University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Head Out To World Famous Penn Relays
4/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
April 22, 2010
STORRS, Conn. - The University of Connecticut men's track and field team heads down to Philadelphia, Pa. to compete in the 116th annual Penn Relays from Thursday, April 22 to Saturday, April 24. The Huskies will head out with close to a full team and will not be competing at the Wildcat Invitational on Saturday.
The meet will feature Olympic Champion and world record holder Usain Bolt in the USA vs. the World 4x100 meter relay event.
The majority of the Huskies will compete on Friday and Saturday at the meet with the only men's action on Thursday coming in the distance events on Thursday night.
UConn will kick off their Friday at 10 a.m. with the high jump and on of the three pole vault events on the weekend. Marquis Thomas will compete in the high jump for the Huskies. He has notched a height of 2.05 meters this season which ranks 41st on the East Regional performance list. Dylan Dombrowski will compete in the pole vault also at 10 a.m.
At 11:15 a.m., Mike Alleman will begin his first of two throwing events with the shot put. Alleman has notched a personal best throw of 17.61 meters at the Spec Towns Invitational on April 9 which ranks him 19th on the east performance list and 31st in the nation in 2010.
The 4x100 relay heats will begin at 12:35 p.m. and Alleman will compete in UConn's next event, the discus, at 1:30 p.m. Alleman's toss of 49.67 meters won him the discus event last weekend at "The Dogfight" with Albany on April 17 and put him into 11th place in the BIG EAST.
The 4 x 200 meter relay heats begin at 1:50 p.m. of which UConn will be a part of and pole vaulters Zach Meverden and Matt Alexander will compete in the next individual event for the Huskies at 3 p.m. Alexander had a height of 4.80 meters last weekend in "The Dogfight" which landed him in second place.
Aaron King will put his long jumping skills to the test at 3:30 p.m. King ranks 43rd in the east region with a long jump of 7.25 meters that he recorded in the Texas Relays Decathlon on March 31.
Relay events will conclude Friday's competition. At 4 p.m., the Huskies will run in the "signature event of the Relays", the Championship of Americas Distance Medley, their first of two Championship of Americas races on the weekend. At 4:40 p.m. UConn will compete in the 4 x 400 meter relay heats to finish out their day.
Saturday events begin early as both Jamaal Smith and Tyrone Faverey will start the day off in the triple jump competition at 9 a.m. Smith's triple jump of 15.03 meters recorded at the Spec Towns Invitational ranks him 36th in the east region and 67th in the nation. Faverey is coming off of a triple jump first place finish at "The Dogfight" last weekend with a launch of 14.71 meters.
Another duo will compete at 12:15 p.m. as Patrick Sampson and Josh Faboyede prepare for the hammer throw event. With his outstanding performance in the pole vault at "The Dogfight", Kyle Duggan has qualified for the elite pole vault championship on Saturday at 2 p.m. Duggan finished with a first place showing of 5.21 meters on April 17 which moved him up to 14th place in the east and 26th nationally.
The meet will conclude on a high note for the Huskies as their 4 x 800 meter relay team competes at 4:20 p.m. on Saturday afternoon in the Championship of Americas race. The Huskies are ranked fifth among the teams qualifying for this race, which track fans are calling the race of the weekend.
The Huskies have the one-two punch of Michael Rutt and Brian Gagnon along with Alex and Tim Bennatan who have also been stellar this season. They will be up against Penn State who is a five-time winner of the race, Texas, who is a two-time defending champion and the elite college team of Oregon who is competing in the event for the first time.
Follow along with the meet at ThePennRelays.com where you can find live results and check back with UConnHuskies.com for a complete wrap up of the Huskies' performance this weekend.
Players Mentioned
