Yale Athletics

The Yale men’s and women’s cross country teams capped off their 2022 season at the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet in the Bronx’s Van Cortlandt Park on Friday. 

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.