NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A hard-fought team battle saw the Yale women's track and field team come up just two points short of second place in the HYP tri-meet at Coxe Cage Saturday. Princeton finished first with 67 points, Harvard in second with 58, followed closely by Yale with 56. In a sport with lots of points on the board, this is an incredibly small margin between all three teams.
Field events started out the day with high energy and successful results. Emma Vasen scored points in both the shot put and the weight throw, finishing third and fifth respectively. After captain Natasha Feshbach's season best in the shot put, the Bulldogs saw a near sweep in the high jump. First-year stand out Abrianna Barrett won in 1.68 meters, a collegiate best, followed by Olivia Mooney in third place in a season's best, and Elizabeth Adelson in fourth, tying her season's best. Our trio of long jumpers had an excellent day, finishing second, third and fourth. Angele Kelly led the way with a jump of 5.46 meters which tied her personal best. First year Sydney Kunkler tied her collegiate best, good for third, and Tessa Malone finished fourth. Last but certainly not least, Erin Gerardo had herself a day at pole vault, finishing second in a new lifetime best of 3.90m, putting her second on the all-time list.
On the track, in the 60m, Lillian Enes ran a new personal best of 7.66m, placing her at number two on the all-time list, and good for third place. Ava Thomas approached her personal record, finishing seventh in a fast field. Davornne Lindo ran a personal best in the 60m hurdles, good for seventh.
Kayley DeLay continued her winning ways, winning the mile in 4:48.07 and leading from wire to wire. Also scoring points in the mile with a fourth-place finish was Megan Quimby in a lifetime best. In the 400m, Sophie Isom continued her momentum with a third-place finish in a collegiate best 57.28.
Jocelyn Chau completed a difficult double, finishing fourth in the 500m and coming back just 30 minutes later to win the 1000m in personal best 2:47.56. Middle distance duo Samantha Friborg and Chloe Jensen finished third and fourth respectively in the 800m, with Jensen running an indoor collegiate best.
Next up the 200m, Libby McMahon continued her solid season, finishing third. In the last individual event of the day, Jane Miller and Rachel Suss both ran personal bests and finished first and second respectively. Suss' time was good for a nearly six-second lifetime best. In her first-ever 3000m, Arianna Lord ran a smooth and controlled race, scoring a point for Yale with her fourth-place finish.
Perhaps the most exciting moment of the day came in the 4x800m, where Yale gradually moved up from quite a ways back to ultimately capture the relay. Strong opening legs from Quimby and Jensen put Yale in decent positioning. DeLay took the baton and gradually worked her way up to the Princeton runner in front, closing a 30m gap and passing her on the homestretch. Friborg closed hard, holding off an aggressive Princeton runner through four laps and clinching the win in 8:53.52.
Closing out the day, the 4x400 lost a hard-fought battle, running 3:46.33 and narrowly missing a win.
Many strong performances came out of Saturday, including multiple personal bests, all-time marks, and season's bests. Yale will look to continue this momentum next weekend at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University.
Full results can be found here.
