Gleen & Snead Grab Gold at AAC Indoor Championship

Friday, February 22

Birmingham, Ala.

University of Connecticut

American Athletic Conference Championship

2/23/2019 4:43:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Results

FINAL RESULTS

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UConn Huskies claimed a pair of titles on Saturday with senior Malik Snead (Trenton, N.J.) and sophomore Tyler Gleen (Shelton, Conn.) winning gold on the final day of the 2019 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championship.

"We competed really hard," said the head coach Greg Roy. "You know sixth place is not a spot we are accustomed to being, but we will get back to where we are used to. We had some nice wins today and some of our guys put forth some great championship performances."

The Huskies as a team finished with 76 total points to take sixth place. The Houston Cougars won their fifth-straight AAC Championship, piling up 159.50 points on the weekend. The Cougars were followed by Wichita State (107), Memphis (106), Cincinnati (95), Tulsa (77), UConn (76), USF (25.50) and ECU (17).

Snead successfully defended his triple jump crown on Saturday, winning with a mark that was just short of his season best mark. Snead topped the field with a leap of 15.75 meters (51'8.25"), coming on his second to last attempt of the day. His junior teammate Ivan Nyemeck (Quebec City, Quebec) scored in the event, taking sixth overall with a leap of 14.78 meters (48'6.00"), a season-best jump.

Gleen claimed his first-career AAC title with a first place finish in the 800 meters, an event he took fifth in last year. Gleen took home gold in career-best fashion, torching the track in a time of 1:49.39, a new personal best in the event.

Tyler Gleen of @UConnMTrack takes home the #AmericanITF Championship title in the men's 800m run! We caught up with him after the race on the ADN. pic.twitter.com/zVlXGNRSl9
— American XC Track (@AmericanXCTrack) February 23, 2019

Also claiming a medal on the track on Saturday was Barber who took home the silver in the mile. The senior clocked in at 4:17.71 to earn his fourth career medal and all-conference honor.

Just missing all-conference honors and a spot on the podium was senior Michael McGonnigle (New Fairfield, Conn.) who took fourth in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:22.76.

Sophomore Benjamin Grosse (Wayzata, Minn.) had a personal best in the heptathlon, posting a career-best 4,989 points to finish fifth. Grosse won the high jump on Friday and finished second in the 1,000 meters on Saturday. He topped his point total posted at the New England Championships (4,952) that won him that event.

A pair of UConn rookies picked-up points in the 60 meter hurdles in freshmen Konstantin Rust and Oluwatomide Alao (Jamaica, N.Y.). Rust finished seventh and had a new personal best with a time of 8.13 seconds. Alao was eighth with a time of 8.35 seconds. Another UConn rookie just missed a top-three finish in the 400 meters but did record a personal best. Rookie Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, N.J.) was fourth in the 400 and clocked a new best time of 47.22 seconds. Senior Kyle Trocki (Shrewsbury, Mass.) grabbed UConn a point in the event with an eighth place finish in 48.83 seconds.

Sophomore Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, N.Y.) scored for UConn in the high jump with a height of 2.11 meters (6'11"), good for fifth place. In the shot put, sophomore Todd Stueber (Toms River, N.J.) was sixth to score for the Huskies, posting a throw of 16.56 meters (54'4").

On Friday, UConn grabbed a pair of medals as senior Ian Bergere (Madison, Conn.) took bronze in the pole vault and the team of sophomores Joshua Bedard (Tolland, Conn.), Omar Gebril (North Haven, Conn.), Brain Camillieri (Pearl River, N.Y.) and Ian Mickool (Ridgefield, Conn.) grabbed silver in the distance medley relay.

The Huskies will take part in the three-day IC4A Indoor Championships next weekend at Boston University.

Tyler Gleen of @UConnMTrack takes home the #AmericanITF Championship title in the men's triple jump! We caught up with him on the ADN to talk about the win. pic.twitter.com/hQOhx0Nfbf
— American XC Track (@AmericanXCTrack) February 23, 2019