COUNTRY | Men notch first win over Harvard since 2006

September 28, 2010 1:52 am Leave a Comment

In the final minutes of Friday’s meet, the men’s cross country team made its move to win its annual race against Harvard for the first time since 2006. The women’s team, meanwhile, was frustrated by Princeton and Harvard, coming in third for the third race in a row.

Until the beginning of the fifth and final mile, the top three runners in the men’s event were all sporting crimson. It was then that much of the Yale team moved forward, led by Jeff Perrella ’11, who ultimately placed second at 25:35.53.

“It wasn’t as much thinking as it was instincts,” Perrella said. “My legs got it done for me.”

Julian Sheinbaum ’12 and Sam Lynch ’12 moved into third and fourth place with only 400 meters before the finish line, finishing within one second of each other at 25:39.45 and 25:40.30, respectively. Yale dominated the standings: Of the top 11 finishers, seven were Bulldogs.

“It was the indomitable spirit of the Yale men that overcame and won the day from Harvard,” Perrella said.

According to Perrella, racing at the Yale Golf Course “certainly was an advantage.”

“We run that course day in and day out,” Perrella said. “It comes second nature to you, running over the hills.”

Harvard’s Daniel Chenoweth, who won the race, set a new meet record, finishing in 25:10.70.

Though they came into the meet eager to beat Harvard, the women’s team was not as successful. They set out aiming to stay in a pack, but found it difficult to stay together. Elizabeth Marvin ’13, the first Bulldog to finish, came in 10th place at 18:19.59.

“We have to work on running in a pack in the beginning,” she said. “Too many people didn’t go with the lead pack. We definitely have the capacity to stay together for the first two miles and then go after those ahead of us.”

The team, though disappointed, is still hopeful for the rest of the season. Two freshmen were among the first four Elis to finish, and with more training, the team expects them to further improve. Also, Marvin said having their fifth runner finish before Harvard’s was the highlight of the meet for the Elis.

“Once we pull it together and everyone has a good day, I think we’re a better team than Harvard,” Marvin said.

After strong showings earlier this month at Dartmouth and Quinnipiac, the men’s team’s victory Friday leaves them optimistic going forward. Perrella does not envy those Yale will be racing in the future.

“When you’re a member of the Yale cross country team, you always go in aiming to win,” Perrella said. “Any time you step up to the line, it’s not a question of winning but a question of how much you’re going to win by.”

The men’s and women’s teams will next run at the New England Championships on Oct. 9.

CROSS COUNTRY | Bulldogs have strong showing at Quinnipiac

September 21, 2010 1:39 am Leave a Comment

After their opening meet at Dartmouth earlier this month, the men’s and women’s cross country teams headed to Hamden on Saturday to compete in the Quinnipiac Invitational.

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The women finished third with the minimum of five runners needed to compete as a team, but it was the men who stole the show. All four Bulldogs placed in the top 10, including first-place finisher Chris Scavone ’11, who finished the eight-kilometer course in 26:23.

For the nine runners in action, this was the first race of the season, and for the three freshmen that competed, it was the first race of their collegiate careers. Both the men’s and women’s teams were small in size to give those who did not run at Dartmouth a chance to compete before the next meet.

Scavone, who battled injury last year, is looking to treat this year, his last, as a fresh start. He said head coach Dan Ireland gave him some advice before the meet.

“[Ireland said], ‘This is your last chance to start off on a good note. Run hard and don’t overdo it,’ ” Scavone said.

Though the team was confident going into the meet, Scavone’s strategy changed when, instead of working for a push later in the race, he found himself in the front at the beginning.

“Game-playing went out of the window in the beginning,” Scavone said. “It was a good exercise in focus and staying in control. No race ever goes the way you think it’s going to go from the start.”

Immediately following Scavone was Michael Cunetta ’14, who came in second in 26:50. David Demres ’12 came in fourth (27:04), and James Wyper ’11 rounded off the team in 10th place (27:43). Stonehill won the invitational and host Quinnipiac placed second.

According to Cunetta, the course itself was “a little silly at times,” with tight and very tough turns, but he said having the rest of the men’s team show up to cheer them on made the race fun.

The women’s team had five runners compete, the minimum number needed to place as a team, and finished third. With such a small team, the Bulldogs were at a disadvantage compared with the larger rosters of Quinnipiac, which won the invitational, and Stonehill, which came in second. Two freshmen led the team: Clare Kane ’14 finished the five-kilometer course in ninth place (19:12) and Wendy DeWolf ’14 in 25th (19:59). Kristin Johnson ’12 and Phoebe Gaston ’13 finished in 36th and 37th place, respectively, and Celia Stockwell ’11 finished off the team in 44th.

Both the men’s and women’s teams have home meets Friday, when the men host Harvard and the women will race against both the Crimson and the Princeton Tigers

Women’s team captain Liya Assefa ’11 said she is looking forward to the meet against the archrivals, as it is the first time the team will race as a whole body, rather than split up in two separate groups.

“We’ll all get to go out there and compete together,” Assefa said.

The upcoming meet poses a challenge, as Princeton is nationally ranked, Assefa said. But the Elis are excited to compete and “run with Yale pride,” she added.

The men’s team feels more confident: Scavone said he hopes to beat Harvard on Friday in his final try and “walk out with a win.”

“Everyone put in an incredible effort over the summer,” he said. “We’re looking better than we’ve ever looked.”

Cunetta added: “I just want to beat a lot of Harvard guys, run fast, have fun, and really, really push myself to the limit.”

CROSS COUNTRY | Men finish 2nd, women finish 3rd

September 14, 2010 2:40 am Leave a Comment

Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled north to New Hampshire for the Dartmouth Invitational, but they came away with different results.

The men’s team came within five points of dethroning the Big Green, who had won the meet on its home course for five consecutive years, and placed second. The women’s team, on the other hand, placed third out of four teams, finishing only five points ahead of last-place Williams.

Both teams, however, had encouraging performances from runners coming off injuries last season.

Sam Lynch ’12, who was not one of the Bulldog’s top 10 runners in last year’s post-season, was the top finisher for the men’s team Saturday, covering the 8-kilometer course in a time of 25:35.06 to place second overall, behind the Big Green’s Ethan Shaw.

“It felt good,” Lynch said. “It was completely unexpected … I only walked on last school year, and I wasn’t doing particularly great. But I have been training incredibly hard.”

The course at the Hanover Country Club, where the meet was held, proved challenging for both the men’s and women’s teams, with an especially vexing hill in the last half-mile.

As they approached the last 800 meters, the men’s team was close to tying the Big Green. Julian Sheinbaum ’12 and captain Max Walden ’11 battled Dartmouth’s runners up the hill to finish side-by-side in fourth (25:39.67) and fifth (25:41.57), respectively. Sheinbaum, who is back after a calf injury ended his freshman season early, was less than two seconds behind the third place finisher from Dartmouth.

Finishing as a pack and rounding out the top seven for the men were Jake McKenzie ’12 in ninth (26:04.11), Sam Kirtner ’13 in 10th (26:11.95), Nathan Richards ’12 in 11th (26:12.62) and Kevin Lunn ’13 in 12th (26:15.22). Kirtner and Lunn are also returning after taking most of last season off due to injury or illness.

Encouraged by their opening meet and with all five top five runners from last year’s Heptagonals and NCAA Regionals returning, the men are looking forward to the rest of the season.

“We have a great crew of guys,” Lynch said. “I think we’ve really started solidifying to have an attitude towards success. We really want to do well this year … We’re going to be aggressive and earn what we deserve.”

On the women’s side, the Bulldogs were off to a great start with Jennifer Downing ’12 leading the first two miles. A wrong turn in the last mile cost her some time, but Downing was able to finish the 3.3 mile-course in 14th, with a time of 20:53.07.

“The lesson learned there is to know the course better next time,” Downing said. “But I think the wrong turn affected me more mentally than physically.”

Elizabeth Marvin ’13, who also suffered through injury last year, led the Bulldogs with a third-place finish of 20:36.15. Anne Lovelace ’12 placed seventh with 20:43.90.

Both teams will make the short trip to Hamden and race in the Quinnipiac Invitational on Saturday.

CROSS COUNTRY | Elis hope to use experience to improve in 2010

September 7, 2010 1:46 am Leave a Comment

For most sports teams, a new season means scrambling to try and fill the holes that the previous year’s seniors have left behind. But this year is different for the men’s and women’s cross country teams — most of the team’s key athletes have returned this season, and their experience will be much needed for the two teams who finished in seventh and eighth respectively in the Ivy League Championships.

Six Eli men competed in Yale’s ninth-place finish out of 36 teams at the NCAA Northeast Regionals last season, and all six are returning. Among the six is team standout Jeff Perrella ’11, who clocked in at 32:08 for a 28th place finish out of 244 runners. In fact, the Bulldogs’ top seven runners from last season are returning, according to Matt Bogdan ’11.

However, Bogdan noted that the men still needed to improve their performance in the off-season in order to improve on a disappointing finish in the Ivy championships last season. The Bulldogs’ seventh-place finish in the meet was partly due to some members of the team falling ill, but Bogdan acknowledged that they “just didn’t get it done” at the meet. In response, some members of the team have been topping one hundred miles a week during summer training, Bogdan added.

“In a sport in which you do a lot of running, how much running you do over the summer has a direct correlation with how you do in the season,” Bogdan said, adding that he has higher hopes for this year’s squad. “I think for a lot of us, especially in the senior class, a podium finish would be fanstastic. But I think anything less than the top-half would be disappointing. You don’t run as many miles as we do hoping for less than that.”

Alexandra Cadicamo ’10, Stephanie Pearl ’10 and Stephany Reaves ’10 are no longer with the Bulldog women, but the team returns the majority of its best runners, including Anne Lovelace ’12, who finished first for the Bulldogs in both the Heptagonals and the NCAA Regionals. Captain Liya Assefa ’11, who finished close behind Lovelace in the NCAA Regional meet, also returns this year.

“I think we’re looking really good, and we have a lot of returning runners who have been practicing pretty strong,” Assefa said. “We graduated a few solid seniors but we have a really good freshman class, and our sophomore and junior classes are pretty strong, so I think we’ll definitely be able to do better than in the past.”

The Elis will also look for strong performances from Elizabeth Marvin ’13, who was the top Yale finisher at the Iona Meet of Champions, and Nihal Kayali ’13, who took the top Yale spot at the Penn State Lock Haven meet.

“Everyone’s looking really healthy and I think we have more depth than last year,” Lovelace said. “I think we’re looking to do better than we have in the past two years. We have a strong freshman class and a lot of upperclassmen returning from injuries and everyone’s been working out pretty strong.”

Both teams compete against Dartmouth this Saturday at the Dartmouth Invitational.

CROSS COUNTRY | Young to step down

September 1, 2010 3:06 am Leave a Comment

After a long run with Yale athletics, which also included a stint as a U.S. national team assistant at the 2000 Olympics, Mark Young ’68 will retire as Yale’s cross country head coach after the fall season.

Associate head coach David Shoehalter will take over while Young stays on to coach the women’s track and field team’s distance and middle distance runners through the spring season.

The position, officially named the Mark T. Young ’68 Director of Cross Country and Track and Field, was endowed in his honor in 2008, attesting to his longstanding dedication to the program. As a student, Young captained the men’s track and field team, leading the team to an outdoor Heptagonal Championship his senior year. Along with earning individual IC4A titles in the 440-yard (outdoors) and 600-yard (indoors) runs, Young was the anchor of the mile relay team that still holds the Yale outdoor record (3:09). Young also played on the football team.

Mark Young at Yale

UNDERGRAD CAPTAIN

Young captained the Yale men’s track and field team his senior year, when he led the team to an outdoor Heptagonal Championship. He also played football.

THREE DECADES AS COACH

After serving as the assistant attorney general for Massachusetts, Young took the head coaching job at Yale in 1980. He has led the Bulldogs ever since.

AT THE OLYMPICS

Besides coaching at Yale, Young also served as an assistant coach for the U.S. track and field team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Although this season marks the beginning of Young’s 31st year of coaching at Yale, his coaching career began almost 12 years earlier. After graduating from law school, Young practiced law and took a position as the assistantattorney general for Massachusetts while coaching high school track and cross country teams.

“I was spending almost as much time coaching high-school track as working for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Young said. “So I had come to the conclusion that you can really only be pro at one thing.”

He gave himself one year to find a college coaching job that felt right to him — meaning one with “Ivy League goals,” Young explained. “Academics first, but excellence in all things.”

In the spring of 1980, just such a job opened at Yale. At the time, the athletes were still practicing and competing in a building that hadn’t been renovated since its construction in 1928 and the athletic director was hoping new leadership would help turn results around.

“I applied for both [the men’s and women’s coaching position] and got the women’s job,” Young said. “The law profession is still on hold.”

In 2000, Young became the first director of the track and cross country teams during a restructuring of the program. (Before there was simply a head men and women’s coach but no one overseeing the entire program.)

In his tenure at Yale, Young has overseen a number of successful teams. He has led the Bulldogs to six Heptagonal Championships and four top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships in women’s cross country as well as four ECAC titles.

In 1987, Young led Yale to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships — the best finish ever for an Ivy League women’s team — and was named the national Cross Country Coach of the Year. Young has also produced 19 All-American athletes in cross country and 17 in track and field during his tenure.

Beyond Yale, Young has served as an assistant coach for the United States Olympic Track and Field team in the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, and was named head coach of the U.S. Women’s Team at the World Indoor Championships in Barcelona, Spain in 1995.

In addition to holding national and world-level coaching positions, Young chaired the NCAA Track and Field Committee from 1989-1992 and served as co-commissioner of the 1995 Special Olympics World Games Athletics Venue when the games were held in New Haven.

Rhonda Vegliante, now the administrative assistant to the dean of Davenport College, worked with Young on this event.

“He’s just a great guy,” she said. “He’s going to be missed.”

Young said his decision did not result from any diminished appreciation for his job.

“It’s not that I’m tired of coaching, or tired of Yale,” Young explains. It is simply that, at the age of 65, he would like a little time to see his wife.

For the past 15 years, Young has had to commute from New Haven to Boston in order to see her, and he said it’s beginning to wear on him. Long seasons, beginning with cross country in September and continuing almost every weekend through the end of track in June, also leave Young very little time to travel or spend time at home. But he’s not complaining.

“We all do it because we love it,” Young said.

With some extra time on his hands now, he said his law career may resume after a decades-long hiatus.

“I’m going to have to find something to do with myself,” Young said. “I have continued to pay my dues to the Massachusetts Bar Association … just in case this didn’t work out. Now obviously this has and it’s been great, but it’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility that I would find some little niche [in law] again.”

Shoehalter, entering his 17th season as a coach at Yale, graduated in 1989 from the University of Pennsylvania with a history degree, where he captained the men’s track and field team. Shoehalter was later a member of the 4×400-meter relay team for the U.S. in the 1989 World Maccabiah Games. At Yale, he will continue to coach the sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers while taking on the position of director.

“[Shoehalter] has been very involved with all aspects of the program,” Young said. “He’s now been here for half the time that I’ve been here so I think that it’s a terrific thing that we’re doing.”

CROSS COUNTRY: Cross country stumbles at Ivies

November 3, 2009 3:00 am 2 Comments

It was a disappointing day for both the men’s and women’s cross country teams last Friday at the 70th annual Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in Van Cortlandt Park, N.Y.

In this traditional battle for Ancient Eight glory, the men’s team finished seventh among Ivy teams with 160 points, and the women were eighth with 238.

“In general, our performance on Friday doesn’t reflect the shape that we’re in or how we should be running,” women’s captain Stephany Reaves ’10 said.

Illness among several players on the men’s side made running to their potential difficult for some of the runners as well, a factor that affects the entire team’s performance.

“It leaves less margin for error,” Conor Dooney ’12 said.

Healthy or not, the men toed the line at 12:15 p.m. for the start of the 8k race in ideal mid-50 degree conditions. In a race to the finish on this familiar course, Dooney placed 13th with a time of 25:50.2, finishing first for the Bulldogs and making the second All-Ivy team.

“The plan at the start of the year was to come to all-Ivy and hopefully crack the top ten,” Dooney said.

In eighth place with 300 meters to go, Dooney was in just the position to do this but ended up getting passed in the final stretch.

“At about a mile to go I went too hard and ended up paying the price,” said Dooney, “I’m frustrated because I know I could have done better.”

Other top finishers for the Elis included Jeff Perrella ’11 (26:00.2) in 19th place, Max Walden ’11 (26.49.9), Nathan Richards ’12 (26.52.) and Jake McKenzie ’12 (27.03.7).

The 2010 season will provide the men’s team with another shot at the Ivy League title — the team is young, with almost all of its members returning next year.

On the women’s side, the Bulldog’s young talent also propelled the team Friday. Top finisher Anne Lovelace ’12 placed 35th with a time of 18:30.5 on the 5k course and was followed by teammates Alexandra Cadicamo ’10 (18.55.3), Elizabeth Marvin ’13 (19.13.2), Nihal Kayali ’13 (19.13.3) and Caitlin Hudson ’13 (19.29.7).

“Anne Lovelace has been running very consistently … [but] it would have been better if we had the four scoring runners up with her in the same place,” Reaves added, remarking on the relatively spread out times of the top finishers.

“Unfortunately Heps was the big race of the year,” Dooney said. “That was the race we really wanted to do well in.”

Next up for the Bulldogs are the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships on Nov. 14, hosted by Boston University at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass. The top two teams and four individuals in this race will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind.

“[This next race is] more about redemption,” Perrella said. “We’re hoping to make up for our performance at Heps and hopefully end the season with some respect.”

Reeves expressed the same optimism about the upcoming race.

“We’re looking forward to it and regrouping so we can do well,” she said.

Yale Daily News

Tag Archive: Cross Country