University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
American Athletic Conference Championship
Championship Weekend on Tap for Huskies
2/20/2019 8:57:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
STORRS, Conn. – The UConn Huskies are on the hunt for championship performances this weekend when they open up competition at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championship in Birmingham, Alabama.
You can keep tabs on all the action this weekend by visiting The American's Championship Central page.
The event is back at the Birmingham CrossPlex for the fourth-straight season with four-time defending champion Houston looking to defend their title. The Huskies have finished in the top-five at the event every season for the last five years including taking home the title in 2014.
"You're trying to create an environment right now where our guys are believing in themselves at the highest level going into this meet," stated head coach Greg Roy. "We don't want our guys to try and force things. Strong performances will only come if we are engaged in the competition. If we believe in ourselves and are confident in our abilities, and we understand that we can't be better than our best, we call that a championship performances. And we'll take that and what it gives us. Our goal is always 100 percent championship performances which is win or lifetime best."
"Houston, ranked fourth in the country, they are the favorite heading in," commented Roy. "We are talented enough that we will be in the mix at this championship, we'll be everywhere. There are four schools that will be pushing right behind Houston. Wichita State is very strong, Memphis is coming on strong and Cincinnati is really putting it together and we have had a great season. If you look at the conference and where it was five years ago, its getting better all the time. It's exciting."
Senior co-captain Malik Snead (Trenton, N.J.) will be looking to defend his AAC title in the triple jump and comes into the event this weekend at the top of the conference performance list. Snead's top jump this season won his the New England title at 15.78 meters (51'9.25"). Snead will also perform in the long jump.
Sophomore Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, N.Y.) took the bronze in the high jump at last winter's AAC meet and won the event at the outdoor championship in the spring. He comes in ranked second in the AAC performance list with his best jump coming at New England's, where he won the title at 2.16 meters (7'1").
In the pole vault, senior Ian Bergere (Madison, Conn.) has had a very strong indoor season with four wins under his belt including the New England title. His best height of the indoor season came at the Beantown Challenge, where he won at 5.05 meters (16'6.75"), matching his career-best. He comes in ranked third in the league.
In the throws, junior Cameron Thompson (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) will compete in the weight throw and sophomore Todd Stueber (Toms River, N.J.) in the shot put. Thompson has had a strong indoor season and comes in ranked seventh overall with his top throw of 17.90 meters (58'8.75") a career-best mark. Stueber has three wins in the shot this season and is coming off a personal best toss of 17.17 meters (56'4") last weekend, climbing to fifth in the rankings.
Sophomore Benjamin Grosse (Wayzata, Minn.) enters this weekend's heptathlon as the frontrunner. He had a career-best performance at this year's New England Championship where he posted a total score of 4,952 to win. He has won both heptathlons he took part in this season.
On the track, sophomore Tyler Gleen (Shelton, Conn.) has the second fastest time in the conference in the 800 meters this season. Gleen posted a time of 1:50.49 in a stacked field of runners at the Columbia Challenge. Sophomore Brian Camillieri (Pearl River, N.Y.) has had a strong indoor season and comes in ranked 11th.
A trio of Huskies have had strong seasons in the 400 meters in freshmen Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, N.J.) and Noah Woodman (Hampstead, N.H.) and senior Kyle Trocki (Shrewsbury, Mass.). Ventura enters the weekend with the sixth fastest time in the league (47.37) and Woodman the eighth (47.64).
In the mile, senior Kyle Barber (Fayetteville, N.Y.) has been building all winter to this weekend's championship and comes in ranked fourth with his personal best time of 4:06.48. Sophomore Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) took bronze in the mile last season.
In the 3,000 meters, senior Michael McGonnigle (New Milford, Conn.) enters the event with the top-time recorded in the AAC this season. McGonnigle won the New England tile in the event and had a personal best time of 8:09.53 at the Columbia Challenge. McGonnigle along with Joseph Pearl (Manchester, Conn.), Adam Khriss (Secaucus, N.J.) and Joshua Bedard (Tolland, Conn.) own the top DMR time in the conference heading into the championship (9:54.42).
The weekend schedule gets underway on Friday morning with the heptathlon. Friday's field events include the pole vault, weight throw and long jump. On the track, there will be finals in the 5,000 meters and the distance medley realy and trials for the mile, 400m, 60m hurdles, 60m dash, 800m, and 200m (in that order).
The meet will conclude on Saturday, opening with the finish of the heptathlon. Saturday's finals in the field events include the high jump, shot put and triple jump. The track will feature finals in mile, 400m, 60m hurdles, 60m dash, 800m, 200m, 3,000m and the 4x400m relay (in that order).
Players Mentioned
