Head coach David Shoehalter, who has been with the Bulldogs since 1994, said this was the first time in recent memory that both the men’s and women’s squad have taken home head-to-head victories against their arch-rivals from Cambridge.

“Always good to beat our rivals, and it’s the first time both our men and women have won the meet in recent memory,” Shoehalter wrote to the News. “We still have a long way to go in the season but the results are improving and I am looking forward to what the second half of outdoor brings.”

On the men’s side of events, Nolan Recker ’26 and Chris Ward ’24 led the throws group. The former took first in the hammer throw with a PR of 58.24m and the latter took first in both the discus with a distance of 51.18m and shot put with a throw of 16.44m. Brian Di Bassinga ’26 led the rest of the field athletes with consecutive leaps totaling 14.66m in the triple jump, earning him first place.

On the track, Tanish Chettiar ’26 took first place in the 1500m with a time of 3:56.79, and Aaron Miller ’25 took first in the 400m with a time of 50.17 seconds. In the 200m, Jacob Kao ’25 blitzed his way to first place with a time of 21.64 seconds.

“I think we did what we needed to do,” men’s team captain Matt Appel ’24 wrote to the News. “They’re a super talented team with loads of star power, but we have really great depth on our squad and we showed it off this weekend. It’s a long season, and there’s still a lot of work to be done leading up to HEPs, but it always feels nice to get a win versus that team up North.”

On the women’s side of competition, the Bulldogs started off strong in the relays, with both the 4×100 and 4×400 teams taking first place with times of 48.29 seconds and 3:59.96, respectively. The 4×100 consisted of Sophie Spokes ’27, Makayla White ’26, Dominique Romain ’25 and Juliette Kosmont ’27 and the 4×400 consisted of Gloria Guerrier ’27, Bridget Vitu ’25, Peyton Parker ’25 and Molly Harding ’26. 

Meanwhile, in the individual events, Gloria Guerrier also took home first place in the 400m hurdles with a PR of 1:04.38, and fellow first year Kalista Villatoro ’27 earned gold in the 800m with a time of 2:15.93. Rounding out the track victories was Sophia Karperos ’25, who earned the top spot in the steeplechase with a time of 11:35.19. 

In the field events, Romain earned herself another gold medal in the long jump with a 5.60m leap, and Abrianna Barrett ’24 took first in the high jump with a 1.68m clearance.

“We had quite a few good performances on the women’s side this past weekend,” assistant coach Connor Shannahan wrote to the News. “As is expected from early April outdoor meets, the weather was less than ideal, however it is always exciting to get a win over our rivals. We are looking to keep the momentum going this weekend as the team travels to invites at both Princeton and UConn.”

The Bulldogs will compete next at two meets this upcoming weekend, Princeton’s Larry Ellis Invitational and UConn’s Northeast Challenge. Both will take place on Friday and Saturday, April 12-13.

The post TRACK AND FIELD: Bulldogs defeat Harvard at home appeared first on Yale Daily News.

In their second weekend of the outdoor season, Yale’s men’s and women’s track and field teams sent their distance runners to compete in relays in Raleigh at NC State’s Raleigh Relays, while the rest of the two teams’ athletes stayed in Connecticut to compete at UConn in Hartford.

“Our group in Raleigh had some great early season performances, while those at UConn had the chance to reacclimate to northeast conditions,” said head coach David Shoehalter. “We are all looking forward to competing at home against Harvard this weekend.”

In the Raleigh Relays, there were no team scores, but several Bulldogs on both the men’s and women’s teams had strong performances. In the women’s competition, two Yalies broke the 17-minute threshold in the 5k, with Charlotte Whitehurst ’26 running a PR of 16:56.07, her first time under the 17:00 threshold, and Kyra Pretre ’24 running a 16:55.67. On the men’s side of competition, three Yalies PR’ed across three different events — Owen Karas ’26 with a 3:52.15 finish in the 1500m, Leo Brewer ’25 with a 13:55.22 in the 5k and Sean Kay ’24 with a 29:19.50 finish in the 10k.

Meanwhile, in the UConn Dog Fight Invite, the men’s team took fifth out of 10, and the women’s team took sixth out of a field of 11. 

The men’s team in Hartford had strong performances in a variety of events. As usual, Matt Appel ’24 shined among his throws group with a 52.49m hurl in the discus, and Chris Ward ’24 brought home a gold medal in the shot put with a 17.53m PR. Jake Sun ’26 earned the throws group a bronze medal in the hammer throw with a 57.03m toss, and Brian Di Bassinga also took home bronze in another field event, the triple jump, with three leaps that totaled 14.52m. 

In the sprints, Mason Evans ’26 PR’ed in the 100m dash with a time of 10.87 seconds, putting him just behind Yale’s top finisher in the event James Grindle ’25, who covered that same distance in 10.84 seconds. In the 200m dash, Isiah Udofia ’26, Aaron Miller ’25 and Cristian Pereira ’25 all broke the 22-second mark with times of 21.63, 21.88, and 21.98, with Udofia setting a personal best. Pereira, Jacob Kao ’25, Udofia and Grindle also secured second place in the 4x100m with a 42.99-second effort. 

“We had some really strong performances both at NC State and UConn,” men’s captain Appel wrote to the News. “The distance runners in Raleigh had really strong showings and we had promising performances in Storrs as well. As a whole, we feel like we are making good progress toward a spot that we will want to be at by the end of the year.”

The women’s team also had strong performances in throws, jumps, and sprints in Hartford. Maria Leskovec ’24 set a PR in the hammer with a 52.46m throw, and Charlie Williams ’26 set another PR in the event with a 41.80m throw. Emma Perretti ’27 also set two PR’s on the day, with a 12.94m toss in the shot put and a 37.51m throw in the discus. 

In the high jump, Abrianna Barrett ’24 took fourth with a 1.65m vertical leap. Meanwhile, on the track, Lola Isom ’27 finished sixth in the 400m hurdles with a 1:05.06 PR, Sophie Spokes broke the 25-second mark in the 200m with a 7th place 24.99m finish, and Ella Mainwaring Foster ’24 took home third place in the 400m with a time of 57.36 seconds.

The Bulldogs will compete next at home against Ivy League rival Harvard on Saturday, April 6 in Coxe Cage. 

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Although there were no team scores for the weekend, the Yalies got a taste of top-level competition, competing against teams from the Big 10 and ACC, including Clemson, Penn State, Villanova and West Point. Several Bulldogs earned podium honors following the two-week break from classes which gave them even more time to focus on training.

“We were able to take full advantage of great weather and had a great week of training,” head coach David Shoehalter wrote to the News. “Lots of adjustments when you move outdoors especially in the field events. The wind can be a major factor and adjustments need to be made on the fly. We use these early meets to gauge those adjustments”.

On the men’s side, captain Matt Appel ’24 led the way in the field events while a full squad of distance runners dominated on the track. Appel took first overall in the discus with a hurl of 56.32m, blowing away the second-place thrower from West Point by over two meters. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs notched an incredible 1-5 punch in the 1500m run, with Owen Karas ’26, Winslow Atkeson ’25, Leo Brewer ’25, Brian Gamble ’27 and Braden King ’26 all finishing within three seconds of each other to earn first through fifth place. In the mid-distance events, Thomas Cirrito ’24 also impressed with a 1:49.22 PR in the 800m, earning him 5th place.

Appel, a senior who will be taking advantage of his final year of eligibility next year to compete for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the transition to the outdoor season provides the team with a special opportunity every year to bond over a spring break trip.

“We always take the opportunity to make the spring break training trip a bonding experience for the team,” Appel wrote to the News. “After bright and early practice, we were all getting meals together, going bowling and some of us even went to an Orlando Magic game! It’s a unique opportunity to be around only people on the team for a whole week without the pressure of school that doesn’t happen at any other point in the year and I think we made the most of it.”

The women’s team was led by Victoria Guerrier ’27 in the 800m, who took second place with a 2:06 PR. Several other athletes finished in the top 10 for the women’s team, including Linde Fonville ’26 setting a PR of 4:27.07 in the 1500m dash for a 4th place finish, Maria Leskovec ’24 setting a PR of 51.55m in the hammer throw for an 8th place finish and captain Bella Bergloff ’24 with a 44.14m throw in the discus for a 10th place finish.

While women’s captain Bergloff said she appreciated the opportunity to head back outdoors, she noted that the long week of training and bonding makes it hard to set expectations for the rest of the outdoor season.

“It was great to open up this past weekend at UCF, and be outside in good weather again,” Bergloff wrote to the News. “It can be hard to use this meet as a gauge for the rest of the season, as it was at the end of a tiring week in a new environment. But we got some great baseline marks, and I know everyone is super stoked to be competing outside again, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we’ll do over the next month or so.”

The team will compete next at the Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State University on Thursday, March 28, their outdoor season opener in 2023. They will also compete at the UConn Dog Fight Invite on Saturday, March 30.

The post TRACK AND FIELD: Bulldogs head outdoors appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Short for Intercollegiate Association for Amateur Athletes of America and the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the IC4A and ECAC Championships feature many division 1 schools from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the country. The Bulldogs sent a limited group of athletes to compete, with most athletes finishing their season at the Ivy League Indoor Track & Field Championships on Feb. 24 and 25.

“We made some strides forward during the indoor season and are ready to continue to improve as we move outdoors,” head coach David Shoehalter wrote to the News. “Our goals outdoors remain to improve on our finishes from last year. I am excited about the rest of the year and looking forward to getting started anew this week.”

On the men’s side of competition, the Bulldogs competed in the middle and long distance events. Owen Karas ’26 placed second overall in the mile with a time of 4:04.99, followed by teammates Braden King ’26 in fourth with a 4:08.31 finish and Brian Gamble ’27 in sixth with a 4:09.08 finish. All three earned All-East honors because of their top-eight finishes. Austin Montini ’25 also brought home a second-place finish with a time of 2:30.91 in the 1000m, and Thomas Cirrito ’24 brought home another fourth-place finish with a 1:50.23 time in the 800m. Kenan Pala ’26 secured another top-eight finish, taking seventh in the 3000m with a PR of 8:10.44.

In the men’s relays, the distance medley relay team finished in fourth with a 9:53.77 finish led by Ronan Luff ’27, Cirrito, Amare Fields ’27 and Tanish Chettiar ’26.

“At the IC4A championships, we had another shot at championship racing before the indoor season ended,” Karas wrote to the News. “Championship racing can be a unique experience as it is often a multi-day event with multiple races per athlete. Without sending a full squad, our team was still able to take fourth place overall in the meet. Our miler group was particularly excited as we secured four automatic qualifiers from prelim heats on Saturday. All four of us scored in the final on Sunday. Getting the extra championship racing experience will serve us well when the Ivy League outdoor championship arrives this spring.”

The women’s team only sent one athlete to compete, Linde Fonville ’26, who took ninth in the mile with a time of 5:00.46.

With the rest of the teams staying home this weekend, men’s team captain Matt Appel ’24 offered insight into his team’s attitude toward the conclusion of the indoor and the beginning of the outdoor seasons.

“I think Heps gave us a good reminder of the work that is still to be done for our team,” Appel wrote to the News. “We were close to something that we could be satisfied with, but starting with myself, points were left on the table across the board. I see this as an opportunity for us to double down on our efforts for the outdoor season so that we can end the year on a high note and be able to see how much we have grown. We were only one point off of 6th, and not far out of 5th which would be a 3 place jump as a team from last year. The attitude for this team going forward needs to be progress over perfection.”

The Bulldogs will kick off their outdoor season in Orlando, where they will head to the University of Central Florida to compete in the Knights Invite on March 22 and 23.

The post TRACK AND FIELD: Bulldogs finish indoor season appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Against their seven Ivy rivals, the Elis took home seventh in the men’s competition and eighth in the women’s competition. Many athletes set personal records and earned points for the Bulldogs, and three athletes — men’s team captain Matt Appel ’24, Brian Di Bassinga ’26 and Gloria Guerrier ’27 — notched top three finishes in their events. 

“There were some very good performances across the board, but we can’t be satisfied,” men’s head coach David Shoehalter wrote to the News. “There is a great deal of room for improvement, and I am confident that we will see big improvements moving forward.”

On the men’s side of events, Appel and Di Bassinga led the scoring for the Bulldogs, with Appel’s 18.13m hurl in the shot put earning him third and Di Bassinga’s 15.29m PR in triple jump earning the team a second bronze. Kit Colson ’25 came in next for the Bulldogs at fourth place in the 60m with a finish of 6.81 seconds. Thomas Cirrito ’24 also secured points for Yale, taking fifth in the 800m with a time of 1:50.98. Sean Kay ’24 took home seventh in the 5k with a 14:20.07 finish, a solid finish for the cross country team captain who earned a bid to NCAA Nationals in the fall. 

The men’s relays also performed strongly, with the distance medley relay, 4×880, and 4×440 teams all earning the Bulldogs points. Featuring Leo Brewer ’25, Cirrito, Owen Karas ’26 and Andrew Farr ’26, the distance medley relay team took fourth, as did the 4×880 team featuring Brian Gamble ’27, Calvin Katz ’25, Tanish Chettiar ’26 and Austin Montini ’25. The 4×440 team took sixth, featuring a squad of Jacob Kao ’25, Aaron Miller ’25, Colson and Simon Jupp ’25.

“We qualified a lot of people to the finals and did a decent job hanging in there with some tough competition,” Captain Appel wrote to the News. “I’m proud of all the men who scored, and am pleased with the effort the team put forward. As individualized as track and field can seem, the beauty of competing at the collegiate level is that at conference meets it is a team sport and everyone’s contribution counts. Over the weekend we, as a team, didn’t place how we wanted and we are going to double down for outdoors to get rid of that bitter taste in our mouths.”

On the women’s side of events, Guerrier led the team with a third-place finish in the 500m, clocking in at 1:13.04. Kyra Pretre ’24 had the next highest finish for the Bulldogs, earning fifth place in the mile with a time of 4:41.50. Linde Fonville ’26 earned sixth place finish in the 1000m, clocking in at 2:50.18, Juliette Kosmont ’27 took home sixth in the 60m with a 7.61-second finish, and Victoria Guerrer ’27 took home sixth in the 800m with a PR of 2:08.10. Team captain Isabella Bergloff ’24 earned eighth in the shot put with a PR of 13.57m. 

The women’s relays performed strongly, with the 4×880 team consisting of Fonville, Pretre, Molly Harding ’26 and Kalista Villatoro ’27 taking sixth and the 4×440 team consisting of Mira Thakur ’24, Bridget Vitu ’25, Gloria Guerrier and Victoria Guerrier took third. 

“Getting 8th place at Heps is never an ideal outcome, but there were some parts of the weekend that were promising for the years to come,” Captain Bergloff wrote to the News. “We saw more depth in our events than we’ve had in a while, with 7 individual athletes scoring, only two of which were seniors.”

The Bulldogs finish off their Indoor Season next weekend at the ECAC and IC4A Championships in Boston, Mass. on Friday, March 1 through Sunday, March 3. 

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This was the team’s fifth and final weekend of the indoor regular season. The team’s first meet took place in New Haven in early December, and the remaining four meets picked up where they left off in New Haven four weekends ago and continued without a break. After facing a mix of Connecticut and Ivy League opponents early in the season, the team has spent the past three weekends splitting up between Boston, New Haven and New York to find the best competition available. However, when they tie up their laces next time around, the field will be much narrower at the Ivy League Indoor Track and Field Championships in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“The atmosphere of HEPs is just, for lack of a better word, electric in the sense that everyone feels a different energy in the air,” men’s team captain Matt Appel ’24 wrote to the News, speaking of the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships. “The stakes are higher, the competition is better, but the light at the end of the tunnel is brighter. Some of the best performances of the entire year come out of HEPs, and it isn’t a coincidence.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams will head into “HEPs,” short for heptagonals, which reflects the fact that in the original Ivy League Championships there were only seven teams, coming off performances filled with personal bests and all-time top-10 finishes. 

On the men’s side of events, Isiah Udofia ’26 kicked the PR’s off with a 7.38 meter leap in the long jump, putting him at sixth on Yale’s all-time top performances. There were two more in the 60 meter dash, with Kit Colson ’25 snagging fourth on Yale’s all-time list with a finish of 6.80 seconds and Christian Pereira ’25 taking seventh all-time with a time of 6.83 seconds. 

In the middle distances, Colin Quinn ’25 and Aaron Miller ’25 performed similarly, finishing with PR’s of 47.68 and 47.81 seconds to take fourth and sixth on Yale’s all-time list, respectively. 

In the longer distances, Martin Riddell ’24 set a personal best with a 14:27 finish in the 5k, as did Leo Brewer ’25, Jack Sendek ’25 and Ronan Luff ’27 in the mile with 4:03, 4:10 and 4:12 finishes, respectively. Sean Kay ’24 also set a personal best in the 3k with an 8:06 finish good for 10th on Yale’s all-time list.

“Laying down some solid marks before HEPs definitely plays a role in boosting our confidence going into the big meet,” Appel wrote to the News. “Knowing what we did well leading up to those big marks helps but so does having two weeks to taper our training so we can peak when we need to.”

On the women’s side of events, first-year Juliette Kosmont ’27 broke a school record, running a 7.55 second 60 meter dash. She was the fourth first-year on the women’s team to break a school record this season. 

Meanwhile, in the mid-distance events, Molly Harding ’26 set a PR in the 400 meter with a 57.41-second finish, and Lola Isom ’27 set a PR in the 500 meter with a 1:16.45 finish. 

In longer distances, Kylie Goldfarb ’25 set a PR in the mile with a finish of 5:01.25, and Marina Carlos ’26 finished with a PR in the 3k with a time of 10:41.68. 

In the field events, Eileen Yang ’24 tied her PR with a 3.85m vault, and Sophie Wright ’24 set an 11.69m PR in the triple jump.

“The women had two competitive opportunities this weekend at the Valentine Invite in Boston and the Giegengack Invite at home at Coxe Cage,” women’s coach Taryn Sheehan wrote to the News. “It’s not always ideal to split up your team but as we head into championship season it’s imperative to make sure each of our athletes have the opportunities we need to be at their best.  The competitive environments proved to be fruitful on the women’s side as we had another record-breaking weekend for the women led by Juliette Kosmont setting a new school record in the women’s 60-meter dash with a time of 7.55.”

With HEPs not taking place until Feb. 24 and 25, the Bulldogs will have a weekend off to train and prepare for the meet. This will be their first weekend off since Jan. 13 and 14.

Women’s captain Isabella Bergloff ’24 provided some insight as to her team’s mindset and goals over these next two weeks.

“We put in a lot of work in the offseason and at the beginning of the season, there isn’t much more we can change in the next two weeks aside from trusting that everything we’ve been doing will set us up for success,” Bergloff wrote to the News. “We are going to work to maintain what we’ve been doing and really emphasize recovery, and use the atmosphere of a big meet to see some record performances to cap off our indoor season.”

Following the Ivy League Indoor Championships, the Bulldogs will continue their indoor postseason at the ECAC/IC4A Championships at Boston University on March 1 through 3 followed by the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the TRACK at New Balance, also in Boston, on March 8 and 9.

The post TRACK AND FIELD: Yale wraps up indoor regular season appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The teams were split between two meets, with many of both the men’s and women’s teams’ throwers at Harvard’s Crimson Elite on Friday, Feb. 2, and most of the teams’ runners right across the Charles River at Boston University’s Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational. With a number of personal records and top-10 all-time school finishes across both the men’s and women’s teams, the Bulldogs continued to steadily improve upon their performances in anticipation of the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships, also known as Heps.

“Lots of progress across all event groups this past week,” Yale track and field coach David Shoehalter wrote to the News. “We look to continue that good work this weekend at home Saturday at the Giegengack Invitational and back at BU for the Valentine Invite.” 

On the men’s team, a collection of strong performers were led by Nolan Recker ’26 and Winslow Atkeson ’25. At Harvard on Friday, Recker broke a 37-year school record in the weight throw with a hurl of 20.39m, earning him a second-place finish that was just 0.15m behind the gold medal winner from University of Connecticut. Alongside Recker at the Scarlet & White Invitational, Isiah Udofia ’26 also had himself a day with two personal records — a 7.27m long jump, which earned him fifth place, and a 7.04-second finish in the 60m dash. 

On Saturday at Boston University, Atkeson had the showcase finish for the Bulldogs, breaking four minutes in the mile with a 3:59.39 finish, putting him third on Yale’s all-time list. Also setting PR’s for the Bulldogs, though, were Kit Colson ’25 with a 21.87 second finish in the 200m, Isiah Udofia with his third PR of the weekend in the form of a 22.13-second 200m, Andrew Farr ’26 with a 1:05 finish in the 500m, Owen Karas ’26 and Calvin Katz ’25 with 4:03 and 4:05 finishes in the mile, respectively, and Leo Brewer ’25 and Karas with 8:05 and 8:08 finishes in the 3k. Brewer and Karas’ finishes placed them sixth and ninth on Yale’s all-time lists.

“I think the team is starting to figure out who we are and we need to stay healthy and keep moving in the right direction,” men’s team captain Matt Appel ’24 wrote to the News. “About this point in the season is when we start honing in on HEPS making sure we’re in the position we need to be in to make our final preparations count.”

Meanwhile, the women’s team had similarly strong finishes across the two meets. At Harvard on Friday, Lucija Grd ’27 kicked things off in the 60m hurdles with an 8.57-second finish, just 0.01 seconds off of her PR, which happens to also be the school record. In the field events, Eileen Yang ’24 vaulted herself over a 3.62m-high bar, closing in on her PR of 3.85m, and Maria Leskovec ’24 closed in on her PR in the weight throw with a 17.39m toss.

Across the Charles on Saturday, Mira Thakur ’24 set a PR in the 400m with a 56.51-second finish, putting her fifth on Yale’s all-time list, and another in the 200m with a time of 24.98 seconds, putting her ninth on Yale’s all-time list. Women’s team captain Bella Bergloff ’24 specifically highlighted Thakur’s leadership thus far into the season. Right behind her was Sophie Spokes ’27 with her own PR of 25.68 seconds. In the slightly longer 500m, Bridget Vitu ’25 set a PR of 1:15.39, and Alexandra Bonn ’27 set one of her own in the triple jump with successive leaps accumulating 11.75m. As women’s coach Taryn Sheehan explained, these performances and many others combined for a number of cracks to the Yale all-time top-10 leaderboards.

“Our women’s side took some big leaps forward this past weekend,” Sheehan wrote to the News. “A number of women etched their names into the top 10 All Time lists, including: Dominique Romain in long jump, Juliette Kosmont in the 60m dash, Victoria Guerrier in the 500m run, Gloria Guerrier in the 400m, Alex Bonn in the triple jump, Bharathi Subbiah in the triple jump, Makayla Harris in the weight throw.”

On Saturday, Feb. 10, the teams will split up once more next weekend between Boston University’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational and Yale’s own home meet at Coxe Cage, the 17th Giegengack Invitational. These are their last two meets before Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held the weekend of Feb. 24-25 in Cambridge, Mass. at Gordon Indoor Track.

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From red roses to tulips, lilies to orchids and carnations to gerbera daisies, demand for local flowers will soar as Yalies and New Haven residents look to local florists to meet their needs. A few of these florists shared details about how they source and sell flowers during this peak season, and a local collective of flower farmers shared some insights as to how flower farming is nourished throughout the state.

BLOOM, a local multi-purpose retail space that participates in floristry, prioritizes supporting local farmers and sustainable agriculture in their business model. Focusing on the freshest and most vibrant flowers from local suppliers, BLOOM selects for quality, color and fragrance before arranging them into bouquets that are given as gifts throughout the city.

“BLOOM carefully selects the freshest and most vibrant flowers from trusted farmers and suppliers,” Alisha Crutchfield, owner of BLOOM, wrote to the News. “I believe in supporting local communities and sustainable agriculture.”

In addition to setting high standards for its flowers, BLOOM, which is located on Edgewood Ave. in Westville, prioritizes sustainability in its production process. According to Crutchfield, BLOOM strives to minimize waste and ensure eco-friendly practices are followed, including using biodegradable materials for packaging and sourcing flowers from sustainable farms. 

Mae Flower and Gift Shop, another local florist situated in Dixwell, spoke more about the strategic aspects of meeting the high demand during the Valentine’s Day season.

“Mae flower sources flowers for Valentine’s Day by collaborating with multiple suppliers, flower farms and distributors to meet the increased demand,” Nethia Joyner of Mae Flower wrote to the News. “We also engage in advance planning, secure contracts and maintain strategic partnerships to ensure an ample supply of fresh flowers during peak seasons.”

Winters in New Haven are bitter and dark, though, so flower farming isn’t easy in the months leading up to Valentine’s Day.

The CT Flower Collective, a group of flower farmers across the state established in 2019 to promote local sourcing, said that they do not grow flowers for much of the winter season.

“We are closed for the season from December-March, but offer dried flowers throughout the year which are usually popular to stock up on in the fall to use for the winter season holidays,” Jill Shea, the manager of CT Flower Collective, or CTFC, wrote to the News. “Our earliest big flower holiday to provide local flowers for is Mother’s Day.”

During the warmer months, the CTFC sells flowers to the public on Thursdays and Fridays and holds several community building and appreciation events throughout the season. They also promote unity amongst their member farms through a community message board, social media and design tutorials.

Because it is difficult to meet the Valentine’s Day flower needs in New Haven with only local farmers, florists have to do what they can to ensure wider product access, Crutchfield of BLOOM said.

“In addition to local farms, I also partner with international suppliers who provide unique and exotic flowers that add a touch of extraordinary beauty to our arrangements,” Crutchfield wrote to the News. “I take pride in offering a wide variety of flowers, from classic favorites to rare and exotic blooms, ensuring that there is something special for every customer.”

Crutchfield also highlighted the personalized level of detail that goes into BLOOM’s bouquets, adding that BLOOM tailors flowers, colors and blends to fit each customer’s preferences. 

Valentine’s Day is next Wednesday, Feb. 14.

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With no more team-scored indoor meets until the Ivy League Indoor Track & Field Championships in February, the Elis got a taste of broader competition last weekend after having primarily faced Ivy League and other Connecticut opponents thus far. Among the teams Yale faced off against last week were Ivy League rivals University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College, west coasters Arizona and Stanford University, and northerners Toronto and Maine. They also got experience on a track that they hope to return to later this season.

“This weekend we went up to the North to the new Track at New Balance,” women’s coach Taryn Sheehan wrote to the News. “It gave our athletes a great opportunity to compete in the same building that will be host to the indoor NCAA Championships in March.”

On the men’s side of events, the sprinters started the day with some strong showings. Simon Jupp ’25 led the charge in the 400m, breaking the 50-second barrier with a 49.87-second finish, and Colin Quinn ’25 did the same in the 500m, taking second place overall with a Yale all-time top 10 finish of 1:03.29. Additionally, Jacob Kao ’25 and Kit Colson ’25 both placed second in their heat in the 200m, with Kao breaking the 22-second barrier at 21.99 and Colson clocking in not far off at 22.33.

 In the field events, captain Matt Appel ’24 finished third in the weight throw with a 19.13m hurl, and in the relays, Kao, Quinn, Andrew Farr ’26 and Aaron Miller ’25 teamed up for a 3:14.30 finish, nearly cracking Yale’s all-time top 10 list.

“I think this meet, like every other meet, gave us more insights into what we need to do as a team to be more successful,” captain Matt Appel wrote to the News. “Overall I’m satisfied with the performances we put up this week with the understanding that there is always more work to do. I do want to draw special attention to the men’s 4×4, who ran a great time with fantastic individual efforts on all four legs and beat Arizona’s 4×4 team and took a meet W.”

On the women’s side of events, Lucija Grd ’27 kicked things off for the Bulldogs, picking things up right where they left off. She finished with an 8.64-second clocking in the 60m hurdles, putting her right outside of her own school record set last week. Kyra Pretre ’24 and Claire Archer ’26 kept the pace up in the mile, taking first and second place with 4:52.83 and 4:53.82 efforts, respectively. Hebe Chadwick ’27 also set a PR in the 3000m with a 9:41.32 effort that placed her fifth. Among other strong performers were the Guerrier twins, with Gloria ’27 taking fourth at 55.86 in the 400m and Victoria ’27 taking second at 1:15.67 in the 500m. Fellow first-year Kalista Villatoro ’27 took fourth in the 800m with a finish of 2:13.10.

While most of the Bulldogs were in Boston, a few of their teammates, including Sean Kay ’24, Kenan Pala ’26 and Varun Oberai ’25, traveled to Columbia’s Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge, where Kay and Pala established PR’s and all three finished within the top eight of 19 runners.

Yale looks to continue to build upon strong performances next weekend when they return to Boston for the second of three straight weeks to compete at both Harvard’s Crimson Elite and Boston University’s Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational.

“We continue to focus on improving Heps through getting our athletes the training and experience they need,” head coach David Shoehalter wrote to the News. “This weekend, most of the team will head to Boston University, but we’re sending the men’s throwers to Harvard where they’ll benefit from better facilities. Additionally, after two straight weekends of competition, the women’s middle and long distance squads will take the weekend off to rest.”

After Friday, Feb. 2 at Harvard’s Crimson Elite and Saturday, Feb. 3 at Boston University’s Scarlet and White Invitational, the team will head back to BU for a two-day meet on Friday, Feb. 9 through Saturday, Feb. 10 for the David Hemery Valentine Invitational.

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