University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener
Huskies Kick-Off Indoor Season at BU
11/30/2018 11:13:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
Watch on FloTrack | ResultsÂ
STORRS, Conn. – The UConn men's track and field team will open up the 2018-19 indoor season this weekend competing at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University on Saturday afternoon. The Huskies also announced that seniors Patrick Begley (Suffield, Conn.) and Malik Snead (Trenton, N.J.) have been named team captains for the 2018-19 indoor season.
"Two of the toughest competitors we've had here in a long time," commented head coach Greg Roy. "Both Patrick and Malik are great kids and great students who lead by example. They walk the walk, don't need to talk the talk."
Most of the Huskies' roster will get their first chance to compete on Saturday including a group of freshmen who will see their first collegiate action.
"We have most of the team competing," stated Roy. "For the freshmen, it's a 'welcome to college' event and for some of our returning guys, they will compete in some off-events and have a chance to work on some thing."
"If there is one goal for this meet, it's to get some qualifying times for the New England's on the first weekend in February. We didn't used to compete in December until they moved the New England meet up time wise."
Begley returns for his r-senior season and had three medal performances last indoor season after finishing third in the 3,000 meters at the IC4A and American Athletic Conference Championships. He also took a third place finish in the 5,000 at last winter's AAC title meet.
In the mid-distance events, seniors Kyle Barber (Fayetteville, N.Y.) and PJ Garmon (Billerica, Mass.) and sophomores Tyler Gleen (Shelton, Conn.) and Eric van der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) return after strong performances last indoor season. Gleen was a second place finisher in the 800 meters at last year's New England Championship while van der Els won the silver in the mile at last year's AAC Championships.Â
Barber took fourth in the mile at New England's and was sixth at both the IC4A and AAC Championships while Garmon was fourth in the mile at the AAC's and was part of the Huskies' New England Championship winning 4x800 and distance medley relay teams.
In the field events, Snead is back in the fold in the long jump and triple jump after red-shirting last spring. During the 2017-18 indoor season, Snead won the AAC and New England titles in the triple jump. He also claimed the New England title in the long jump while finishing second in the event at IC4A's. He also broke the UConn school record in the long jump at the Multi-Event Challenge where he posted a 7.67 meter (25'2") leap.
Senior Ian Bergere (Madison, Conn.) is the Huskies's top-returning pole vaulter. During last year's indoor season, he took second place at New England's and also had a fifth place finish at The American title meet and sixth at IC4A's on his resume.
Sophomore Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, N.Y.) used a solid indoor season during his rookie year to help lead him to winning the AAC title in the high jump last spring. He also competed at the IAAF U20 World Championships over the summer. Last winter, he put up a second place finish at IC4A's and was third at the conference meet.
In the throws, junior Cameron Thompson (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) is the two-time defending AAC champion in the hammer during outdoor season and indoor's, last year had an eighth place finish in the weight throw at AAC's.
Sophomore Matt Brady (Biddeford, Maine) sat out last spring but had a strong rookie indoor season where he capped it off by finishing third at the IC4A Championship with a season-best toss of 17.44 meters (57'2.75").
In the heptathlon, sophomore Benjamin Grosse (Wayzata, Minn.) returns and will compete for the Huskies at next week's Multi-Event Challenge on campus. Grosse turned in a fourth-place finish in the heptahlon at the New England Championship and ended the indoor season with his best performance of the year at IC4A's taking seventh with a season-best 4,613 points including a win in the high jump.
The Huskies will host their Multi-Event Challenge next week on Thursday and Friday, December 6 & 7 and will return to kick-off the second semester on January 12 at the Beantown Challenge at Harvard.
Players Mentioned
