University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Columbia Challenge
Huskies Headed to NYC this Weekend
1/23/2020 3:53:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
STORRS, Conn. – The UConn men's track and field team will head to the Big Apple this weekend to take part in the annual Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge. The event will once again take place at the famed New York City track venue The Armory, starting on Thursday with the heptathlon and pentathlon and running through Saturday afternoon.
The annual event will feature teams from across the country as 20 programs will be represented at The Armory this weekend. The Huskies will face the likes of athletes from Columbia, Harvard, Brown, Syracuse, UAlbany, St. John's, Iona, Monmouth, Fairleigh Dickinson, Penn, Princeton, Penn State, Duke, South Carolina, Ohio State, BYU and UCLA, setting up a high level of competition at this year's meet.
The first two-and-a-half days will be streamed on USATF.TV, with the first day's action of the heptathlon and pentathlon presented by USATF.TV On Demand. During the final day of competition, the day will begin on USATF.TV, but starting at noon, the broadcast will switch to NBC Sports Gold and the remainder of the event will be covered there.
"This is a great meet and it's kind of morphed over the years and gotten bigger with some out of region competition, it's fun," stated director of cross-country and track & field Greg Roy. "For our top-athletes, this is kind of a mid-term exam so to speak."
"For example, last year Tyler (Gleen) won this meet and really used it as a spring board for his season, won the conference, qualified for the NCAA's right off the bat, so it was a big meet for him. Our top-athletes will be challenged and that's great. No matter where you look, our top athletes will be in it with everyone. I don't think there is an event where one of our guys isn't competing for a top-three spot."
On the track, junior Tyler Gleen (Shelton, Conn.) will be looking to defend his Columbia Challenge title in the 800 meters as he runs the race for the first time this indoor season. Gleen took the top-spot at last year's event by clocking in at 1:50.49. In the 400 meters, sophomore Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, N.J.) will run the event for the first time this indoor season, an event he holds the UConn school record in (46:47 – 2019 IC4A Indoors).
The Huskies will be running their top distance medley relay team of senior Kyle Brackman (Berkeley Heights, N.J.), r-junior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.), Gleen and sophomore Noah Woodman (Hampstead, N.H.)
In the field events, UConn's trio of high jumpers are ready to go this weekend in juniors Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, N.Y.) and Safir Scott (Greenwich, Conn.) and freshman David Ajama (Lowell, Mass.), all currently ranking third, fifth and seventh in the AAC. Freshman Travis Snyder (Saco, Maine) will see a highly competitive field in the pole vault, coming in at second in the AAC rankings this week.
The Huskies full slate of throwers are set to compete as well led by juniors Matthew Brady (Biddeford, Maine) and Todd Stueber (Toms River, N.J.) in the shot put and seniors Cameron Thompson (Cortland Manor, N.Y.) and Sebastian Castano (Crestkill, N.J.) and sophomore Chris Keegan (West Hartford, Conn.) in the weight throw.
Players Mentioned
