The University of Connecticut Track & Field team goes into this weekend knowing how important it is. Next weekend is the Big East Indoor Championships, and if the Huskies can have a strong performance in their next two meets, then they will have the elevated confidence that’s needed to win another Big East Championship.
The Huskies will be performing in two separate meets on two separate days this weekend, with the first being on Friday, the Terrier DMR Challenge in Boston, and the second on Saturday, the Alex Wilson Invitational.
The Terrier DMR Challenge is hosted by Boston University and will be located at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center. This meet is shorter than the Huskies are used to. Kicking off at 7:15 p.m., the race is only expected to last a little over an hour and a half, with the estimated completion time at 8:50 p.m.. The first event of the meet is the men’s 800m, where senior Mahamed Sharif finds himself seeded third, 0.22 seconds behind first. The meet then concludes with the women’s DMR. Notably, the Terrier DMR Challenge will host many schools, including Stanford, Washington, Virginia Tech, BYU, Duke, North Carolina and Penn State.
The second meet of the weekend is the Alex Wilson Invitational, located in South Bend and hosted by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This meet, similar to the Terrier DMR Challenge, is a one day event. The competition is being held at Mayo Field, inside the Loftus Sports Center. The track that the athletes will be competing on is the nation’s largest NCAA legal indoor track in the country. The meet starts at 11 a.m. with the women’s weight throw, which will be immediately followed by the men’s weight throw, before concluding with the final event at 3:45 p.m., the 4×400 men’s relay. The meet will play host to TCU, Northern Arizona, Indiana, Brown and other universities from around the country.
The Huskies are looking to bring their momentum into this weekend and have a strong performance. With the Big East Championship only being a week away, this is a weekend where big results would make a massive impact on their confidence heading into next weekend, where they will look to bring home their sixth straight indoor or outdoor Big East Championship.