NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Yale men's track and field team opened up the 2023 indoor track campaign in promising fashion on Saturday at the Yale Season Opener. This meet, an annual staple in the Elis' calendar, has been a motivating date for the entire semester, a focal point of much of the training that has gone on over the past few months and an excellent opportunity for the Bulldogs to gauge how that training is paying off before winter break. 

Typically chilly December conditions had the athletes grateful to be competing indoors for the first time this season. For some of them, this was even their first ever time competing on the boards. But that didn't stop the Bulldogs from posting a number of highly impressive performances throughout the meet. 

The tone was set at the start of the day by Yale's throwing contingent. While the spectators may have appeared bleary-eyed given the 9:00 a.m. start time, the Bulldogs were anything but as they enjoyed a glorious 1-2 punch from junior Matt Appel and first year Nolan Recker in the weight throw, both of them sailing past the 18m mark. Appel then went on to win the shot put by close to a meter and a half with his mark of 17.64m. Yale's success in the field events continued with first-year victories in both the long jump and triple jump. In the former Isaiah Udofia put together a dominant victory thanks to a 6.64m leap, while in the latter Brian Di Bassinga needed just one successful jump of 14.42m on his way to winning by more than 1.60m. Both athletes will evidently be ones to watch over the coming years after such impressive debuts. 

Sophomore Jacob Kao and first year Andrew Farr carried the momentum across to the track as they went 1-3 in the 300m with times of 34.72 and 35.47 respectively, with Kao edging a narrow victory by just 0.04 seconds. Minutes prior, junior Aaron Cullen had battled tremendously on his way to a 4:34.46 clocking and a close third in the mile. Over the shorter distances, Yale put four men into the 60m final after enjoying a second-place finish from sophomore Zakaria Nfaoui in the 60m hurdles. Nfaoui blazed to a 8.67 clocking, while in the flat 60m sophomore Kit Colson sprinted to a stellar victory in just 6.97 seconds. Odera Nweke, Justin Yazdi and James Grindle followed him home in third, seventh and eighth respectively. 

Yale also posted some impressive performances in the middle distance events. Junior Thomas Cirrito was a close third in the 500m with his 1:06.18 finish, while his training partners Drake Prince, Elon Abergel and Austin Montini had a fierce battle amongst themselves in the 1000m. In the end, despite a fast finish from Abergel, Prince was able to hold on for the victory in 2:25.39. In the final individual event of the day, first year Tanish Chettiar cruised to victory in the 3000m in 8:54.07. 

As always, the meet concluded with a set of relay races. The Bulldogs fielded three teams in the 4x400m relay, and showed great depth as they placed second, third and fourth overall, all in times of 3:25 or quicker. The relay results epitomized the day of competition for Yale. Many athletes toed the line, and many enjoyed successful results, but the team leaves the meet hungry for more. They will soon head home for winter, as motivated as ever and ready to get back to work before arriving back on campus next month. Look for the Bulldogs to demonstrate improvements as the season progresses. Next up is the Yale Icebreaker on Jan. 14.