University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Big East Outdoor Track & Field Championship
UConn Wins BIG EAST in Record Breaking Fashion
5/15/2021 7:19:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
2021 BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL RESULTS
GENEVA, Ohio – The UConn men's track and field team made their official return to the BIG EAST this weekend and did so with authority. The Huskies had championship performances all weekend at the Spire Institute to dominate the 2021 BIG EAST Outdoor Championships and claim the program's fifth league crown in record breaking fashion.
The Huskies set new BIG EAST records for total team points, piling up 294, and individual event champions with 12 title winners on the weekend. UConn smashed the previous records of 246 points posted by Marquette in 2016 and eight event titles, set five times and most recent by Villanova in 2015.
UConn won six field events and the decathlon as well as five on the track, taking gold in 12 of the 23 total events held. In addition, UConn had 25 medal winning performances over the two day meet in Geneva, Ohio, 24 individual events and one relay.
The Huskies also swept the post meet awards starting with the BIG EAST High Point Performer of the Meet going to senior Safir Scott (Greenwich, Conn.) who scored in three events, winning the 400 meters, taking second in the long jump and was fourth in the triple jump to total 23 points in the meet.
The Men's Track Athlete of the Meet went to sophomore Joseph O'Brien (Shrewsbury, Mass.) who won the 100-meter dash and the 200 meters. The Men's Field Athlete of the Meet went to senior Jordan Torney (Toms River, N.J.) who won six of the 10 events in capturing the decathlon title. And lastly, the 2021 BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year went to the Huskies after a record setting weekend.
"An unbelievable performance from top to bottom," stated associate head coach Rich Miller. "Came in and just made statement after statemen starting by winning all the field events on Friday. Just a tremendous weekend for UConn track and field."
"It's a lot to take in, just so many great performances," commented Miller. "We really laid it all out there. For us, there was definitely an emphasis to being back in the BIG EAST. Our kids really wanted to come here and say 'UConn is back and we are here for good.' The kids took it on themselves this season to try and do more, to come and set a record for total points. They wanted to do more. They pushed all year, they wanted to do the extra event, to score points. That was all the kids on this team."Â
Other winners for the Huskies on Saturday included senior Todd Stueber (Toms River, N.J.) in the shot put, junior Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, N.J.) in the 400-meter hurdles, and freshman Terrel Williams (Mapelwood, N.J.) in the 110-meter hurdles.
Friday's winners included senior Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, N.Y.) in the high jump, junior Chris Keegan (West Hartford, Conn.) in the hammer, junior Michael Jeffers (Clifton Park, N.Y.) in the javelin, sophomore Travis Snyder (Saco, Maine) in the pole vault and freshman Richmond Kwaateng (Lowell, Mass.) in the long jump
Following the Huskies in the standings was Georgetown in second place (126 pts), Villanova in third (121 pts), Butler in fourth (99 pts), Marquette in fifth (93 pts), DePaul in sixth (78 pts), Providence in seventh (30 pts) and Xavier in eighth (8 pts).
SATURDAY FINALS…
On the track
- O'Brien took home two gold medals, getting his first of the day in the 100-meter dash with a new PR time of 10.39 seconds. He would come back later in the day and get to the top of the podium again in the 200 meters, posting another PR time, clocking in at 20.96 seconds.
- A pair of Huskies went to the podium in the 400-meter hurdles led by Ventura who claimed gold with a time of 51.70 seconds. Senior Colt Nichols (Portsmouth, R.I.) took the bronze with a time of 53.59 seconds.
- The 400 meters went to Scott who blazed to a win with a new PR of 46.73 seconds. It was just the third time this spring Scott has run the event. Scott also scored points for the Huskies in the triple jump by taking fourth with a leap of 14.61 meters. Also scoring in the 400 was junior Markus Bagley (Jersey City, N.J.) in fifth at 48.48 seconds and freshman Caleb Owen (New Haven, Conn.) in sixth at 48.65.
- The Huskies had four of the eight finishers in the 110-meter hurdles led by Williams who wins a BIG EAST title in his first conference championship, clocking in at 14.13 seconds. Junior Xavier Smith (West Windsor, N.J.) was sixth (15.26), Travis Snyder (Saco, Maine) was seventh (15.83) and freshman Donovan Wright (Burlington, N.J.) was eighth (17.29).
- The Huskies took silver and bronze in the 800 meters with sophomore Stephen Sutton (Tolland, Conn.) grabbing a second-place finish with a time of 1:49.24 and freshman Mahamed Sharif (Westbrook, Maine) was third in 1:50.07.
- Senior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) won a bronze in the 5,000 meters, clocking in at 13:49.45, smashing his previous PR set two weeks ago in the event and also breaking the UConn school record. The previous mark was set in 1985 by Mike Gagne at 13:57.50.
- The UConn 4x100 relay team of junior Josiah Thompson (Jamaica, N.Y.), junior Aaron Hacket (Upper Marlboro, Md.), sophomore Conor Mahoney and freshman Richmond Kwaateng (Lowell, Mass.) won bronze with a time of 40.70 seconds.
In the field
- It was all UConn on the podium for the decathlon as Torney took the top spot with a new PR of 7,492 points. On Saturday, Torney won the 1,500 meters at 4:42.95, a new PR, the pole vault with a height of 4.50 meters and the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.36 seconds. On Friday, he won the 100-meter dash, the long jump and the 400 meters.
- Grabbing silver was senior Benjamin Grosse (Wayzata, Minn.) with 7,195 points, also a new PR. Grosse picked up a win in the discus at 41.10 meters and the javelin throw at 55.88 meters, both new PRs. In third was junior Nicholas Pronovost (Coventry, Conn.) with 6,922 points, another PR in the trio.
- Stueber took home a gold in the shot put with a throw of 17.81 meters. Senior Matthew Brady (Biddeford, Maine) took the podium next to his classmate with a second-place finish, with his best throw of the day coming on his last attempt at 17.18 meters.
- The Huskies dominated the event as freshman Tyler Lyon (Albuquerque, N.M.) took fourth (14.21m), junior Michael Jeffers (Clifton Park, N.Y.) was fifth (13.92m) and junior Chris Keegan (West Hartford, Conn.) was eighth (13.36m).
- Brady would grab a second medal when he took bronze in the discus with a throw of 47.45 meters. Stueber scored for UConn with a fourth-place finish at 47.19 meters. Junior Kevin Cetin (Massapequa, N.Y.) was seventh (41.24m) and Keegan scored in his third event of the weekend with an eighth-place finish (41.14m)
Players Mentioned
