Bulldogs Open Season in Style at the Yale Season Opener

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Yale’s men’s track and field team opened their 2023 indoor track campaign in promising fashion Saturday at Yale’s Season Opener. This meeting, an annual staple on Elis’ calendar, has been a motivational date throughout the semester, the focal point of most of the training that has taken place over the last few months and a great opportunity for the Bulldogs to gauge how that training is paying off before winter break.

The usually cold December conditions made the athletes grateful to be able to compete indoors for the first time this season. For some of them, it was even their first time competing on the board. But that didn’t stop the Bulldogs from putting up some very impressive performances throughout the encounter.

The pitch was set at the start of the day by Yale’s pitching contingent. While the crowd may have looked confused given the 9:00 start time, the Bulldogs were anything but enjoying the junior’s resounding 1-2 streak. Matt Apple and first year Nolan Recker in a weight throw, both sailed over the 18m mark. Appel then won a shot that was nearly one-and-a-half meters from 17.64m. Yale’s success in the field events continued with first-year wins in the long jump and triple jump. In the former Isaiah Udofia collected a dominant victory thanks to a jump of 6.64m, while the latter Brian Di Bassinga needing just one successful jump of 14.42m on his way to winning over 1.60m. Both athletes will definitely be the ones to watch in the coming years after their impressive debuts.

sophomore Jacob Cao and first year Andrew Farr carried momentum across the course as they went 1-3 in the 300m with times of 34.72 and 35.47 respectively, with Kao taking a narrow win by just 0.04 seconds. A few minutes earlier, junior Aaron Cullen had battled his way to a time of 4:34,46 and barely a third of the mile. Over the shorter distance, Yale fielded four men in the 60m final after enjoying a second-place finish to the sophomores. Zakaria Nfaoui in the 60m hurdles. Nfaoui ran a time of 8.67, while in second grade it was a flat 60m Kit Colson dash to star victory in just 6.97 seconds. Written by Nweke, Justin wrote and James Grindel followed him home in third, seventh and eighth.

Yale also posted some impressive performances in the middle distance event. Young Thomas Cirito tied for third in the 500m with a finish of 1:06.18, while her training partner Prince Drake, Elon Abergel and Austin Montini having a fierce battle among themselves at 1000m. In the end, despite a quick finish from Abergel, Prince was able to keep the win in 2:25.39. In the last individual event of the day, first year acquaintance Chettiar cruised to victory in the 3000m in 8:54.07.

As usual, the meeting ended with a series of relay races. The Bulldogs fielded three teams in the 4x400m relay, and showed great depth as they placed second, third and fourth overall, all in 3:25 or less. The results of the relay symbolize competition day for Yale. Many athletes toed the line, and many enjoyed successful results, but the team left the game hungry for more. They’ll be home soon for the winter, staying motivated and ready to get back to work before heading back to campus next month. Look for the Bulldogs to show improvement as the season progresses. Next up is the Yale Icebreaker on Jan. 14.

Full results from Saturday’s opener can be found here. Photos are here.