NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- This Saturday, a large contingent of the Yale women's cross country team will head north to Boston to compete in the New England Championships at Franklin Park. The meet will include teams from all over the Northeast, giving the Bulldogs a chance to face off against Ivy foes Dartmouth and Harvard alongside other schools in their region.
While Yale's top seven finishers from the Panorama Farms Invite will be in New Haven training for next week's Pre-Nationals race in Terre Haute, 12 athletes will be competing across both the varsity and sub-varsity races on Saturday morning. In the open race, Caroline Brashear, Lauren Chapey, Chloe Jensen, Sarah Pillard and Jocelyn Rondeau will be representing the Bulldogs. Both Chapey and Pillard have raced on the course before and their experience will be beneficial as they look to set personal bests and help to lead their younger teammates in the first race of the day.
In the varsity race, Nicole Dirks, Samantha Friborg, Kelli Hines, Arianna Lord, Hannah Steffke, Rachel Suss and Kosana Weir will be representing Yale. This pack of Bulldogs has proven how well they work together, finishing in a tight pack at both the Harvard-Yale season opener and the Panorama Farms Invite. In Virginia, Hines and Weir finished less than 10 seconds apart over the course of 6,000 meters, while Steffke and Suss worked together through the race to finish just steps apart in times of 23:49 and 23:47, respectively.
Once again, many of the upperclassmen have experience racing on this course from both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Lord finished seventh for Yale at Franklin Park last year against Harvard and Princeton, crossing the line in a personal best time of 19:00.8 for five kilometers. Steffke also recorded her personal best on this course, running a 19:35.1 at this same meet two years ago. Coming off a strong second-place finish two weeks ago in Charlottesville, the Bulldogs have their sights set at the top of the pack for Saturday's race.
The women's Sub-Varsity race goes off at 11:00 a.m. followed by the Varsity race at 11:45 a.m.
Results can be found here following the races.
