NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The 2025 Yale women's cross country schedule was released Monday, with the first competition set for Friday, Sept. 5. The Bulldogs have four meets scheduled before the championship season starts, with the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships set for Oct. 31 in Van Cortlandt Park.
The Bulldogs are entering their second season with Courtney Jaworski as the team's Mark T. Young '68 Director of Cross Country and Track and Field. Laura Broderick returns for her second season as assistant coach.
Rising senior Linde Fonville (Charlotte, N.C.) is Yale's captain.
Here is a breakdown of the 2025 schedule:
- The team will open the season on Friday, Sept. 5 at the Fordham Fiasco. Held at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, this meet gives the Bulldogs their first chance to compete at the site of the 2025 Ivy League Championships. Yale last participated in this meet in 2018, placing sixth out of 13 teams.
- The Bulldogs are back at Van Cortlandt the following Friday, Sept. 12, for the Iona Meet of Champions. Yale last competed at this meet in 2015, placing sixth out of 11 teams.
- On Friday, Oct. 3, the Bulldogs will head to Bethlehem, Pa., to compete in Lehigh's Paul Short Run. This meet often draws some of the best teams in the country. The Bulldogs placed seventh out of 42 teams in the Gold Race at this meet last year. Rising senior Claire Archer (Seattle, Wash.) was Yale's top finisher, placing 13th overall.
- The Bulldogs will compete in the Princeton Fall Classic on Friday, Oct. 17. The event is in its second year; this will be Yale's first time competing in it.
- The Ivy League Heptagonal Championships take place Friday, Oct. 31, at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Six of Yale's top seven finishers at this meet last year are back, led by Archer (who was fourth overall). Yale's third-place finish last year tied for the best by the team since a second-place finish in 2016.
- On Friday, Nov. 14, Yale's top seven will head to the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in Contoocook, N.H., for the NCAA Northeast Regional. Archer is the Bulldogs' top returning finisher from last year's regional meet, having finished 12th. As a team, the Bulldogs placed 11th.
- Based on the results of Regionals, the Bulldogs may have the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Championships in Columbia, Mo., on Saturday, Nov. 22. Here are the NCAA's selection criteria for teams and individuals:
- The top two teams at each of the nine regionals qualify for the national championships automatically, and 13 at-large teams will be selected by the NCAA Division I Cross Country Subcommittee.
- From each NCAA regional meet, the first four student-athletes to finish – among those not on a qualifying team – will qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships. The committee will then select two at-large individuals by identifying the highest non-qualifying individual finishers at the regional meets. All individual qualifiers must finish in the top 25 within their region.
