University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Set for Columbia East-West Challenge
1/26/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
NEW YORK - The UConn women's track and field team compete against a stacked field of competition Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Columbia East-West Challenge at the Armory Track & Field Center in New York City.
Connecticut will compete against the No. 1 team in the nation, Oregon, in addition to UCLA, Cornell, Harvard, Penn and meet host, Columbia, at the Armory on Friday and Saturday. The meet can be seen live on RunnerSpace +Plus.
The meet will kick off on Friday, Jan. 27 with the 60m hurdle trials. Friday's portion of the competition is comprised of the short sprints and the distance medley relay and will run from 2:30 p.m. to 4:10 p.m. Events will resume Saturday at 6 p.m. with the mile run.
Sophomore Courtney Akerley, senior Sydnee Over, junior Katie Foley and sophomore Lindsay Kane will anchor UConn's distance medley relay team, which will compete at 3:15 p.m. on Friday.
Senior Taylor Anderson will search for a second-straight first place finish in the 60m dash, after winning that event at the Vanderbilt Invitational on Saturday. She will compete along with her sister, junior Elise Anderson, in the 60m dash preliminaries at 2:55 p.m. Friday with the finals to follow at 4:05 p.m.
The Huskies are coming off a solid performance at the Vanderbilt Invitational. UConn set eight new personal bests and had at least five athletes record top-ranked times in the conference down in Nashville.
The throwers continued to improve with three new personal records at the Vandy Invite. In the weight throw, freshman Chanell Botsisshattered her previous personal record to finish seventh overall with a mark of 57' 6.5'' (17.54m). Junior Kelli Thomascame in at 11thafter she recorded a 55' 3.5'' (16.85m) throw.
Freshman Divine Oladipowas one of UConn's top finishers after she boasted a personal best 48' 0.75 (14.65m) in the shot put to capture third place. The throwers, in addition to the jumps, pole vault and mile run competitors will all open day-two of the competition at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Players Mentioned
