University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
American Athletic Conference Championship
Huskies Claim 10 Total Medals at AAC Championship
5/12/2019 11:00:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
WICHITA, Kans. – The UConn Huskies wrapped up the final day of the 2019 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championship on Sunday at Wichita State, finishing fourth as a team while claiming 10 medals on the weekend.
The Huskies piled up 107 points over the three-day event. The Houston Cougars won their fourth-straight title, beating out the host Shockers 178.75 to 166.75. Cincinnati finished third with 111 points.
"We competed really well today," stated head coach Greg Roy. "I think as a program, we hit a low point a year and half ago when we lost New England's and we have been battling back ever since. Today, we had a really good shot for third and the real story for us, is we had 34 athletes here this weekend and 26 of that were freshmen and sophomores. We got a whole lot of learning done this weekend and we feel good about what we accomplished."
"Ian (Bergere) winning the pole vault was just magic," commented Roy. "Take a walk-on kid that just worked his butt off for four years and now is a conference champion. And it was great to see Kyle Brackman have such a great weekend and Malik (Snead) grab a pair of silvers."
For the second-consecutive year, a Husky stood at the top of the podium to take the gold medal in the pole vault as senior Ian Bergere (Madison, Conn.) added to his special senior season by winning the event with a big personal best. Bergere three times topped his previous top height on the way to winning gold on Sunday. On his first attempt, he cleared the winning height of 5.11 meters (16'9.25") to take the title. Bergere was the bronze medal winner at the AAC indoor championships this season.
Classmate Malik Snead (Trenton, N.J.) added another medal on Sunday to go with the bronze he grabbed in the long jump on Saturday. Snead took home silver in the triple jump by posting his best jump of the season. On Snead's fourth attempt of the day he came up with a leap of 15.89 meters (52'1.75").
Sophomore Safir Scott (Greenwich, Conn.) picked-up a top-three finish in the high jump for the second-straight season, taking home the bronze on Sunday. Scott came up with a jump that cleared the bar at 2.09 meters (6'10.25"). Classmate Benjamin Grosse (Wayzata, Minn.) grabbed the Huskies a point with an eight place finish at 2.01 meters (6'7").
On the track, sophomore Eric van der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) had a big race in the 1500 meters grabbing the silver medal. Van der Els was just a tick of his personal best as both he and race winner, Wichita State's Zack Penrod both broke the AAC meet record. The sophomore won his fifth career AAC medal with a time of 3:49.52. He also finished second in the event at last year's meet. He also scored points for the Huskies in the 800 meters with a seventh place finish in 1:57.27.
The Huskies 4x100 relay team of Josiah Thompson (Jamaica, N.Y.), Myles Calhoun (Henrietta, N.Y.), junior Jordan Torney (Toms River, N.J.) and freshman Noah Woodman (Hampstead, N.H.) took home bronze by running the fast time this season by an UConn team. The foursome came home third with a time of 40.62 seconds.
Closing the meet was the 4x400 meter relay and the Huskies once again went to the podium thanks to a second place finish. The team of freshman Markus Bagley (Jersey City, N.J.), Scott, Woodman and freshman Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, N.J.) clocked a 3:10.58, the best time by a UConn team this season.
Scoring points for the Huskies on the track was r-junior Kyle Brackman (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) who finished fourth in the 5,000 meters. Brackman posted a time of 14:29.54. He took home the silver on Friday night in the 10,000 meters.
The duo of sophomore Oluwatomide Alao (Jamaica, N.Y.) and freshman Xavier Smith (West Windsor, N.J.) were seventh and eighth in the 110 meter high-hurdles, both with new PR's at 14.46 and 14.52 seconds, respectively. In the 400 meter hurdles, freshman Adam Khriss (Secaucus, N.J.) was seventh with a time of 54.05.
Woodman scored in the 400 meters, taking seventh with a time of 48.80 seconds. In the shot put, sophomore Todd Stueber (Toms River, N.J.) was a fifth place scorer, posting his best throw at 51.22 meters (168'0").
Next up the Huskies will send some athletes to compete at the NCAA East Regionals being held at the University of North Florida with spots in the NCAA Championship on the line.
Players Mentioned
