NEW YORK - The Yale women's track and field team competed well on the first day of the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships Saturday at the Armory. Doors opened at 8:00 a.m. and the women's events concluded with the 200m dash prelims at 2:00 p.m. The overwhelming support from parents and alumni was felt from the stands, and the palpable competitive energy in the facility served as a reminder of why the Ivy League is so special. While the day mostly consisted of preliminary events, the Championship final events were nothing but exciting to watch.
The highlight of the day was easily the win by returning champion Kayley DeLay in the 3000m. DeLay masterfully led from the gun to clinch her second consecutive indoor Heps victory in a meet record time of 9:09.19. The old meet record of 9:09.49 was set by Harvard's Jenny Stricker in 1983. DeLay has won every Ivy Heps championship individual event that she's participated in since the Ivy League Cross Country Heps championship in November of 2019. Also competing in the 3k were sophomore Julia Dvorak and senior Sarah Pillard, who placed 13th and 14th respectively.
All three women in the middle distance events qualified for the finals Sunday. The mile run featured strong performances by sophomore Kyra Pretre and Kosana Weir. Running in different heats, the women dealt with different tactical races and navigated through the competition to secure spots to Sunday's final. In the 1000m run, senior Jocelyn Chau raced extremely well to place fourth in her heat and qualify for the final based on her time. Chau was 2.24 seconds off the first-place time in the preliminaries, so she has true potential to be on the podium after Sunday's final. Due to a low number of entries, the 800m race scheduled for Saturday was not conducted and the final will occur Sunday with all entrants. The middle distance and distance squads executed nearly perfect race strategies Saturday and have set themselves up well for more action Sunday.
In the 500m dash prelim, senior Addison Coy earned her way into the final with an impressive run of 1:14.07 and a first-place finish. Senior Libby McMahon similarly cruised into the final of the 60m dash with a second-place finish overall. McMahon doubled back to secure a spot in the 200m final with a first-place finish and second place overall performance in the prelims. Senior Ava Thomas is also moving on to the finals after securing an automatic qualifying bid in the 60m dash.
In the field, first year Dominique Romain was Yale's highest finisher in the long jump final with a jump of 5.47m. Sophomore Eileen Yang competed well in her first Heps for a 10th place finish in the pole vault. In the weight throw, senior Emma Vasen improved upon her place from the 2020 Indoor Heps with a ninth-place finish.
The Bulldogs will carry the momentum from Saturday's competitions into Sunday's finals on the last day of the 2022 Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships. The events are being streamed on ESPN+ and live results can be found at the Armory Track athletic.net page. Tickets can also be purchased for Sunday's races.
