University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
American Athletic Conference Championship
Huskies Head to Memphis for AAC Title Race
10/30/2019 4:21:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
WATCHÂ | AAC Championship Central
STORRS, Conn. – The UConn men's cross country team is bound for Memphis to take part in the 2019 American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championship on Friday morning. This will be the Huskies seventh appearance at the league's title race.
"It's been an interesting season with this young group," stated director of cross-country and track & field Greg Roy. "In the early part of this season, I was kind of focused on looking toward track, and that would really guide our training and we would compete on the day. And low and behold, here we are and we have a cross country team!"
"We are excited and I am excited to watch us run this weekend," stated Roy. "It's been great to see us develop to where we are. If we take another step from Princeton to this meet, we are going to be pretty dangerous. That's what we are looking for. Get out there and compete, take another step up in level, and we will be a pretty darn good team."
The American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships is set to commence in Memphis, Tennessee, at Shelby Farms Park on Friday, Nov. 1. The men's 8K race starts at 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET, and can be viewed live on Facebook via the American Digital Network.
Defending champion Tulsa is in search of their six-straight championship at this year's race. The Golden Hurricanes have won every AAC title race since they joined the conference in 2014. The only other team to claim the title was Louisville who won the inaugural 2013 AAC crown.
The Huskies, who will return to the Big East next season, twice finished as a runner-up (2017, 2015) at the race and are headed to Memphis looking to leave the conference on a high note. "Our guys get that this is the last time around in the AAC and I think our goal is to make sure the AAC remembers us for sure," commented Roy.
UConn's line-up has a solid three at the top in r-junior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.), r-sophomore Will Brisman (Fairfield, Conn.) and sophomore James Maniscalco (Fairfield, Conn.).  Van Der Els, the team's captain, has had a break-out season, recording a win at the UMass Invite to start the year and is coming off a top-10 finish (9th) at the Princeton Invitational two weeks ago. Last season, Van Der Els flirted with an All-AAC bid by finishing 19th at the rain soaked title race.
Brisman has also taken a leap this season and comes into the championship race off the fastest 8k time of his career, 24:09.0 at Princeton, good for eighth. Maniscalco continues to get better every week and is also coming off a career-best time in an 8k race, going 24:37.9 at Princeton.
A pair of freshmen in Kabir Chavan (Fairfield, Conn.) and Angel Vicioso (Norwalk, Conn.) have come on and are continuing to round into mid-season form as they get set to run their first conference championship.
Following this weekend's conference championship, the Huskies will next run in the NCAA Northeast Regional in Buffalo, N.Y.
Players Mentioned
