Van Der Els Sets New Record as UConn Wraps Weekend at UVA & Navy

Friday, April 22

Charlottesville, VA

9:00 AM

University of Connecticut

Virginia Challenge

Photo by: Stephen Slade

Van Der Els Sets New Record as UConn Wraps Weekend at UVA & Navy

4/23/2022 8:15:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

UVA RESULTS | NAVY RESULTS

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The UConn men's track and field team had athletes competing at a pair of unscored meets in the Navy Spring Invite and the Virigina Challenge at the University of Virginia.

Senior Eric Van Der Els set a new UConn school record on Friday night at Virginia, breaking his own mark in the 5,000 meters. Junior Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, NJ) earned a win in the 400 meter high hurdles at UVA.

Saturday's meet at Navy featured five Huskies grabbing individual victories.

At UVA

On the track…

Senior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) broke his own school record in the 5,000 meters, finishing invite race on Friday night. Van Der Els clocked a time of 13:36.28, breaking the mark of 13:49.16 that he set earlier this spring at the Raleigh Relays. He bursts up the NCAA rankings to 24th.
Junior Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, NJ) won the 400 meter high hurdles, running the event for the first time this spring. Ventura topped the field with a time of 51.48 seconds.
In the 800 meter invite race, freshman Mahamed Sharif (Westbrook, Maine) finished eighth with a time of 1:49.23, setting a new PR in the event.
Sophomore Kevin Cawley (Massapequa, NY) took 16^th in the 3000 meter steeplechase and did so with a new PR at 8:52.12, also the second fastest time in school history in the event.

At Navy

On the track…

Senior Jordan Torney (Toms River, NJ) won the 400 meter high hurdles, winning with a time of 52.52 seconds. In the 110 meter hurdles, freshman Terrel Williams (Maplewood, NJ) finished third and clocked in at 14.06 seconds.
Junior Josiah Thompson (Jamaica, NY) finished fourth in the 100 meter dash clocking in at 10.86 seconds. Senior Aaron Hackett (Upper Marlboro, Md.) was sixth at 10.89 seconds.
In the 200 meters, junior Joseph O'Brien (Shrewsbury, Mass.) was fifth with a time of 21.59 seconds.
The Huskies finished 2-3-4 in the 800 meters with Marzio Mastroianni (Branford, Conn.) coming in second at 1:52.67. Austen Hutchens was third in 1:53.02 and Samuel Geisler (Newington, Conn.) fourth at 1:53.42.
Senior Joshua Bedard (Tolland, Conn.) took second in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:52.38
The 4x400 meter relay team of Torney, Nicholas Pronovost (Coventry, Conn.), Hutchens and Benjamin Grosse (Wayzata, Minn.) finished second at 3:18.43.

In the field…

Senior Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, NY) got his second win of the spring in the high jump, winning a jump off at the height of 2.06 meters.
Junior Travis Snyder (Saco, Maine) earned his second win of the spring in the pole vault, clearing a height of 5.17 meters.
Freshman Gabriel Fountain (Durham, Conn.) won the javelin throw with a throw of 60.47 meters.
Freshman Marc Morrison (Orlando, Fla.) won the long jump with a leap of 6.84 meters.
Sophomore Kevin Cetin (Massapequa, NY) finished third in the hammer throw with a toss of 54.92 meters.