The Huskies are heading to Florida for a three-day competition. Photo by Nicholas Hampton/The Daily Campus
UConn’s track and field team is headed to Gainesville, Florida to take part in the three-day Pepsi Florida Relays. Each day will consist of a mixture of track and field events beginning Thursday and ending on Saturday.
The Huskies are sending about half their roster to the meet, which will take place at the University of Florida’s Percy Beard Track. The team will need contributions from across the board if they want to carry its earlier success into the second outdoor meet of the season.
It all starts with the upperclassmen for UConn, as its seniors remain some of the top in the competition. Senior Kyle Brackman is coming off a strong opening meet where he finished first in the 5000m run. Brackman had previously sat out the indoor season but started the spring with a bang and holds the top time in The American after last week’s meet.
The same goes for the Huskies’ field athletes. Senior Malik Snead has continued to lead the pack in the field and kept up his strong senior campaign with a third-place finish in the long jump in his last meet. Junior Jordan Torney set a new personal best in the pole vault in last week’s meet with a height of 4.45 meters. Torney also set a personal best in the 400m race, finishing in fourth. He has a lot to build off of heading into this weekend’s meet.
The team will rely on its upperclassmen to get them points early in the meet, but what pushes the team to the next level is the performances of its underclassmen.
Sophomore Safir Scott returned after sitting out the indoor season and earned his first win after finishing first in the high jump, matching his career-best of 2.12 meters. He is a welcome addition back to the team and should continue to perform well as the season continues.
Sophomore Tyler Gleen is competing in the 800m race after finishing the 1500m last week with a new personal best time. This is the first time Gleen will be competing in the 800 this season but given the success he had at the end of the indoor season, he should be a strong competitor this weekend.
This meet comes six days after the Huskies’ previous competition, so it will be interesting to see how the team will handle the quick turnaround. You can watch the meet on SEC Network + and Watch ESPN from 1 to 5p.m. on Friday and 2:30-7:45 on Saturday.
Conner Gilson is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at conner.gilson@uconn.edu.