Yale Springtime Invitational: Women's results and splits

During the 3,000-meter run, as the wind whipped and ominous dark clouds loomed – in other words, typical weather for this Yale meet – I was bemoaning to several team members the fact that the weather generally is poor for this meet, and the general vibe is one of a pre-championship letdown for all of us. We’ve been coming to this meet each and every year, and most years we walk away wondering why the weather sucked and the performances weren’t what we were hoping for, all the while eyeing the league championship meet in a matter of days. And then, as if on cue to prove the old man wrong (a daily occurrence, these days) … Gianna Tedeschi busted through all this old-coach negativity with a blazing kick in the 3,000-meter run, a breakthrough time of 9:59.92, which punches her ticket to the ECAC Championships in two weeks and the USATF Junior Championships in June. Wow! So much for the Yale negativity, huh? As you can see by the splits, Gianna has to bust out that kick due to midrace slow laps that were no fault of her own. The race just slowed down. She picked it up enough at the end to get the job done and we are thrilled for her. She’s a tough young runner and she earned the qualifying marks with that toughness.

Speaking of tough: How about senior Jenna Robinson’s hard-to-fathom double of 800 and 3km? She had a great 800 and a gutsy 3km. Neat. Jill Laliberte had a strong 800 as well, and overall the meet was indeed a fine tuneup for next week’s MAAC Championships. Upon boarding the warm bus after yet another chilly day, I announced (to myself, mostly) that it was time to stow away the winter cap. The weather’s gonna warm up this week, and we’re hoping for equally hot performances at the MAAC meet and beyond.

Yale Springtime Invitational

Sunday, April 29, 2018

New Haven, CT

Women’s results and splits

200-meter dash

7. Danisha Craig 26.34

400-meter dash

3. Debbie Boerke 59.58

10. Grace Cepeda 62.59

800-meter run

5. Jenna Robinson 2:18.48 (67.71 opening lap)

8. Jill Laliberte 2:21.49 (69 opening lap)

11. Christine Gambell 2:23.86 (69 opening lap)

13. Jess Howe 2:27.15 (71 opening lap)

1,500-meter run

5. Alyssa Lafave 4:48.38

74, 2:30 (76), 3:49 (79), 4:48.38 (59.38)

7. Boushra Belkhir 4:52.65

75, 2:31 (76), 3:50 (79), 4:52.65 (62.65)

29. Shannon Gildea 5:44.11

85.2, 2:58.7 (93.5), 4:34.9 (96.2), 5:44.11 (69.21)

3,000-meter run

2. Gianna Tedeschi 9:59.92 *ECAC and USATF Junior qualifier

77, 2:38 (81), 3:59 (81), 5:20 (81), 6:39 (79), 8:02 (83), 9:22 (80), 9:59.92 (37.92)

8. Jenna Robinson 10:32.34

78, 2:41 (83), 4:03 (82), 5:29 (86), 6:57 (88), 8:25 (88), 9:50 (85), 10:32.34 (42.34)

13. Talia Cutrone 11:07.70

84, 2:50 (86), 4:19 (89), 5:49 (90), 7:20 (91), 8:54 (94), 10:24 (90), 11:07.70 (43.70)

14. Ashley Wallace 11:14.50

87, 2:50 (83), 4:19 (89), 5:50 (91), 7:23 (93), 8:58 (95), 10:31 (94), 11:14.50 (43.50)