University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Larry Ellis Invitational
Huskies Have Solid Day at Larry Ellis Invite
4/20/2019 9:09:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
PRINCETON, N.J. – The UConn Huskies took part in the Larry Ellis Invitational on Saturday and had another weekend event highlighted by another batch of personal bests. The two-event was cut short when Friday was wiped out with weather, moving all the events to Saturday.
"A few things we did differently with the change up in schedule," stated head coach Greg Roy. "I am pretty happy with what we did today and where we are at right now. We traveled the whole first month of the season and, then had a great first team meet last week at home. Now, we move on to Penn Relays and we want to just go down there, have some fun and stay focused on getting ready for conference."
"Todd Stueber in the discus was real solid in the discus and Ian (Bergere) was great in brutal conditions for the pole vault," commented Roy. "Jordan Torney had a great day, huge PR in the hurdles, and it Eric (Van der Els) and Michael (McGonnigle) in the 1,500 was a great way to end the meet today."
Senior Ian Bergere (Madison, Conn.) has gotten better each week this spring in the pole vault. In his fourth time competing outdoors, Bergere posted his best height of the season, clearing the bar at 4.95 meters (16'2.75") to finish second overall.
Another weekend and another consistent performance in the hammer throw from senior Sebastian Castano (Cresskill, N.J.). Castano was right around his personal best mark again, posting a throw of 55.07 meters (180'8") to earn himself a seventh place finish.
The same could be said for sophomore Todd Stueber (Toms River, N.J.) who improved for the fifth straight in the discus and again had a career day, posting a new personal-best mark for the second-straight week. The sophomore was seventh overall with a throw of 52.15 meters (171'1"). He also posted a throw of 16.57 meters (54'4.5") in the shot put, putting him sixth overall in the field.
On the track, the Mike Brady 1500 meter elite race saw a pair of Huskies post new personal best times in competitive field. Sophomore Eric van der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) was 17th in the 53 runner field and posted a best-ever time of 3:49.41. Senior Michael McGonnigle (New Fairfield, Conn.) had his previous top time in the event last weekend but came back on Saturday and topped it with a 3:51.58 clocking to finish 23rd.
Junior Jordan Torney (Toms River, N.J.) returned after a week off and posted a new personal best time in the 110 meter hurdles. Torney clocked a 14.29 seconds, second fastest in the qualifying round.
In the 400 meter hurdles, freshman Adam Khriss (Secaucus, N.J.) had his best time of the season, posting a new personal best of 54.67 seconds to take fifth overall. Torney also ran the 400 meter hurdles and was eighth overall at 55.06 seconds.
In the relays, the Huskies had their best day yet this spring in the 4x100. The lineup of freshmen Josiah Thompson (Jamaica, N.Y.), Myles Calhoun (Henrietta, N.Y.) and Noah Woodman (Hampstead, N.H.) along with Torney finished third with a 41.06 clocking, the fastest by a UConn team this season.
In the 4x400 relay, the foursome of freshman Markus Bagley (Jersey City, N.J.), sophomore Safir Scott (Greenwich, Conn.), freshman Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, N.J.) and Woodman finished second overall with a time of 3:15.09.
Calhoun and Woodman also ran the 200 meters and finished sixth and eighth, respectively. Calhoun was a tick under his personal best time at 21.74 seconds while Woodman, running the event for the first time this spring, came in at 21.96 seconds.
In the unseeded 1,500 meters, sophomore Joshua Bedard (Tolland, Conn.) just missed a new personal best (3:55.81), clocking in at 3:55.95 to finish fifth. Freshman Brian Camillieri (Pearl River, N.Y.) ran a personal best in the 800 meters with a time of 1:53.57
Players Mentioned
