NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Yale women's track and field team was back in action for another successful day of competition in three different locations Saturday. Both highlights of the day occurred at the Crimson Tide Invitational in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where the 4x100m and 4x400m school records were bested. Seniors
Aliya Boshnak,
Sophie Isom,
Libby McMahon and
Ava Thomas broke the school record in the 4x100m relay for the second time this season with a time of 45.58. The quartet broke the previous record earlier this season at the Harvard-Yale Match, where they produced a time of 45.92. Later in the day, Isom, McMahon and Boshnak returned to the oval with senior
Addison Coy to run a school-record 3:41.14 and take second in the 4x400m relay. The previous record of 3:43.02 was set by
Claudia Duncan '10,
Allison Rue '13,
Faith Briggs '10 and
Kate Grace '11 in 2010. The Fierce Five clearly work very well together and will be strong contenders for Heps titles.
Also in Tuscaloosa,
Emma Vasen placed 12th in the discus throw with an effort of 47.01m. In the 100m dash, Thomas and Isom ran 12.13 and 12.37, respectively, to take 22nd and 28th place. Sophomore
Abrianna Barrett reached a height of 1.61 in the high jump to take 10th place. Before running the 4x400m relay, Coy competed very well in her signature event to earn bronze in the 400m hurdles with a time of 59.43. Unsurprisingly, McMahon ran a personal record of 23.75 to earn fourth in the 200m.
At the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Va., junior
Samantha Friborg had a great day. She placed 14th in the Invitational Division of the 800m with a season best of 2:07.17. Also in the 800m, senior
Maya Sharp and first year
Iris Bergman raced hard to try to improve upon their personal bests. Sharp was able to put forth a personal record effort and clocked 2:11.86 to take 28th in the competition. With Bulldogs only competing in the 800m, it was a quick day of competition down in Virginia.
In New Haven, a contingent of Bulldogs successfully defended the home turf at the Mark Young Invitational while their counterparts were in the South. In the first individual track event of the day, first year
Kaity Chandrika and sophomore
Sophia Karperos competed well in the 3k steeplechase. Chandrika made her collegiate debut in 11:32.61 while Karperos improved by nearly 15 seconds from her first attempt in 11:45.40. Both women have promising futures in the event and will look to follow in the footsteps of senior captain and Olympic trials qualifier
Kayley DeLay. In the 400m, sophomore
Ella Mainwaring Foster and first year
Bridget Vitu secured third and fourth place, respectively. Both women ran personal record times, with Mainwaring Foster dipping under 57 seconds to run 56.66 and Vitu running 57.42. In the 800m, first year
Arielle Moore claimed bronze en route to running a personal record of 2:16.42. In the 5k, sophomore
Kathryn Rodrigues kicked hard in a close finish and came away with a personal record of 17:26.20, taking second overall.
In the field at home, sophomore
Eileen Yang won the pole vault with a mark of 3.57m. This is her second win of the season in the event. In the jumping events, sophomore
Sydney Kunkler took fourth in the long jump in 5.54m and sophomore
Sophie Wright earned third in the triple jump with a massive personal record of 11.35m. First year
Violette Perry emerged victorious in the discus throw with an effort of 45.11m with first year
Kalei Memmer close behind her in third place. Overall, the Bulldogs tied the Columbia Lions for second in the meet with 84 points each. Brown won the competition with 177 points.
The successful weekend was filled with multiple personal records, broken school records, and experiences that will help the Bulldogs prepare for the Ivy League Championships in two weeks. The Bulldogs will return to competition next week at the Penn Relays and the Yale Springtime Invitational.
