University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
American Athletic Conference Indoor Championship
Huskies Headed to AAC Indoor Championships
2/27/2020 12:43:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRALÂ |Â WATCHÂ |Â MEET SCHEDULE
STORRS, Conn. – The UConn men's track and field team heads to Birmingham, Ala. For the 2020 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championship this weekend with three wins under their belt this season as they look to bring another title home to Storrs.
The Huskies are making their last appearance at the AAC Championship as they move back to the Big East starting next season. UConn, who have won at the Beantown Challenge, the Columbia Challenge and the New England Championships this season, will head south looking to unseat the Houston Cougars who have captured five-straight indoor titles heading into this weekend. The Huskies are the only other team in the conference to win the championship in the history of the league, capturing the 2014 crown.
"We are ready to go," commented director of cross-country and track & field Greg Roy. "What will it take to win this? What we call championship performances, win your event or PR. If we can get a high percentage of those, we have a good shot. It will come down to which team can compete the best overall. Competitors compete and if we compete, we will be in good shape. I think we are right on schedule as a veteran team."
"Every time you go into a conference championship, you learn about yourself, about competing, about the sport. We have great depth, we are leaving some guys home who are scoring for us. So, experience is definitely a factor. Guys who have been through the wars. It would be really nice to go down there and take care of business on our last time in this thing."
The Birmingham CrossPlex facility will host the conference indoor title meet for the fifth straight season. Fans can watch all the action on the American Digital Network.
2020 Season Highlights
On the track…
- Junior Tyler Gleen (Shelton, Conn.) is the defending AAC champion in the 800 meters and will look to defend his title this weekend. Gleen comes in with the third fasted time this season in the event, running a 1:52.08 at the Columbia Challenge.
- Junior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) brings the top-time in the mile in the AAC this season into the meet. The junior posted an new PR last time out, blazing a time of 4:04.08 at the BU Valentine Invite.
- Senior captain Kyle Brackman (Berkley Heights, N.J.) leads the UConn contingent in the 3,000 with the second fastest time this season, 8:05.99, coming at the BU Valentine Invite two weeks ago.
- Sophomore Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, N.J.), the school record holder in the 400 meters, posted the second fastest time in the AAC this season. He clocked in at 47.27 seconds in his last race two weeks ago at BU.
- Junior Safir Scott (Greenwich, Conn.) will run the 400 meters as well and he comes in with the fourth fastest time this season at 47.55 seconds, also run at BU.
- UConn's distance medley relay team clocked the fastest team this year in the conference as the foursome of Van Der Els, Gleen, Brackman and sophomore Noah Woodman (Hampstead, N.H.) ran a 3:13.85 at Columbia back in January.
In the field…
- A group of UConn rookies look poised to make some noise in the field events this weekend, let by Travis Snyder (Saco, Maine) in the pole vault, Dyshon Vaughn (New Haven, Conn.) in the long jump and David Ajama (Lowell, Mass.) in the triple jump and high jump.
- Snyder has won three times during the season and owns the third best height this season at 5.20 meters (17'0.75").
- Vaughn is the top-performer in the long jump in the AAC this season, recording his best jump of 7.42 meters (24'4.25") coming at the New England Championships.
- Ajama owns the top distance in the triple jump across the conference this season at 15.43 meters (50'7.5") coming at Columbia.
- Junior Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, N.Y.), the 2018 AAC outdoor champ in the high jump, comes in ranked third in the AAC this indoor season. Claxton has three wins in his four competitions this season and his best height of the year was 2.14 meters (7'0.25") at New Englands.
- Junior Matthew Brady (Biddeford, Maine) is ranked second in the shot put coming into the weekend, recording a new PR at the Beantown Challenge at 17.59 meters (57'8.5").
- Junior captain Jordan Torney (Toms River, N.J.) leads a trio of Huskies in the heptathlon. Torney finished second at the UConn Multi-Event Challenge and recorded a career-high 5,423 points.
- Graduate student Sebastian Castro (Cresskill, N.J.) has been the Huskies top-performer in the weight throw and comes in fifth in the rankings after posting a new PR of 19.02 meters (62'5") at Columbia.
Players Mentioned
