University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
UConn Dog Fight
Huskies Home on Saturday for UConn Dog Fight
3/31/2022 4:38:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
STORRS, Conn. – The UConn men and women's track & field teams are back on campus this Saturday to host the UConn Dog Fight Invitational on Saturday, April 2 at the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex.
The Huskies will welcome UAlbany, Boston University, Brown, Northeastern, Southern Connecticut State and Yale to Storrs for the one-day meet. The field events will get underway 11 am with the javelin and hammer throw and then on the track at 12 noon with the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
UConn is back in the northeast region after the first two weeks of the outdoor season down south for spring break and last week at the Texas Relays, the Raleigh Relays and the Texas State Bobcat Invite.
"It's going to be great to be out here on our home track with family and friends, especially after these last two years where we didn't have an outdoor season and then last year's season dealing with covid," stated Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Greg Roy. "This will be a huge alumni day for us as well. They are going to come out in droves, and everyone is so thrilled to see us back competing in the BIG EAST. So, this is going to be great, really looking forward to it."
"This meet will be a great opportunity for us, go out and protect our home turf. We are still in some heavy training and some of our entries will reflect that. Working our athletes into their outdoor events and starting to examine our lineup as we are six weeks out.
The Huskies came in ranked third in the first USTFCCCA Northeast Regional Poll released this week. This weekend's opponents are also among the northeast region's top teams with Albany (5th), Northeastern (6th), BU (8th) and Yale (14th) also in this week's poll.
In the early going this spring, senior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) is ranked seventh in the NCAA in the 5,000 meters thanks to his time of 13:49.16 at last week's Raleigh Relays. Junior Travis Snyder is ranked 33rd national in the pole vault (5.11m) and senior Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, N.Y.) is 57th in the high jump rankings (2.05m).
Senior Benjamin Grosse (Wayzata, Minn.) was named the BIG EAST Field Athlete of the Week on Tuesday after his decathlon performance at Texas Relays. Grosse is tops in the league and is ranked ninth in the NCAA after posting 7,158 total points.
Following Saturdays meet, the Huskies head to LSU for the Joe May Invitational before returning back to Storrs in two weeks for the UConn Northeast Challenge.
Players Mentioned
