University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut


American Athletic Conference Championship
Huskies Take 3rd at Rain Soaked AAC Title Race
10/25/2018 2:21:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The UConn men's cross country team came in third place at the 2018 American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championship held on Thursday at the Golf Club at Audubon Park in New Orleans. A pair of Huskies captured All-AAC honors with top-15 finishes in senior captain Patrick Begley (Suffield, Conn.) and senior Kyle Brackman (Berkeley Heights, N.J.)
The four-time defending champion Tulsa Golden Hurricane took home their fifth-straight title with 32 total points. The Temple Owls were second with 51 points followed by the Huskies with 91 points. Defending race champion Emmanuel Rotich of the host Tulane Green Wave successfully defended his title by beating the field with a time of 27:06.10 on a rain soaked 8k course.
"It was a tough, tough day," stated head coach Greg Roy. "The wet conditions dictated they switch up the course, so it ran a little longer, adding some extra time on to everyone. It was just so soft out there, just a tough day to compete.  But still a heck of a race."
"A the 2k mark, we were a little back and at the end of first loop, you can see Tulsa was starting to pull it together," commented the head coach. "On the third loop, I thought we really started moving well and we just had to use a lot of energy I think to catch up. Tulsa is really good, they have a talented team and Temple has done a great job, hats off to them."
Begley took a spot in the top-10 overall with a clocking of 27:54.58, good for ninth place. It is his second-consecutive season finishing in the top-10 and earning All-AAC honors. Brackman was in 13th place overall, his best-ever finish at the AAC title race. He finished in a time of 28:13.86 to also capture all-conference accolades for the second-straight season.
Rounding out the UConn top-five finishers was r-sophomore Eric van der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) in 19th place, his best-ever finish at the race, clocking in at 28:35.47. Sophomore Sean Parker (Bridgewater, Conn.) was 23rd overall with a time of 28:49.51, his first time running in the conference championship. Junior James Mas (Trumbull, Conn.) was 27th overall with a time of 28:55.65.
"I'm not disappointed in them at all; I am disappointed for them," stated Roy. "They represented their teammates, the program and the athletic department really well today. Just a great bunch of guys."
The Huskies will next be in action on Friday, November 9 when they take part in the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship up in Buffalo, N.Y.