University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
FSU Winter XC Classic
Huskies Open Season at FSU Winter XC Classic
2/3/2021 8:59:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
The UConn men's cross country team will get their first chance to compete this season as they take part in the FSU Winter XC Classic at Florida State University's Apalachee Regional Park course on Friday, February 5.Â
The Huskies, who enter the season ranked 5th in the Northeast USTFCCCA Regional rankings, will be running in the Garnet 8k Race that steps off at 9 am. The field of UConn runners will run in a stacked field of teams from USTFCCCA nationally ranked Iowa State (6th), Stanford (12th), Colorado (13th), Wake Forest (19th), Southern Utah (22nd), Utah State (27th) and Syracuse (30th)
The race will also feature regionally ranked Kansas (5th/Midwest), South Dakota State (8th/Midwest), Tennessee (3rd/South), host Florida State (5th/South), North Florida (6th/South), Florida (8th/South), UT-Martin (11th/South), SE Louisiana (4th/South Central), Eastern Kentucky (6th/Southeast), Duke (7th/Southeast), Eastern Kentucky (6th/Southeast), Charleston Southern (13th/Southeast), Cal Baptist (10th/West)
"Running a 'Winter XC' season certainly presents it's challenges," stated Director of cross country and track & field Greg Roy. "We had a really good fall of training and our athletes did a great job at home for seven weeks. We were fortunate to have a snow free, somewhat mild January. The last week has been a bit rough, and I feel like we needed to rest up and taper a bit for this meet anyway, so it worked out."
The Huskies, who will race for the first time since November of 2019, will be led by the trio r-senior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.), senior Will Brisman (Fairfield, Conn.) and junior James Maniscalco (Fairfield, Conn.) who are all coming off All-Northeast Region seasons.Â
Brisman and Van Der Els were also all-conference honorees thanks to their top-15 finishes at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championship. Senior Josh Bedard (Tolland, Conn.) and Sean Parker (Bridgewater, Conn.) bring depth and race experience to the lineup
"We've got a veteran team with three All-Northeast Regional returners in Maniscalco, van der Els and Brisman, and Sean Parker returns from redshirt, so that is a solid top-4," commented Roy. "Joe Pearl has clearly been a top-5 athlete, and is nursing a slight injury, and is about ready to return. After that we have senior Josh Bedard and a group of sophomores vying for the top-7. I don't know if we'll get to compete again before the conference race, so we'll be aiming to make the best of this one."
Players Mentioned
