CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- After a hard-fought race in warm conditions, the Yale women's cross country team finished as the runner-up in the 2019 Panorama Farms Invitational. Coming in behind only No. 11 Michigan State, the Bulldogs improved from their fifth-place standing at the one mile mark and comfortably snagged second.
Kayley DeLay was the first across the line for Yale in Friday's meet. Finishing in a new six-kilometer personal best of 20:46.5, the junior from Florida started out conservative, but moved up throughout the race to place eighth individually. Right behind DeLay in ninth place overall and second for the Bulldogs was Jocelyn Chau in a time of 20:57.2.
Jane Miller, Sevanne Ghazarian and Gemma Shepherd rounded out the team's top five scorers placing 18th, 29th and 43rd, respectively. Junior Zoe Nuechterlein had a breakout race, recording a personal best of 22:35.8 for six kilometers, while first years Hannah Schupansky and Kelli Hines followed closely behind. Once again, the Bulldogs displayed impressive depth with 50 seconds between Shepherd and Kosana Weir, who finished ninth for Yale.
Michigan State, the meet's winner, scored just 42 points, and had all of its top seven runners cross the finish line in the top 15 out of 149 athletes. For its own part, Yale handily defeated third-place Kentucky, who scored 143 points to the Bulldogs' 98.
