NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Yale men's track and field competes at three meets this weekend.

Penn Relays 

This Thursday some of the Yale distance team are heading to Philadelphia for the highly prestigious Penn Relays. This college clash draws many of the nation's finest and consistently produces some of the fastest and most exciting races of the season. Year on year, athletes flock from as far afield as Jamaica, and traveling fans never fail to bring the noise and energy to Franklin Field. Penn Relays typically has an attendance of over 100,000 over the final three days, so the Bulldogs will no doubt relish the opportunity to run in front of support, and hopefully they can provide those big-stage performances.

Yale has two athletes in the 1500m at 6:00 p.m. Thursday. Indoor Heps finalist Winslow Atkeson will show his versatility, having run the 3000m steeplechase last weekend. Elon Abergel set a new 800m PR earlier this season and so will be hoping to improve upon his impressive 3:44.11 personal best in the longer event.
 
In the 5000m at 8:15 p.m. Thursday Varun Oberai will compete alongside first year Kenan Pala in the 5000m. Oberai has shown outlandish consistency in the 5k this season. He set a new PR of 14:21.64 at Raleigh Relays and since then has run almost identical times in his last two races (14:22.17 at HYOC and 14:21.68 last weekend at Virginia). Typically, this sort of consistency predates a big breakthrough and in Oberai's case it should happen just in time for the culmination of this collegiate season. Pala has had a week to remember, as he was selected to represent the United States at the U20 Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Austria in June. The two Bulldogs are in the same heat together and so expect Oberai and Pala to work through the competitive field together, and hopefully to some new PRs.
 
This will be great experience for these distance athletes and these races will hopefully apply the final layers of polish in the lead up to the Ivy Championships on May 6 and 7 . Those championships will be held also at the Penn track, and so this meet will provide the invaluable experience of staying in the city and competing at the facility. 
 
Full results for the event can be found on the Penn Relays website here. The meet will be streamed on FloTrack.

Texas Invitational

On Saturday, Yale has three athletes competing at the University of Texas. This is the site of the NCAA DI Championships later this season, and so could prove valuable experience for these throwers who will be vying for spots at that meet. Yale has three athletes entered in the discus (2:30 p.m. Central Time), Matt Appel, Nolan Recker and Chris Ward. All three of these athletes have had strong seasons, but a particular mention must go to Appel who will be competing on the back of last week's school record breaking performance. All eyes will look to whether he can go even better. Chris Ward is also Yale's sole competitor in the shot put, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Central Time.

Full results for this event can be found here.

Yale Springtime Invitational

Yale will also be hosting its own meet on Sunday, allowing athletes the opportunity for a final tune-up prior to the outdoor Heps meet. Yale's entries are highly dependent on this week's training as well as weather, but provisionally the 4x100 team together with the jumps squad are expected to compete.

Full results for this event can be found here.