NEW YORK - The Yale women's cross country team placed sixth with 137 points Friday morning in the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships at historic Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. The 6k race started at 11 a.m. and featured a field of 91 athletes. Heps is the most exciting meet of the season, and there was great support from alums, teammates and family. Many notable individual accomplishments made the day a success.
Finishing one spot short of All-Ivy Honors, senior Kosana Weir led the Bulldogs with an impressive 21:35.7 effort for 15th place. She was fractions of a second away from Princeton's Tsion Yared, who claimed the final All-Ivy spot. Weir got out strong from the gun and confidently stuck to the lead pack through the series of hills in the woods. This is her highest finish at the Ivy Heps XC Championships in her career, and her consistent improvement has been inspiring. She had an amazing day at her final Heps.
Seconds behind Weir, first year Claire Archer made a name for herself in the league with a 16th-place finish in 21:38.9. Coming back from injury, Archer has been improving with every opportunity she has had to race and is just starting to show what she is capable of. Although just a first year, she confidently hung on to the top pack as well and chased down some very experienced runners. Together, Weir and Archer raced as a unit and performed very well Friday.
Coming in third for the team, junior Kathryn Rodrigues placed 32nd overall with a time of 22:14.3. While not her best day, she did her best to chase the lead group and focus on the hills in the back half of the race. Shortly behind her, first year Carmel Fitzgibbon placed 35th with a time of 22:21. Fitzgibbon has been consistently improving every race and displays great confidence in both practice and on the course. Coming in fifth for Yale, senior captain Samantha Friborg had an incredible day, improving upon her personal best by nearly 33 seconds. She placed 45th overall with a time of 22:32.5. While considering herself more of a track runner, she surely proved today that she can excel in cross country as well.
Coming in sixth for Yale, junior Kyra Pretre placed 57th overall with a time of 22:49.0. She was able to displace multiple athletes from Brown in the team score today. Rounding out the top 7, junior Sophia Karperos came in 62nd place with a time of 23:05.7 in her first Ivy Heps. She was able to move up consistently during the race and didn't let anyone pass her.
Harvard won the meet with 54 points.
Overall, the meet provided a great opportunity to race rival schools on a beautiful day surrounded by family and friends. The top seven Bulldogs will be back in two weeks to race at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship, also at Van Cortlandt Park.
