BRONX, N.Y. – The Yale men's cross country team powered to its best-ever finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships on Friday. The Bulldogs more than held their own against a number of nationally ranked teams to finish sixth in a race where the top two teams gain auto-qualification for nationals, with captain Sean Kay's 13th place individual finish providing even more reason for celebration. 

The Race:

• After incredible pack running with Varun Oberai and Owen Karas for the majority of the race, Kay ran the finishing kick of his life to move up to 13th. He saved his best race of the year for the right time, with the top four individuals not part of nationally qualifying teams in each region punching their ticket to the NCAA National Championships via automatic individual berths. Kay is sixth among such runners in the Northeast right now, but at-large team berths have yet to be announced. Iona and Harvard earned the Northeast's auto bids by finishing first and second, respectively, on Friday. Given that third-place Syracuse is currently ranked eighth in the country and likely to get an at-large team berth -- and two Orange runners who placed ahead of Kay would thus no longer occupy automatic individual at-large berths if the team as a whole is selected -- Kay will be optimistic about his chances of securing a place on the biggest stage in Virginia next weekend. The NCAA will post at-large selections on its website by 5:00 p.m. Saturday.
• Oberai and Karas held on well for 27th and 39th respectively, with Leo Brewer in 40th and Kenan Pala in 46th rounding out the scoring group, each of them running PRs over the 10k distance. Daegan Cutter in 49th and Winslow Atkeson in 56th further demonstrated the Bulldogs' depth, with only one other team getting their top seven runners in before Yale. 

Up next:

• If selected, Kay will head to the NCAA National Championships in Virginia next Saturday. After that, the team will turn their attention to the indoor track and field season, which kicks off at home on Dec. 9.