Sean Kay ’24, senior captain and team leader throughout the season, led his team to sixth place overall in the NCAA Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships on Friday, Nov. 10. This was the team’s best finish in the meet ever. 

Not only did Kay lead a record-setting team, but his 13th place finish at 29:58.2, just four seconds shy of his collegiate 10K PR, earned him an individual bid to the NCAA National Championships this Saturday, Nov. 8 in Charlottesville, VA.

“This fall, every early morning wake up and late night came to fruition by being able to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country National Championship,” Kay wrote to the News. “If you were to tell me freshman year that I would be competing at NCAA’s, I would’ve told you that you were crazy.  I am forever grateful for God, my teammates and my coach for continually being there for me and pushing me to be the best I can.”

In each region, the top two teams from each of the nine NCAA Regional Championships get automatic bids to the NCAA National Championships, and from there, thirteen more teams are selected for an at-large bid based on their performance at the Regional Championships. Finally, the top four individual placers from non-qualifying teams get individual bids.

In the Northeast Region, Iona University took home first place, followed by Harvard in second. This eliminated seven of the top 12 runners. In addition, Syracuse University earned an at-large bid, removing two more. This put Kay into fourth place of all runners from the remaining field, earning him a bid to Nationals.

Despite impressive finishes in both of the past two NCAA Northeast Regional Championships — he earned 19th last year at the meet with his still-standing 10K PR of 29:54.5 — Kay’s sights weren’t always set on qualifying for NCAA Nationals.

“I was recruited prior to Covid happening really with the goal of just being a varsity scorer by the time I graduated,” Kay wrote to the News. “I wasn’t able to compete my freshman year because of COVID and the Ivy League ruling on athletics, and so this goal would have to wait a little longer. Coming back my sophomore year was my first experience being able to compete at a Division 1 level, and I didn’t have a clear path of what my goals were. I started to really take running and cross country seriously after my sophomore year and during my junior summer, and this proved to be extremely helpful in enabling me to take a jump and help me realize being a national championship qualifier might be possible.” 

Despite an impressive career with the Bulldogs, Kay hopes that what he is remembered for after graduating and leaving Yale men’s cross country is the way in which he was able to positively impact the culture as a team leader. 

When interviewed by the News, Kay’s teammate Owen Karas ’26 — who was Kay’s companion at the front of the Bulldog pack all season — spoke to Kay’s qualities as a leader.

“Sean has always led by example,” Karas wrote to the News. “Throughout the challenges and the doubts of the long season, Sean has remained very consistent in his goals and training. It is great to see his hard work paying off. He inspires us to follow his lead, and he raises the expectations for the program.”

Coach Matt Gutridge expressed similar sentiments.

Gutridge wrote to the News that Kay has done a “tremendous job” as captain. 

“As soon as he was elected by his teammates, he scheduled a meeting with me to talk about ways he felt the program could move forward,” Gutridge wrote. “He has taken the time to meet with his teammates individually and as a group. He led the team to one of the most successful seasons in program history and is our first NCAA qualifier since 2016. The consistency he has demonstrated in training and in his racing along with his self discipline that has allowed him to train at a high level, while also excelling in the classroom, embody the values of the program. The goal is to leave the program better than it was when you arrived and Sean has certainly done that.”

Kay, an economics major from Melrose, MA and a graduate of Arlington Catholic High School, has been a contributing member of the Bulldogs’ XC team during the three years in which he was able to compete. He placed second, first, and first for the Bulldogs at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships during his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons, respectively. He was a model of year-over-year improvement, moving from 55th to 19th to 12th in the Regional Championships each season. His presence on the team will certainly be missed.

Kay expressed gratitude to Yale, his teammates, and his coach for his success on and off the course over the past four years, but most importantly he thanked God and his faith.

“My 4 years at Yale has been an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world,” Kay wrote to the News. “My time at Yale has enabled me to grow not only academically and athletically as a person, but most importantly every success I have had reminds me to grow in my faith as well, which is THE ultimate goal.”

The Championships will take place this Saturday in Charlottesville, VA, featuring all of the nation’s best Division I collegiate runners. 

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The Bulldogs are coming off solid performances at the Ivy League Championships, where the men placed fourth and the women placed sixth. They will head to Van Cortlandt Park, where they raced earlier this season in mid-October at the IC4A and ECAC Championships. The Bulldogs, however, see it as just another step in their season.

“This weekend’s NCAA regionals is just another step in our season – we have prepared for the length of the race since day 1 and so were excited to show our strength and continue the season strong,” men’s team captain Sean Kay ’24 wrote to the News. “Our goal from the beginning of the season has been to be a top 5 team in the region, and we still believe we can do it.”

The top two finishers at the NCAA regionals from each region get an automatic bid to the national championship the following weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, combining for a total of 18 automatic bids across nine regions throughout the country. After that, thirteen teams get an at-large bid as determined by the NCAA D1 Cross Country Subcommittee, resulting in a 31 team field.

In order to qualify for nationals as an individual runner, a racer must be one of the top four runners in their region not belonging to one of the two top teams, and they must also place in the top 25 overall in the meet. Last season, men’s senior captain Sean Kay was not far off, placing 19th — an all-region qualifying finish.

“Individually, Sean Kay is our highest returner finishing 19th a year ago,” men’s head coach Matt Gutridge wrote to the News. “I believe he is capable of putting himself in the top 10 which would give him a chance to be an NCAA individual qualifier. He was our only All-Region performer (top 25) last fall, so we hope to add a couple more this year.”

Last season, the men’s team placed ninth out of 33 teams, while the women’s team took the same spot in a slightly bigger field of 37 teams. Both teams look to improve on their finishes last year.

Gutridge believes his team has the potential to improve, not only upon last year’s finish but also upon the team’s finishes over the last 20 years.

“Similar to HEPS, the goal this weekend is to improve on our finish from last year,” Gutridge wrote to the News. “I believe the larger meet will help us with our strong pack. 7th place is the highest men’s highest finish in the last 20 years for the program, and we believe we can better that on Friday.”

Another aspect of the meet, not to be forgotten, is that this meet could mark the end of many Bulldog cross country careers. For the men’s team, Chris Brown ’24, Thomas Cirrito ’24, Aaron Cullen ’24, Liam Garrett ’24, captain Sean Kay, Stephen Moody ’24, Drake Prince ’24 and Martin Riddell ’24 could be running their last race. For the women’s team, Sophia Karperos ’24, Kyra Pretre ’24, Kathryn Rodrigues ’24 and Hannah Schupansky ’24 could also be doing the same. However, the goal, of course, is to have no career end and have every runner advance to the National Championships.

For Rodrigues, this means an opportunity to both enjoy the sport she loves for potentially one last time at the collegiate level and to represent the University that has given her this opportunity.

“Personally, I’ve been running cross country for half my life, and this Friday could be my last cross country race ever,” Rodrigues wrote to the News. “I am excited to savor the moment with my team and enjoy competing in my favorite sport one last time. Running for Yale has been a dream, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to rep the Y.”

If either team or any individuals qualify, they will advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, Nov. 18.

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Both the men’s and women’s teams had strong regular seasons with deep rosters led by upperclassmen and filled out by first years and sophomores. Both teams’ roasters looked similar this past weekend at Heps.

The men’s team finished fourth out of eight teams with all four classes represented among their five placing runners. The women’s team finished sixth, led by senior captain Kyra Pretre ’24 and rounded out by four sophomores, with a first-year runner following close behind as the sixth. Only the top five runners are accounted for in calculating a team’s finish. 

“Heps was the culmination of our Ivy League Season,” men’s team captain Sean Kay ’24 wrote to the News. “Our team thus far has made great strides from where we were a year ago and I’m happy I was able to be a part of it. Every year I have been here we have placed higher in the league, and I can’t wait to see what the team does next year. Although we could have always done better, seeing the progress in a great realization of the work we have put in.”

In the men’s 8k the team was led by two familiar faces at the front of the Bulldog pack, Owen Karas ’26 and Kay. Karas led the Bulldogs with a 24:31 finish, giving him a 15th overall finish, and Kay came in not far behind at 24:38, placing him 18th. 

For Karas, it was a solid improvement on his finish last year at Heps, shaving off 40 seconds and 12 places from his first-year finish. Leo Brewer ’25, Daegan Cutter ’27 and Winslow Atkeson ’25 rounded out the rest of the pack, all finishing within nine seconds of each other. Their respective times were 24:55, 25:02, and 25:04, placing them 23rd, 25th and 26th.

Men’s head coach Matt Gutridge was pleased with his team’s result, explaining that it was one of the team’s best finishes in decades. He also explained that another of the Bulldogs’ typical scorers Varun Oberai ’25 unfortunately lost his shoe early in the race, setting him back.

“Our standing goal is to be in the top half of the league every year, so we accomplished that with our 4th place finish,” Gutridge wrote to the News. “Overall, the group ran well; we lost one of our typical scorers early in the race because Varun’s shoe was stepped on and came off, so the rest of the group stepped up. This was only the 10th time Yale has finished in the top 4 since 1970 and the 4th time since 1997. These guys have been consistent in the way they have performed all year and I believe they will be stronger over the 10k next week.”

In the women’s 6k, the team was led by team captain Kyra Pretre who notched an 18th place finish with a time of 21:41, improving on her junior season finish by a remarkable 39 places and 68 seconds. Marisa Poe ’26 led the rest of the team with a 21:55 25th place finish, followed closely by Linde Fonville ’26 in 26th place with a 21:58 finish. For both runners, these were over 60-second improvements on their first-year finishes. Charlotte Whitehurst ’26 and Claire Archer ’26 rounded off the scoring for the Bulldogs with times of 22:05 and 22:16, respectively, earning them 34th and 39th place. Hebe Chadwick ’27 was the first non-scoring Bulldog to cross the mark, finishing just 17 seconds behind Archer at 22:33, earning her 47th place.

Women’s head coach Taryn Sheehan was pleased with her team’s performance and depth in a hard-earned effort.

“The women did a great job of coming together as a team and executing a solid performance,” Sheehan wrote to the News. “Kyra did a great job of leading the team and had her highest performance at an Ivy League cross country championship. Our spread from 1-5 was 35 seconds which is the best we have had in three years and shows the depth this very young group has worked hard to close. I feel confident that they still have their best performances ahead of them at the Regional Championships next week.”

This year, the men’s and women’s teams look to build on last year’s finishes of fifth place and sixth place, respectively. 

The Bulldogs race next at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships in the Bronx, NY, on Friday, Nov. 10. Their performances in this race will dictate whether they will compete once more at the National Championships in Charlottesville, VA.

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The Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships — or “Heps” — so named because the original competition only included seven Ivy League schools — Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth and Columbia — takes place this Saturday, Oct. 28, at Franklin Park in Boston. The Bulldog racers told the News that they are excited for the Championships. 

The Bulldogs told the News that they view this meet as one of their most important meets of the season. In order to gain familiarity with the course, the team typically holds a regular season meet on the same course as the “Heps.” This year, that meet was the Codfish Bowl Invitational, held in late September. 

Kathryn Rodrigues ’24 said that success at the Championships is at least in part viewed as a culmination of all their work throughout the season.

“We spent a productive fall break training together in New Haven and are excited to see all of our hard work from this fall pay off,” Rodrigues wrote to the News. “We have been putting in consistent work and are feeling confident heading into one of the most important weekends of the season. We’ve raced at Franklin Park before and are excited to go back.”

Both teams have enjoyed their fair share of successes this season. The men’s team, in only six meets, has enjoyed two first-place finishes and one second-place finish, with one of these first-place finishes coming in the Paul Short Run, a 43-team meet which Yale had not won since 1989 despite frequent attendance. The women’s team has one second-place finish, as well as a strong fourth out of 15th finish at Pre-Nationals. 

However, both teams told the News they believe that although they are moving in the right direction, neither of them has hit their full stride.

“Pre-Nationals was another step up in competition and a chance to run on the NCAA Championship course,” men’s head coach Matt Gutridge wrote to the News. “Our group did not get out well, which I take responsibility for because we talked about not overrunning the first 2k. What impressed me here is that the team did not get discouraged by the poor start and methodically worked their way through the field. Once again, we were the top Ivy in the meet, so I think that was another positive step heading into this weekend. The reality is that we have not run close to our best race this season.”

This year, the men’s and women’s teams look to build on last year’s finishes of fifth place and sixth place, respectively. 

In head-to-head competitions, Yale’s men’s team has outraced Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn, Harvard and Princeton while only being outraced by fellow Ivies at the IC4A Championships, when the team’s upperclassmen racers were away at Pre-Nationals. The women’s team has had more mixed results against fellow Ivy League rivals, having taken down Brown and Cornell in head-to-head meets.

Women’s head coach Taryn Sheehan said she believes her team has momentum moving forward.

“The result from the women at the Pre-National championship was a step forward for the squad,” Sheehan wrote to the News. “The goal going into the meet was very simple, to improve upon our race execution and our team chemistry during the race. We had an incredible 4-second spread from our 2-4 runners, with Linde Fonville, Charlotte Whitehurst, and Hebe Chadwick. We’re really excited to use this momentum and see what we can do this Saturday at Heps.”

Following the Ivies, Yale will compete next at the NCAA Cross Country Northeast Regional, and, if either team or any individuals qualify, the NCAA Championships.

For now, though, the team’s sights are set on this weekend.

“The Ivy League Championships are always a battle and many of the teams are improved from a year ago,” Gutridge wrote to the News. “We feel confident that we will improve on our finish from a year ago and the group is focused on taking another step forward.”

The NCAA Northeast Regionals will be held in the Bronx on Friday, Nov. 10, and the Championships on Saturday, Nov. 18.

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The Bulldogs took this past weekend off as they head into their second month of the season. They kick it back into gear this weekend as they split their squads into two groups: one competing at a meet held at the University of Virginia and the other competing in the IC4A/ECAC Championships in the Bronx, New York. Both meets are held on courses that the Bulldogs will see later on in the postseason.

“We are actually a split squad this weekend, with half the team racing at ECAC/IC4S and the other half of the team traveling to the University of Virginia for the pre-national championship course preview,” women’s head coach Taryn Sheehan explained to the News. “The group running at ECAC will have a great opportunity to preview what will actually be the same course we will run at for the Northeast regional championship. The athletes racing in Virginia will have an opportunity to see some teams from outside of our region on a national scale.”

At the meet in Charlottesville, Virginia, featuring the same course as the NCAA Championships and formally called the “XC23 (Pre National) Invitational,” many recognizable names from around the country will be present. The women’s lineup features 42 teams from all over the country. Teams from all five “power conferences” will be there, as well as Ivy League rivals Cornell and Dartmouth. The men’s lineup stacks up similarly, albeit with only 39 teams.

Last season, neither the men’s nor women’s team sent runners to Nationals. Men’s team captain Sean Kay ’24 led the charge last season for the Bulldogs as a junior at the NCAA regional meet, placing 19th, and Claire Archer ’26 placed 30th in the women’s stampede as a first year. Across the nine NCAA regions, 38 total runners get an “at large” bid to the National Championship as well as the top two teams from each region. When asked about how his team’s attitude is shifting as the postseason approaches, Kay said his team is not focused on it.

“We have some younger guys heading to IC4A championships this week and they’re really excited about going against some Ivy League Rivals,” Kay wrote to the News. “Our attitude hasn’t shifted too much from the start of the season, [and] we’ve done a great job of sticking to the routine and taking each day at a time. Our approach to races is the same way. It’s an opportunity to show the league the work we have been consistently doing since the summer.”

While the more experienced runners will get a preview of the national championship course, the rest of the squad will head to the Bronx borough of New York City, home of the ECAC and IC4A Cross Country Championships. As Kay mentioned, this meet attracts many Ivy League Rivals — last year, it featured five of the eight — so it will be a good opportunity for the team to gauge its competition for the Ivy League Championships, or “Heps,” short for Heptagonals, that are coming down the pipe at the end of this month.

When asked about how the women’s squad’s attitudes are shifting as the season progresses, Kathryn Rodrigues ’24 said her team is ready to show off their hard work.

“The team has shown great depth at the past few races and we are continuing to improve as a group each week,” Rodrigues wrote to the News. “With Ivies approaching, we are getting more and more excited to show all the hard work we have been putting in.”

After this weekend, the Bulldogs will have one more meet on Oct. 20, at Central Connecticut State University before Ivies on Oct. 28.

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Familiar faces led both teams to victory, continuing their success — on both the team level and individual level — into the third meet of the season. For the men’s team, it was their second win in three competitions, with the other being a second place finish in which many of the team’s upperclassmen did not compete.

“The team is really encouraged about the start of the year thus far,” Sean Kay ’24, the men’s team captain, wrote to the News. “This is the best start that I’ve seen while being here at Yale, and it is a result not only of each of our guys being extremely committed to their role, but also the dedication and expertise of our Coach Matt Gutridge. We got the job done down at Paul Short with some Regional Rivals in attendance, but now it’s back to the drawing board to continue to improve. The team knows this was just a stepping stone on our way to Ivies.”

In the men’s 8K, the team was led by Owen Karas ’26, who set a 46-second personal record at 24:14, a 4:52 mile pace, placing him eighth. Following behind him was men’s captain Kay who came in close behind at 24:17, placing him 12th. Closing out the pack were Varun Oberai ’25, Leo Brewer ’25 and Kenan Pala ’26, finishing all within four seconds of each other at 24:31, 24:33 and 24:35, respectively. All five scoring runners — only the top five runners score for each team — finished within 21 seconds of each other, a testament not only to the depth but the teamwork and camaraderie of this men’s team.

Karas, who hails from Columbus, Ohio, said that this was a big step forward for him in terms of confidence in high pressure situations, notching a win in such a high pressure meet. Karas, self-described as a nervous and immature racer, told the News that he never had much success in important high school meets, but he is looking to change that going forward this season for the Bulldogs.

“Getting the win this weekend was a great step forward,” Karas wrote to the News. “The Paul Short Invitational is a large meet, and a win there has earned us some respect from the other teams in our region. We displayed our depth with all of our top five runners placing within 21 seconds of each other.”

On the women’s side of events, the Bulldogs also were led by the duo of senior captain and aspiring young gun, with captain Kyra Pretre ’24 leading the Elis with a 6K PR of 21:02, placing her 27th overall in a race of 393 participants, and first year Hebe Chadwick ’27 notching another impressive finish in only her second collegiate race, finishing with a time of 21:42 and placing 97th overall. Following only 0.3 seconds behind Chadwick was Linde Fonville ’26, who placed 98th overall with a time of 21:43.

Rounding out the women’s top five were Charlotte Whitehurst ’26 and Sophia Karperos ’24, both setting PR’s with times of 21:50 and 22:14, 43-second and 14-second PR’s, respectively.

Women’s head coach Taryn Sheehan acknowledged many of her runners’ strong performances but noted that the team has a lot left in the tank.

“The women definitely have a lot left in the tank,” Sheehan wrote to the News. “I think what has us excited for what’s to come is that despite being a bit muddy and slower day on the course at Lehigh we had a number of personal bests over 6k by Linde Fonville, Sophia Karperos, Kyra Pretre and Charlotte Whitehurst. Not to mention solid 6k debuts by Anna Chamberlin and our two first years Hebe Chadwick and Daniella Henderson. The women are looking forward to getting back to work and knowing a lot can happen in the next 4-6 weeks.”

The Bulldogs race next at the IC4A, which is the men’s competition, and the ECAC Cross Country Championships, the women’s competition. They are both held in New York at Van Cortlandt Park, the site of last year’s Ivy League Championships, which is fast approaching at the end of this month. 

Men’s team captain Kay told the News that he has high hopes.

“The goal is obviously to continue to improve and remain as injury free as possible as we get towards Ivies,” Kay wrote to the News. “If that happens, I think this team can be a top 3 team in the League if not better. I don’t want to limit our guys; I know what we can do on that day can be special.”

Last year at the IC4A and ECAC Cross Country Championships, the women’s team came 16th out of 34 teams and the men’s team came 5th out of 31. 

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The Bulldogs’ first meet of the year will kick off right here in Connecticut, with “Big Three” Ivy League rivals Harvard and Princeton coming in town to face off against the Eli’s. Having put in the hard work this summer, the Yalies are ready to see what they can accomplish this season.

“After a consistent summer of solid training and hard work, the team is confident and prepared for anything this fall,” Kathryn Rodrigues ’24 wrote to the News. “We are so excited to host our first meet of the season on September 9th and are looking forward to the Ivy League Championships later in the season.”

Coming off solid finishes in the Ivy League tournament last season, with the men’s squad finishing fifth out of eight and the women’s team sixth out of just as many, the Bulldogs are looking to build on last season day-by-day amid an increasingly competitive Ivy League.

A majority of the women’s team is returning this year, including Claire Archer ’26, one of the top finishers in the Northeast region last fall, Kyra Pretre ’24, NCAA qualifier last spring in the steeplechase who will fill the captain’s role this year and seniors Rodrigues and Sophia Karperos ’24. In addition, the team is carrying ten returning second years who now have a year of collegiate experience under their belt.

“There’s no question the women put in really good work over the summer, and I am excited to see where we will be down the stretch into October and November,” Taryn Sheehan, the women’s team’s head coach, wrote to the News. “I think in some areas we are a deeper team than in years past, but the rest of the Ivy League has also improved significantly in the past few years, so it will make for some exciting races.”

On the men’s side, the team returns with nearly their full squad from last year, losing senior leaders including Richard Sturtevant ’23 and former Captain Cade Brown ’23. Significant contributors for the Bulldogs last year returning this season include Leo Brewer ’25, Owen Karas ’26, Calvin Katz ’25, and Sean Kay ’24. Seven new first years will also be joining the team.

One name to look out for this season is Kenan Pala ’26, a consistent contributor on the team last year who represented the U.S. Men’s National Team at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships. Pala finished as the USA’s second-highest finisher and placed 22nd overall against some of the world’s best under-20 distance runners.

“To represent my country on the trails would be to represent what my parents immigrated for: the chance to prove how much success is possible with a focused and determined mindset,” Pala wrote to Yale Athletics. “It is an incredible honor and a dream come true.”

Yale kicks off their season on Sept. 9, and they will compete in meets throughout the Northeast and East Coast leading up to the Ivy League Championships on Oct. 28 in Boston.

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Both teams brought home ninth place finishes in competitive fields. Out of 37 teams, the women’s squad finished in front of Stony Brook University, Cornell University and Brown University. In a pool of 33 teams, the men came in one spot ahead of Dartmouth College and two spots ahead of Columbia University. Neither team will advance to the national championship. 

“Advancing out of the region to the national meet is a very difficult task in Cross Country, as only the top two teams are guaranteed to move on,” Cade Brown ’23 told the News. “We did not advance, but like I said previously, I couldn’t be more proud of the effort the team gave.”

The women’s cross country squad ranked No. 14 in the Northeast before this race. Overall, the team earned 302 points throughout the meet to land in the top 10.

Kosana Weir ’23 led the pack for the women’s team with an impressive eighth place finish out of a heat of 252 of the Northeast’s best collegiate runners. Claire Archer ’26 followed in 30th, Samantha Friborg ’23 in 78th, Kyra Pretre ’24 in 83rd and Carmel Fitzgibbon ’26 in 103rd. 

“I feel bittersweet about my individual performance,” Weir wrote to the News. “At the start of the season, I set a goal to be All-Region, meaning finishing in the top 25. I came eighth and this was probably the best cross country race of my life, but it ultimately meant I was only one place away from qualifying for the national championship, so that is really frustrating.”

On the men’s side of the competition, Sean Kay ’24 led the Bulldogs by finishing 19th overall out of 227 runners. Owen Karas ’26 had the Bulldogs’ second-best results with a 45th place finish while Leo Brewer ’25, Cade Brown ’23 and Varun Oberai ’25 closed out the scoring for the Bulldogs with 48th, 50th and 65th place finishes, respectively.

Although the men’s squad noted that they hoped for a better finish, Karas emphasized some points of the team’s performance this past weekend.

“We are excited to consider ninth place to be a disappointing finish as it bodes well for greater improvements in the near future,” Karas wrote to the News. “Although it is a competitive region, we feel confident that we can contend for a spot next year as six of our seven regional racers will be returning.”

This season marks the end of the collegiate cross country careers of three seniors on Yale’s teams: Friborg, Weir and Brown. Finished with their time in Blue and White cross country uniforms, the runners have their sights set on the winter indoor track and spring outdoor track seasons.

“My time in a Yale uniform is not finished just yet,” Brown wrote to the News. “It’s been one of the greatest honors of my life to be the captain of xYc, and I look forward to finishing out my Yale athletic career with my incredible teammates in the coming seasons.”

The indoor track season kicks off on Dec. 10th in New Haven, Conn. with the Yale Season Opener at Coxe Cage.

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On Oct. 28, all eight Ivy League men’s and women’s cross country teams faced off at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx to compete in the league’s championship race. With conditions ideal for running, several individual finishes stood out with notable results amidst a competitive field.

“The Ivy League is one of the most competitive cross country championships in the country,” women’s head coach Taryn Sheehan told the News. “The depth of the competition this week continues to get better every year and this year solidified that. We had some very good individual performances this weekend that we are very proud of.”

On the women’s side, the top individual performers for the Bulldogs were Kosana Weir ’23 and rookie Claire Archer ’26, finishing 15th and 16th out of a field of 87 runners, respectively. Following them and rounding out the scoring for Yale were Kathryn Rodrigues ’24, Carmel Fitzgibbon ’26, and Samantha Friborg ’23, finishing 31st, 34th and 41st, respectively.

Coach Sheehan was particularly proud of her senior runners, but also expressed excitement about the future and youth of the program.

“Kosana Weir and Sam Friborg had really strong performances as they have consistently done all season, in their final cross country Ivy League Championship,” Sheehan told the News. “I am really excited about the youth we have on this team. First years Claire Archer and Carmel Fitzgibbon also had very strong performances and showed great poise in a very high pressure situation.”

As for the men’s competition, the Elis were led by Sean Kay ’24, who finished in an impressive seventh place out of 84 runners. Trailing them were Cade Brown ’23, Owen Karas ’26, Leo Brewer ’25 and Varun Oberai ’25, placing 22nd, 26th, 31st and 33rd, respectively.

Despite Kay’s notable finish that won him his first first-team All-Ivy distinction, the men’s team had their sights set higher going into the weekend, hoping for a top-three finish.

“We as a team are disappointed with our result,” Brown wrote to the News. “The quality of training we have put in this season and the results we have gotten in earlier races had us aiming for the top half of the League at the very least, ideally finishing within the top 3.”

This was the second time at Van Cortlandt Park for both teams this year. Both squads raced there in the ECAC and IC4A championships on Oct. 14. However, although held in the same park, the Ivy League Championship’s course was not the same.

Notoriously challenging, the course for this weekend’s meet was much hillier and harder to navigate than the last, making it difficult to execute a race strategy.

“Although being at the same location, this course had a different layout than IC4A’s,” Kay wrote to the News. “This course is much more challenging with way more elevation gain and much less room to navigate for most of the course.”

Both teams will send seven runners to the NCAA Regional Meet on Nov. 11 and run again at Van Cortlandt Park in yet another variation of the course.

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Friday’s race saw the top five placers for both the men’s and women’s squads all setting personal-best times. As the cross country season begins to heat up, the coaches have set their sights ahead, wanting to improve even more in hopes of destroying Yale’s Ivy League competition.

“At this stage of the season, I am less worried about the results and more focused on the improvement in execution as we prepare for the Ivy League Championships at the end of October,” men’s coach Matt Gutridge wrote to the News. “The group understands that this was just one of the many steps on the way to the bigger goals they are pursuing.”

The men’s team clinched an impressive eighth place finish out of 46 teams. The top five scorers, Cade Brown ’23, Varun Oberai ’25, Sean Kay ’24, Richard Sturtevant ’23 and Stephen Moody ’24 all beat personal record times by at least a minute. 

Oberai attributed the fast times to a combination of competition, training and teamwork. 

“From a times standpoint, this year was particularly competitive, as we saw several runners go under the previous course record, and more than a hundred runners dip under 24:00 minutes for the 8km distance,” Oberai wrote to the News. “The teamwork in combination with our physical preparation helped us all compete well in a very strong field.”

The women’s team scored a top-half finish of 23rd out of 46, with multiple runners also setting personal bests. Kathryn Rodrigues ’24 led the team with a 93rd place finish, and coming in behind her were Kosana Weir ’23 at 102nd, Claire Archer ’26 at 128th, Kyra Pretre ’24 at 156th, and Miranda Lorsbach ’26 at 220th. 

Rodrigues, Weir and Pretre all set personal bests, while Archer and Lorsbach were competing in their first collegiate six kilometer race. Rodrigues, who finished over a minute faster than her past performance at last year’s Paul Short Run, credits her success to both her offseason training and her trust in her coach.

“Since last winter, I’ve been training at much higher mileage,” Rodrigues wrote to the News. “It took my body a long time to adjust to the intensity of running 10+ miles a day, but I’m so glad that it is finally starting to pay off … the key for me was trusting my coach and consistently keeping at it for almost a year even when it didn’t seem promising.”

With so many collegiate career PRs, the runners had a lot to be excited about this past weekend. Their coaches, however, have their sights set straight ahead.

Both Gutridge and the women’s coach, Taryn Sheehan, expressed concern for the Ivy League Championships at the end of this month.

The women’s team finished two spots ahead of Columbia, who finished 25th, and well ahead of Cornell, who finished 44th. However, they fell short to Princeton at ninth, Dartmouth at 15th and Penn at 18th.

The men’s squad edged out Cornell and Dartmouth, who came in right behind at ninth and tenth. Further behind them came Penn and Columbia at 14th and 31st, respectively. 

“We beat all the other Ivy League teams in the competition so that is always a good result,” Sean Kay ’24 wrote to the News.

Both teams race next on Oct. 14 in the Bronx at the IC4A Cross Country Championships ahead of the Ivy League Championships at the end of this month.

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