NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- This Saturday evening, several Yale athletes competed at home in the Last Chance Meet. This was a meet tailored for athletes trying to improve upon their season's bests and boost their rankings in hopes of NCAA Eastern Regional Selection. Despite much of the team having returned home after the semester ended, there was vocal support for the Bulldogs and some impressive performances to boot. 
 
Winslow Atkeson was undoubtedly the highlight of the meet. Going into the meet, Atkeson was just off the top 48 regional selection cut off, and so he knew that he had to improve upon his personal best. Atkeson looked assured and remarkably strong in still only his third ever steeplechase race, taking the lead with at least 800m to go and continuing to pull away from the rest of the field, winning the race by at least 40m. His time of 8:52.52 was a more than seven-second improvement from his sixth-place Heps performance last week. Atkeson looks stronger every time he steps onto the track and yet again bolstered his resume as a big-time performer. When the chips are down in Jacksonville come May 24th, do not count the sophomore out.
 
Under the bright Yale floodlights, Sean Kay showed remarkable heart running for much of it with only one true competitor. With 2k to go, the leading couple worked almost with each other, taking turns to lead a relentless pace. Without those other athletes to chase, this became a slog, but this coming year's cross country captain proved an exemplar for the team and was rewarded with a 29:25.10 personal record, more than 16 seconds faster than his previous best -- and that time is good for sixth in Yale history. Stephen Moody's performance cannot be ignored either; he kept up with the lead two athletes for most of the race and stayed in hot pursuit for the remainder, ticking along consistent lap times and running an impressive new PR of 30:14.27. This is good for eighth in the school record books. This race was a pleasure to watch and was one that will go down in recent Yale history.
 
There was also great support for the middle-distance events. The 1500m duo of Owen Karas and Liam Garrett were at their best yet again in this conclusion of the season. Karas finished in a time of 3:44.86 and Garrett in 3:46.39, both athletes running within half a second of their lifetime bests. This marks a remarkable end to their both athletes' Yale seasons. In just four weeks Karas has taken a full five full seconds off his 1500m best and has now run sub 3:45 in back-to back races. Garrett has also been a man on a mission, this season taking almost seven whole seconds off his previous collegiate best; he will also continue to compete back home in England and so it remains to be seen just how low he can go. Elon Abergel also ran well on the day and made it three Bulldogs out of three to break the 3:50 barrier. In the 800m, Drake Prince was led by training partner Thomas Cirrito through a blistering 600m pace and, as usual, closed well to finish in a highly respectable time of 1:50.18. It should also be noted that each of these middle-distance athletes had competed only two days before this meet, making their performances here even more impressive.
 
Yale had some strong performances also in the field. In the throws, Nolan Recker and Chris Ward went one-two in the men's discus. Recker finished with a distance of 48.25m and Ward with 47.07m. Ward also doubled back in the shot put, where he placed joint second with a throw of 16.60m. These results highlight strong depth within the throwing group and again mark impressive seasons for the both of them. In the triple jump, Brian Di Bassinga had a quality start to his day, but unfortunately that promise was hampered by an injury which prevented him from completing his full jumps. This has been a fantastic season for the first-year, and he will have some time now to recover before being a part of the HYOC travel trip.
 
Lastly, Aaron Miller and Andrew Farr competed in the 400m, taking second and third overall in the event. Both runners ran well, especially considering their substantial effort across multiple events at last week's conference meet. Miller finished in a time of 48.72 and Farr finished in a time of 49.07.
 
Overall, this meet proved a top evening for the Yale track team. It was a great finale for several Bulldogs' seasons and was a valuable stepping stone for others. Stay tuned for news on Yale's regional qualifiers and the NCAA First Round Eastern competition. 
 
Full results for the Last Chance Meet can be found here.