University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Princeton Invitational
Huskies Take 2nd at Princeton Invitational
10/19/2019 1:15:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
PRINCETON, N.J. – The UConn men's cross-country team got back to racing on Saturday morning and with two runners finishing in the top-10, the Huskies took second place overall at the Princeton Invitational at West Windsor Fields.
The Huskies finished with a total of 120 points with their top-five runners all finishing within the top-60 in a field of 235 runners. UConn was behind just Stony Brook who won the 21-team event.
UConn's top-two finishers were r-junior captain Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) and r-sophomore Will Brisman (Fairfield, Conn.) who were eighth and ninth, respectively, with career-best times. Brisman clocked in at 24:09.0 on the 8K course while Van Der Els was just a second off him in 24:10.0.
"Eric and Will did a really great job," stated director of cross country and track & field. "For Eric, this was really the first time he ran a complete cross-country race. Will is just continuing to grow leaps and bounds. He was in control, managed the race really well and competed really tough. I am excited for the future for these two guys. They are racing well and their confidence is sky high."
Coming in behind the top-two was sophomore James Maniscalco (Fairfield, Conn.) running his best-ever 8k course time at 24:37.9 for 23rd overall. "James Maniscalco went right with those two, and he fell off a bit but really closed the race hard," commented Roy. "Maybe harder than anyone in the race so clearly, it was his best race as a collegian."
The UConn top-five was closed out by a pair of freshmen in Kabir Chavan (Fairfield, Conn) and Angel Vicioso (Norwalk, Conn.). Chavan was in 37th position with a 24:55.2 clocking followed by Vicioso in 55th place overall with a time of 25:08.6
"For our freshmen, Angel was so close today, so close, but just couldn't close it," commented the head coach. "He was really tough and battled. And Kabir shows you some flashes. He was way out of it in the first 1000, but he kept moving, kept moving and really closed well."
"We are really excited for what the men did today, those front five really competed well. If you look last year, Pat Begley, who was pretty darn good, was 24:20 in this race and we had two guys in front of that today."
"For a young team, that is fantastic," stated Roy. "I thought we had an edge today and we are hungry, we are excited. I really feel like this group. Every kid in that room is willing to compete, train hard and do what it takes to get it done. It's really got us excited."
Next up for the Huskies is their last appearance in the Americn Athletic Conference Championship on November 1 at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, Tenn.
Players Mentioned
