University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Princeton Invitational
UConn Ready for Competitive Princeton Invite
10/18/2019 9:14:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
STORRS, Conn. – The UConn men's cross-country team are headed to the Princeton Invitational this Saturday for their final race action before competing at the conference championship race in two weeks.
Saturday's 8k race will step off at 10 am on at West Windsor Fields in Princeton, N.J. The youthful Huskies are looking to start hitting their midseason stride as they get ready to compete in what should be a competitive race field with a championship feel.
"This weekend's race is going to be, can you put yourself in a position, latch on to a competitive spot and compete from that spot," commented director of cross country and track & field Greg Roy. "That is what we are looking for from our team. It will be smaller field than the Paul Short, which we look at like that's a regional meet, you know 300 plus runners."
The Huskies are coming off the Paul Short Invite two weeks ago, their first crack at a five-mile race on the season in a huge field of runners. At the top of the UConn lineup, r-junior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) and r-sophomore Will Brisman (Fairfield, Conn.) are leading the way for a young group.
"We will talk about that this is a much more personal meet than last time out," said Roy. "We are looking for guys to execute. At the Paul Short, you are kind of running for your life. This weekend, you can see it out in front of you."
Brisman is coming off one of his best cross-country performances after taking 44th in a field 389 runners at Paul Short, clocking a top-career 8k time of 24:10.2. Van Der Els is right there with Brissman and is also coming off a career-best time after running the 8k Paul Short in 24:38.2.
Sophomore James Maniscalco (Fairfield, Conn.) also had a new personal-best 8k time last time out, clocking in at 25:05.5.
"We are being a little more careful and prudent with our guys, which I don't think is a bad thing because the quality up at the top is better than it's ever been," stated Roy. "In the meantime, there is something to be said for experience and we don't have a ton of it. So we are looking at this as we are just barely getting going in our season."
"That being said, I am really excited. We are healthy and strong. How good are we, I don't know yet but we have done a great job training. Eric and Will up front are providing good leadership, so now we just have to go out and beat some people this weekend."
This will be the Huskies final tune-up before competing at their last American Athletic Conference Championship on November 1st down in Memphis, Tenn. at Shelby Farms Park.
Players Mentioned
