University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Beantown Challenge
Huskies Take Title at Beantown Challenge
1/12/2019 9:43:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Saturday's Beantown Challenge was UConn's first meet of 2019 and their first chance to bring a team trophy back to Storrs. The Huskies did not disappoint, capturing the Beantown title by taking down a field of 11 teams at Harvard's Gordon Indoor Track.Â
The Huskies finished with 114 points to claim the team title while five Huskies won individual events in addition to UConn winning the 4x880 relay. In order to come away with Saturday's trophy though, the Huskies had to find a spark after a slow start and they did just that in the 500 meters.
"Midway through, we were on our backs and not competing how we wanted to," commented head coach Greg Roy. "It was a little discouraging but then right in the middle of the meet, a bunch of our young guys in the 500 really turned this meet around for us. This meet elevated our young guys."
The Huskies piled up points in the 500 meter dash, taking five of the top-eight spots with freshman Noah Woodman (Hampstead, N.H.) winning the event with a time of 1:04.72. Grabbing spots four through seven were sophomore Omar Gebril (North Haven, Conn.), freshman Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, N.J.), sophomore Colt Nichols (Portsmouth, R.I.) and senior Kyle Trocki (Shrewsbury, Mass.), respectively.
"From there, we responded as a team and got the thing rolling," stated Roy. "We just pulled away and it was really, really great to see. We had a tough week with some personnel struggles and it was really nice to see us respond at this meet. Everyone there who competed knew we had to get the job done."
In the pole vault, senior Ian Bergere (Madison, Conn.) led the way taking home the gold with a career-best performance while taking down many national performers in the field. Bergere cleared a height of 5.05 meters (16'6.75"), matching his personal-best set last indoor season at the IC4A Championship.
Senior co-captain Malik Snead (Trenton, N.J.) won the triple jump with a leap of 15.55 meters (51'00.25"), breaking the 50-foot mark for the first time this season and the sixth time in his career competing indoors. It was the third longest jump of his career.
Junior Cameron Thompson (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) registered a personal-best in the weight throw while finishing second in the event. Thompson recorded a toss of 17.90 meters (58'8.75"), toping his previous best of 17.74 meters (58'2.5") set last season at the Columbia Challenge.
Sophomore Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, N.Y.) was the winner in the high jump, clearing the bar at a height of 2.13 meters (6'11.75), his best-ever jump indoors and his second-best height all-time at UConn.
Senior Kyle Barber (Fayetteville, N.Y.) was another Husky winner on Saturday, claiming gold in the 3,000 meters. Barber came home at 8:33.21, pulling away late for the win in his first time running the event this season.
The mile saw a pair of Huskies in senior Michael McGonnigle (New Fairfield, Conn.) and sophomore Eric Van der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) come in third and fourth, respectively. McGonnigle posted the fastest time of his career indoors with a clocking of 4:11.29. Van Der Els was right on McGonnigle's heels crossing the line 4:11.58.
The duo also played a key role in the Huskies' winning 4x880 meter relay team that finished first in a time of 7:44.68. Sophomore Tyler Gleen (Shelton, Conn.) and senior PJ Garmon (Billerica, Mass.) filled out the team to take the top-spot.
The Huskies also put in their claim as one of the teams to beat in the northeast with the 2019 New England Championships a few weeks away. "I've always said you have to take care of business in your own neighborhood before you can step off your block," commented the head coach. "I thought we did a good job today of showing we can be the guys on this block. That New England Championship will be exciting, I am sure our guys will be ready to go considering how last year went."
UConn will head to the University of Rhode Island next Saturday for the Sorlien Invitational, an unscored meet, before competing in a deep and talented field at the Columbia Challenge in New York City in two weeks.
Players Mentioned
