University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Big East Outdoor Track & Field Championship
Huskies Win Back-To-Back BIG EAST Championships
5/14/2022 5:47:00 PM | Men's Track and Field
BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL RESULTSÂ Â FRIDAY RECAP
STORRS, Conn. – It's back-to-back BIG EAST Championships for the UConn men's track and field team as they captured the 2022 outdoor title at the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex, successfully defending their home turf and sweeping both the indoor and outdoor conference titles this season.
The Huskies won the 2022 BIG EAST Outdoor Championship presented by JEEP by piling up 258 total points while winning 10 events and grabbing 23 total medals over the two-day event in Storrs. UConn finished ahead of Georgetown in second (125), Butler in third (109), Villanova in fourth (108), DePaul in fifth (106), Marquette in sixth (58.50), Providence in seventh (48.50) and Xavier in eighth (8).
UConn senior Jordan Torney (Toms River, NJ) was named the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Male Field Performer after his win in the decathlon and the UConn coaches where tabbed the BIG EAST Men's Coaching Staff of the Year.Â
"The men, had a few guys go down, didn't miss a beat," stated Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Greg Roy. "It's next man up, let's go and we got it done. So proud of our guys and what they accomplished. This team knows that it takes and goes out and gets the job done. Great day."
Joining Torney in winning gold for the Huskies on Saturday was senior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) in the 1500 meters, sophomore Terrel Williams (Maplewood, NJ) in the 110 meter hurdles, senior Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, NJ) in the 400 meter hurdles and freshman Marc Morrison (Orlando, Fla.) in the triple jump. On Friday the Huskies got gold medal performances from Daniel Claxton (Nesconset, NY) in the high jump, junior Travis Snyder (Saco, Maine) in the pole vault, senior Chris Keegan (West Hartford, Conn.) in the hammer, sophomore Richmond Kwaateng (Lowell, Mass.) in the long jump and sophomore Colin Winkler (Barkhamsted, Conn.) in the javelin.
The Huskies capture their sixth BIG EAST Outdoor Championship (2022, 2021, 2013, 2011, 2002, 1982) and their 16th overall BIG EAST title. The UConn women also captured the BIG EAST title, marking the first time in program history the men's and women's teams won the conference title in the BIG EAST outdoor championship in the same season.
On the track…
- UConn senior Eric Van Der Els (Norwalk, Conn.) earned the Huskies first gold medal on Saturday, winning the 1500 meters, his first career gold in the event. Van Der Els broke through the pack on the final lap and held off the competition down the stretch to win with a time of 3:46.64.
- Junior Wellington Ventura (Cresskill, NJ) set a new PR in the 400 meter hurdles and won gold to defend his title from last spring. Ventura topped the field with a time of 50.61 seconds.Â
- Freshman Terrel Williams (Maplewood, NJ) defended his title in the 110 meter hurdles, taking home the gold with a time of 13.95 seconds. Williams also scored in the 400 meter hurdles at 55.53 seconds for seventh.
- In the 400 meter dash, junior Noah Woodman (Hampsted, N.H.) won the silver medal with a second place finish in a time of 46.61 seconds.
- Junior Aaron Hackett (Upper Marlboro, Md.) scored with a fourth place finish in the 100 meter dash and posted a new PR with a time of 10.71 seconds. Hackett also picked up points in the 200 meter dash with a time of 21.73 seconds for a fifth place finish.
- Sophomore Richmond Kwaateng (Lowell, Mass.), who broke the school record in the 100 in Friday's prelim, finished fifth in the finals on Saturday with a time of 10.73 seconds. Junior Josiah Thompson (Jamaica, NY) was sixth at 10.81 seconds.
- Junior James Maniscalco (Fairfield, Conn.) had a fifth place finish in the 5,000 meters, clocking in at 14:29.14.
- Sophomore Mahamed Sharif (Westbrook, Maine) took sixth in the 800 meters with a time of 1:51.05.
- UConn's 4x100 relay team of Thompson, Conor Mahoney, Hackett and Patrick Oatman (Shrewsbury, Mass.) opened the track events by winning silver with a time of 40.78 seconds, the best time by the Huskies this season.
- The Huskies also took home the silver in the 4x400 relay as the team of Sharif, Mahony, Woodman and Ventura clocked in at 3:11.07.
In the field…
- Senior Jordan Torney (Toms River, NJ) repeated as the BIG EAST decathlon champion, winning the gold with a total of 7477 points. Torney was first in the 100 meter dash (10.93), the long jump (7.23m), the 400 meters (48.68), the 110 meter hurdles (14.60), and the pole vault (4.55m). Classmate Benjamin Grosse (Wayzata, Minn.) took the silver medal and finished with a career-best 7329 points. Grosse had first place finishes in the high jump (1.99m), the discus throw (42.70m) and the javelin (56.50m). Grosse scored in the high jump on Friday as well, hitting a height of 1.94 meters.
- Freshman Marc Morrison (Orlando, Fla.) earned his first career gold medal by winning the triple jump on Saturday. Morrison, who was fourth in the long jump with a new PR, took first by besting the field with a new PR leap of 14.60 meters in the triple. Classmate Kasey Savage (Tolland, Conn.) earned points with a fifth-place finish and leap of 13.99 meters.
- Senior Matthew Brady (Biddeford, Maine) won the silver in the shot put, posting a throw of 16.35 meters. Brady backed up that performance with another silver, finishing second in the discus with a throw of 47.48 meters.
- Sophomore Tyler Lyon (Albuquerque, N.M.) earned his first career championship medal by taking third for the bronze in the discus. He had a throw of 44.98 meters. He scored in the shot put with a sixth-place finish at 14.21 meters.
- Senior Chris Keegan (West Hartford, Conn.), who won the hammer on Friday, earned points for UConn in the discus with a sixth place showing at 43.62 meters, setting a new PR. He also scored in the shot put in eighth at 13.99 meters.
Players Mentioned
