ITHACA, N.Y. – The Yale men's track and field team began the Indoor Ivy League Championship campaign promisingly today, battling against bad luck and impressive competition. The Bulldogs progressed into all but one final Sunday and are currently sitting in seventh place with six points.
The day began promisingly in the field. In the weight throw, Mr. Consistent Andrew Rochon finished seventh, one spot from scoring, with an excellent throw of 17.15m – equaling his personal record. He will look to emulate such form in the shot put tomorrow. Sophomore Jack Dunn finished 14th and will now turn his attention to the outdoor season and his favored event, the hammer throw.
Across Barton Hall, on the long jump runway, first-year Odera Nweke was announcing himself to the league in style. He leaped 7.24m with his first jump, improving his personal best by 27 centimeters and securing all of the team's points with a magnificent third place in the process.
On the track, competition proved fierce. In the 60m hurdles, Itamar Fayler ran 8.40s, narrowly missing out on a qualification spot. In the 60m dash – an event the Bulldogs were looking to score heavily in – Trenton Charles ran 6.841 to qualify in seventh for the final. Vincent Vaughns, running in his last Indoor Heps, was dealt a cruel card: he ran the eighth-fastest time, a new personal best of 6.849, and yet missed out on qualifying for the final as he did not finish in the top two in his heat. Phil Zuccaro also narrowly missed out in spite of performing to his potential, running 6.88, just 0.01 off of his personal record. The top 12 athletes in the 60m dash were separated by just 0.1s. Promisingly, Charles has previously excelled against all of the first four athletes – in the YDC and HYP tri-meets – and will still be one of the favorites in Sunday's final.
It was then the turn of Allen Siegler and Nick Dahl, the team's resident milers. In another hotly contested event – with multiple athletes having broken the 4 minute mark this year – both Siegler and Dahl ran commanding heats. Siegler cruised across the line in third, smiling in anticipation of the real battle to come. Dahl, typically, kicked away from the field in the final 200m and crossed the line in first. He has only lost once this season and with his strength and determination, one wouldn't bet on that tally increasing Sunday.
Juma Sei will also go into the 400m as one of the favorites Sunday. After finishing fourth last year in his first Ivy League Indoor Championships, Sei's performance reflected his experience – he came through the bell smoothly before accelerating down the back straight and cruising through the line to win his heat in 48.94, the third-fastest time overall. Christopher Colbert continued his impressive season, missing out on qualification for the final by just 0.08s. He will surely be fired up to run a rapid 4x400m leg Sunday. In the 500m, first-year Chris Brown performed strongly against the pure sprinters in his midst, running 1:07.54.
In the 800m heats, Cameron Wyman banished the demons of 2019 with a stellar performance. His heat, which included fellow Bulldogs Alex Whittaker and Kohleman Swift, went off at sub-1:50 pace, but he fought hard over the last lap to qualify in second overall in a time of 1:53.09, his best-ever performance indoors. Like the rest of the qualifiers, he can challenge for the win Sunday.
Will Laird qualified for the 1000m final with an ease which will strike fear into the competition, qualifying in fifth overall and second in his heat. In the second heat, Trevor Reinhart fought – almost literally – to qualify before being disqualified afterwards. Expect him to storm his relay leg tomorrow.
In the first final of the weekend, the 3000m, Neil Braganza, Harrison Smith and Henry Saul were placed in the first section and worked together to push the pace and pressure the section section. Braganza, running in just his third race of the season, yet again found another gear in the final 200m and battled down the home straight before being out-dipped on the line. He ran 8:34.17 and finished 11th, less than six seconds behind eventual winner, Harvard's Kieran Tuntivate. After working hard to push the pace throughout the race, Smith and Saul ran out of legs in the final laps, finishing 15th and 16th respectively.
The final action of the day came in the 200m heats. In the one-lap event, the sharp turns of the flat track showed their teeth – especially for the taller athletes. Marcus Woods, distracted by the noisy home crowd, false started and was cruelly disqualified. In the second heat, Zuccaro returned to the track with vengeance, flying round the bends and qualifying for the final in sixth place. Seniors Kyle Macauley and Vaughns were left wishing for a banked track for their final indoor meet.
Sunday will bring a host of serious point-scoring opportunities. Spencer O'Neill goes in the high jump, and the Bulldogs in the finals are favorites to win. The Bulldogs will hope to go into the relays in contention before harnessing their depth to break into the upper echelon of the league.
