University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
American Athletic Conference Championship
Huskies Set for AAC Championship Weekend
5/9/2019 3:48:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
STORRS, Conn. – The Huskies will head to Wichita State this weekend for the 2019 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championship. The three-day championship event will be held at Cessna Stadium.
Fans can get each day's schedule and links to results, photos and highlights by visiting the AAC Track Championship Central page. You can get up to the minute results by using the Live Results link and also watch all the action on all three days on the American Digital Network Plus.
The three-day meet gets underway on Friday at 12 noon with the start of the decathlon. Friday's field events include the hammer and the javelin while on the track, the prelims in the 200 and 800 meters, the 400-meter hurdles will precede the finals of the 10,000 meters to close the day.
On Saturday, the decathlon will wrap up starting at 10:30 am while the long jump and shot put compete. On the track, the prelims in 100, 400 and 1500 meters and the 110 meter hurdles will come before the 3,000 meter steeplechase closes the day. Sunday's final day of competition gets underway at 2:30 pm with high jump, pole vault, triple jump and discus and on finals on the track including the two relays. The awards ceremony is slated for 8:10 pm.
"I'm not saying they are coming back to the pack, but on paper, Houston seems a little closer to the rest of us than they were indoors," said head coach Greg Roy. "Wichita State is hosting and they look pretty sharp, Cincinnati is having a good spring and Memphis is starting to come on."
"For us, our field events group is in really good shape," commented Roy. "Our track guys have had a bit of a tough spring. If we can get some points out of that group, we will be right in it for the top-three. For some of our top guys, they have to just go put it out there, compete at the level they have been all spring and the conference championship excitement will take care of the rest."
The junior-sophomore combo for Jordan Torney (Toms River, N.J.) and Benjamin Grosse (Wayzata, Minn.) get the whole thing kicked-off on Friday with the start of the decathlon. The duo are the top-two atop the AAC rankings after posting new PR's at the Spec Towns Invitational. Torrey piled up 7,225 points to Grosse's 6,624.
The Huskies have two of the league's top-jumpers on their roster in senior co-captain Malik Snead (Trenton, N.J.) and sophomore Safir Scott (Greenwich, Conn.). Snead is the AAC's top guy in the triple jump and owns the 27th best leap this season in the NCAA with his 15.66 meter showing at UConn's home meet. Snead won the AAC indoor championship in the event the past two seasons.
In the high jump, Scott was last year's runner-up at the AAC outdoor meet and also was an NCAA qualifier. He has had a business like spring and had his top height of the season at the outdoor opener at UNF at 2.12 meters.
In the throws, a pair of sophomores in Todd Stueber (Toms River, N.J.) and Matthew Brady (Biddeford, Maine) are heading into the weekend having had strong springs to this point. Stueber is sixth in the discus, with a 52.15 meter throw at the Larry Ellis Invite, and seventh in the shot put, coming off a 17.07 meter throw at the Penn Relays. Brady is fifth in the AAC rankings in the shot put and had his top throw this spring at the UConn home meet at 17.51 meters.
Senior Sebastian Castano (Cresskill, N.J.) comes in fifth in the AAC in the hammer throw and had his best throw last time out at the Penn Relays at 55.72 meters. In the javelin, r-sophomore Michael Jeffers (Clifton Park, N.Y.) made his return this spring from injury and in his two competitions has worked his way to seventh on the AAC chart thanks to a throw of 58.80 meters at the UConn Northeast Challenge.
Senior co-captain Ian Bergere (Madison, Conn.) has had an outstanding spring in the pole vault and comes in to the title meet ranked sixth in the league. Bergere had his best vault of the year at the Larry Ellis Invitational at 4.95 meters.
On the track, the UConn contingent in the 5,000 meters is led by junior co-captain Kyle Brackman (Berkeley Heights, N.J.), who posted the second fastest time of the year at 14:06.92 at the Florida Relays. Brackman along with sophomore Ian Mickool (Fairfield, Conn.) and freshman James Maniscalco (Fairfield, Conn.) will pull double duty and also run in the 10,000 meters.
Seniors Michael McGonnigle (New Fairfield, Conn.) and Kyle Barber (Fayetteville, N.Y.) will both run the 5,000 meters and also the 3,000 meter steeplechase. McGonnigle is coming off a big PR in the steeplechase, having posted an 8:59.12 at the Penn Relays, third fastest in the AAC this spring. Barber also had his fastest time of the season at Penn Relays, running in 9:15.69, ninth in the AAC rankings.
In the 800 meters, sophomore Tyler Gleen (Shelton, Conn.) is battling his way back from an injury suffered a few weeks back, but posted the second fastest time in the league this outdoor season when he went 1:48.79 at the Florida Relays in March. Gleen took the bronze at last spring's meet and won the 800 meters at this year's indoor championship
Sophomore Eric van der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) is looking to make a mark in the 1,500 meters and comes in ranked fifth in the AAC rankings after a time of 3:49.41 at the Larry Ellis Invitational.
freshman Noah Woodman (Hampstead, N.H.) heads into the championship meet with the 10th fastest time recorded in the 400 meters in the AAC this season, posting a 47.34 clocking at the Huskies' home meet back in early April.
Rookie Konstantin Rust (Germany) is set to run the 100 meter hurdles at his first conference title meet. Rust has had a strong rookie season and is currently ranked seventh in the league after a time of 14.29 seconds at the Spec Towns Invite in Georgia. Classmate Adam Khriss (Secaucus, N.J.) has the ninth fastest time in the 400 meter hurdles this season heading into the weekend, posting a 53.87 seconds at the Spec Towns meet.
The Houston Cougars have won four of five American Outdoor titles including the past three championships. UConn and Memphis have finished in the top five in each of The American's outdoor championships. The Huskies are the only other team to take home the men's title, winning in 2015.
"We are excited for this weekend," stated the head coach. "It's like offense and defense in football. If our field events are our defense, they are having a heck of a year. Our track guys, our offense, has struggled a bit. But if the offense has a good day, I think our defense is right there!"
Players Mentioned
