Courtesy of Yale Athletics

On Saturday, Yale hosted the Columbia Lions and the Dartmouth Big Green at Coxe Cage in the Bulldogs’ first meet of 2024 and their second of the 2023–24 indoor season.

After six weeks of rest, the Bulldogs came out of the gates hungry, snatching eight gold medals in the men’s competition and five in the women’s. Overall, the men’s team finished in first place with a landslide victory of 84 points to Columbia’s 44 and Dartmouth’s 39. The women’s team took home second in a tighter field, earning 59 points compared to Dartmouth’s 70 and Columbia’s 52.

“We came away with two very solid performances,” head coach David Shoehalter wrote to the News regarding his teams’ overall performances. “Never took our foot off the accelerator from the first event to the final relay. There is still a good deal of room for improvement from both the men and women. It’s exciting to beat our Ivy rivals.”  

In the men’s competition, the throwers as usual started off strong for the Bulldogs, with captain Matt Appel ’24 finishing first place in the weight throw with a distance of 19.34m, just ahead of teammate Nolan Recker ’26 who threw a 19.23m PR that earned him second place. Following Appel and Recker in the field events was Isiah Udofia ’26, placing second in the long jump with a PR of 7.23m.

The men’s team performed just as impressively on the track, where Leo Brewer ’25 earned first in the mile with a 4:10 finish, Owen Karas ’26 earned first in the 800m with a 1:54.34 finish, and Kit Colson ’25 earned first in both the 60m and 200m finishing in 6.87 seconds and 21.99 seconds, respectively. 

The Bulldogs also won the 4x400m and 4x800m relays with teams comprised of Amare Fields ’27, Kenan Pala ’26, Tanish Chettiar ’26 and Austin Montini ’25 as well as Jacob Kao ’25, Simon Jupp ’25, Colin Quinn ’27 and Andrew Farr ’26.

Appel was pleased with his team’s strong performance.

“Much like our season opener in December, we had a very strong meet,” Appel wrote to the News. “The score was a total team effort and a result of both our guys beating their guys and creating an environment that was difficult to compete in by being the loudest group in the Cage. I think it reassured us that we can compete at a much higher level than last year as long as we keep stacking weeks leading up to indoor HEPS.”

Appel, who also finished second in the shot put, added that this was hopefully the last time he wouldn’t finish atop the shot put among Ivy League competitors.

On the women’s side of events, the Bulldogs again had many strong finishes. Among the most impressive was Lucija Grd ’27 setting a school record in the 60m hurdles with an 8.56 second finish. Grd’s finish was the second school record set by a first year on the women’s team this season, only two meets in.

Additionally, Victoria Guerrier ’27 took home gold in the 400m with a 56.84m finish, joining her sister Gloria Guerrier ’27 among the ranks of gold medal holders this season. 

Among the more experienced team members, Maria Leskovec ’24 took first in the weight throw with an 18.11m PR and Eileen Yang ’24 took first in pole vault with a 3.80m leap. 

Finally, the 4x400m team also took home first place 3:48.01, comprised of Mira Thakur ’24, Molly Harding ’26, Bridget Vitu ’25 and Gloria Guerrier. This was Gloria Guerrier’s second gold medal of the season, having taken gold in the 500m dash with a school record in the first meet of the season.

“As our indoor opener in December showcased, we have seen some huge improvements on the women’s side already from our veterans and have added some fire power from a talented incoming class,” women’s coach Taryn Sheehan wrote to the News.

The Bulldogs will compete next at UMass Lowell’s River Hawk Invitational in Boston, Mass. on Jan. 26.