Yale Athletics

This weekend at the Heps, the women’s cross country team finished sixth of the eight Ivies while the men’s team placed fifth.

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.