Track practice underway in Greer Fieldhouse (Jon Sammis/The Daily Campus)
Both the UConn men’s and women’s track and field teams made the trip down to New York City this weekend, taking part in the Columbia Challenge at the NYC Armory. The Huskies put up a respectable performance overall, placing eighth out of 16 in the men’s scored events and fourth out of 37 in the women’s College events.
The men’s team earned the bulk of their 19 points in the field events, with four different athletes earning top ten finishes despite sending a limited squad down to New York to compete, head coach Greg Roy said.
The women’s team dominated the field competitions, as sophomore Divine Oladipo placed second in the shot put with a 49’6” toss, while sophomore Chanell Botsis and junior Amaris Blount placed second and third in the weight throw, with 58’9” and 58’8.5” hurls respectively.
The men’s team gained the highest marks in the long jump, as junior Malik Snead placed 5th with a 7.29m leap, while freshman Jordan Torney placed 7th with a jump of 7.16m. Torney had himself a busy day, placing tenth in the 60m hurdles as well with a time of 8.3 seconds.
Two Huskies, junior Ian Bergere and senior Chandler Ives, placed in the top ten of the pole vault, with jumps of 16’4.75″ and 15’5″ to finish fifth and 10th respectively.
In the mile run, senior captain Mike O’Donnell posted an impressive 4:07.97 time, good enough for 19th in meet and second best in the AAC this season.
The men’s squad also competed in the two relay events. The distance medley team placed 7th in the event with a time of 9:52.32, the fastest time in the AAC so far this season and the 4×400 team placed eighth in the relay, turning in a time of 3:20.9.
The women showed out in the relay events, as both teams competing in the distance medley relay placed in the top 10.
The Huskies’ next meet will be the New England Championships, taking place this Friday and Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Field Center in Boston, Mass..
Luke Swanson is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at luke.swanson@uconn.edu.
