Track & Field Puts Up Stellar Performances at Suffolk Ice Breaker Invitational

Saturday, January 13

Boston, MA

University of Connecticut

Suffolk University Invite

Photo by: UConn Athletics

Track & Field Puts Up Stellar Performances at Suffolk Ice Breaker Invitational

1/13/2024 8:20:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Suffolk Ice Breaker Invitational Final Results

BOSTON – The University of Connecticut men's and women's track & field teams got 2024 off to a strong start at the Suffolk Invitational Saturday night at the Track at New Balance.

Both the men's and women's teams came back from the short break with proud performances to look back on in order to set the right expectation in the 2023-24 season. There were 13 first place finishes for the Huskies, two facility records, two new indoor school records, and 10 broken personal records that placed in the top-five of their event.

"We started off with a big bang," commented Director of Track & Field Beth Alford-Sullivan. "We had a great last two weeks of preseason camp, and the team has utilized that time very well and it was great to get out on the New Balance Track in Boston."

For the men, graduate student Travis Martin took first in the 1000 running a time of 2:22.99 seconds which was just outside of the men's indoor school record, but surely enough for the facility record at 2:25.47. Closely following that performance would be senior Mahamed Sharif with a personal best and a second-place finish of 2:23.40. To add, junior Samuel Geisler and graduate student Kevin Cawley also broke personal bests placing third and fourth in the event and running a time of 2:24.37 and 2:26.94.

Freshman Mawali Osunniyi broke his personal record with a massive result of 2.16m in the high jump and took first place in the event. Freshman Dar Jankovic placed third in the event with a mark of 2.00m. Sophomore William Watson broke his personal record in the 60-meter hurdles, placing first and running a time of 8.17 seconds. Then, sophomore Mekhi Stone broke a personal best in the 200 with a blistering time of 21.50 also topping the leaderboard in the event. Following up with that performance would be freshman Noble Gongon with a second-place result of 21.76 seconds. To round out the day for the men, senior Kasey Savage broke a personal best in the long jump with a mark of 7.28m.

For the women, in the 1000 senior Jenna Zydanowicz broke her personal record and set a new indoor school record with a first-place time of 2:46.67 seconds. Freshman Malin Rahm followed closely behind in the event with a strong second-place finish of 2:52.79; including freshman Calista Mayer and sophomore Megan Perrotta placing third and fifth respectively (Mayer (2:56.29), Perrotta (2:58.86)). Then, junior A'liyah Thomas broke the facility record in the long jump with a strong result of 6.25m securing first place in the event (previous record at 6.01m). Also in the long jump, senior Jasmine Barrow placed third with a jump of 5.94m. Senior Caroline Towle clocked a strong time in the mile placing first and running a time of 4:58.36.

Additionally, in the mixed 1600 Relay the Huskies broke the indoor school record as sophomore Zachary Barry, sophomore Caroline Rice, sophomore Anish Rajamanickam, and Perrotta teamed up, finishing second with a time of 3:38.20 seconds. Following close behind that group were sophomore Max Ringwall, Mayer, senior Stephen Sutton, and sophomore Jessica Starr with a third-place finish of 3:39.74.

Up Next

The Huskies next head to the Collegiate Showdown meet in Boston on Saturday, Jan. 20

At Suffolk Invitational

For the men:

Travis Snyder in PV (1st, 5.15m)

Carl Gaines in 60mH (5th, 8.38)

Richmond Kwaateng in 60m (4th, 6.86), Mekhi Stone (3rd, 6.93), Marc Morrison (4th, 6.97)

Joron Harrell in LJ (5th, 6.65m)

Travis Roux in WT (1st, 18.32m), Alex Krause (5th, 16.92m)

Nicholas Connelly in SP (2nd, 16.50m), Garrett McHeard (3rd, 16.12m)

For the women:

Anna Connors in 60m (2nd, 7.91)