FILE- UConn can rest some tired legs now that their season ended in Buffalo on Friday Nov. 9, 2018. (Charlotte Lao/ The Daily Campus)
UConn cross country traveled to Buffalo, New York on Friday for the 2018 NCAA Division I Northeast Regional Championship, where they placed 14th out of 34 teams.
UConn was not one of the 31 teams to qualify for the national championship in Wisconsin, so this was their last race of the season. Syracuse and Iona received bids to the national championship from the northeast by placing first and second, respectively, the same spots as in last year’s race.
The Huskies were led by their captain, redshirt senior Patrick Begley, who placed 12th in a field of 241 runners with a time of 33:16.1 in the 10k. He improved nine spots from his 21st place finish at last year’s race. Begley fell just short of individually qualifying for the national championship, but he did earn All-Northeast Region honors for the second consecutive year.
Behind him was redshirt sophomore Eric van der Els, who finished 68th with a time of 34:32.8 and senior Kyle Barber, who finished 73rd with a 34:34.4 time. The final UConn runner in the top 100 was sophomore Sean Parker, who placed 96th with a time of 34:58.1.
Rounding out the Husky finishers were junior James Mas (105th, 35:06.7), sophomore Will Brisman (137th, 35:38.2) and senior Kyle Brackman (141st, 35:42.4).
Even though the Huskies fell from their 11th place finish in last year’s regional, head coach Greg Roy was proud of this year’s team and especially the seniors.
“This season, we had some guys show they are really ready to compete at this level,” Roy said to UConn Athletics. “And we will really miss our seniors. They were an experienced, hard working group who contributed a ton to this program.”
For the seniors, their time as members of the team is now done, but the underclassmen showed real potential all season long. They have a bright future and the team will definitely look to accomplish even more next season.
Danny Barletta is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at daniel.barletta@uconn.edu.