The UConn track and field team will head to Austin, Texas and Raleigh, N.C. for meets this week.
Connecticut will send a handful of their best jumpers to Austin to compete in a stacked field.
Joshua Mooney and Diarmuid O’Connor will kick off the decathlon events. O’Connor won the Big East Outdoor Championships decathlon in 2024 with a score of 7,610 points. The Ireland native earned All-American status after finishing 13th in the Division 1 championship.
Kasey Savage and Marc Morrison will compete in the long jump at Texas. Morrison is coming off a 12th-place finish at the NCAA indoor championships, earning Second Team All-American honors. Savage, along with O’Connor, were both named Most Outstanding Field Performers at the Big East Championships. Savage earned an astounding fourth-consecutive High Point Performer of the Meet at the Big East Championships, tallying 18.5 points.
Kyle Johnson rounds out the men’s field in the Lone Star State by competing in the triple jump. Johnson also earned a Second Team All-American nod, coming in tenth place at the indoor championships.
Two women will be competing at the Texas Relays. A’Liyah Thomas will participate in the long jump. Thomas took home All-Big East honors for the indoor Track & Field season. She also won the gold in the Big East Championship in the long jump.
Zayin Roe is the other representative on the women’s side, competing in the triple jump. The senior sits eighth all-time in UConn history for the triple jump with a jump of 12.5 meters. She will look to climb the record books this weekend.
Other runners will head to NC State to compete against collegiate programs from across the country.
The Huskies have four runners in the 1500-meter run. Loghan Hughes, Faith Kiplimo, Calista Mayer and Madison Relyea will compete in a field of almost 300 competitors.
Jenna Zydanowicz will attempt to rewrite the record books once again this weekend in the 5000-meter run. Zydanowicz took home gold in the 5000 at the Big East Championships, while her teammate Kiplimo grabbed the silver. The West Hartford native set the school record for the 3000-meter run back in February, with a time of 9:06.07. A race against top tier competition could land Zydanowicz back in the record books in Raleigh.
Chloe Trudel will race in the 10,000-meter race. The junior has a personal best 5K time of 16:53 and a 6K time of 21:24.
Malin Rahm and Sarah Trainor will round out the women’s competitions in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Griffin Mandirola is running in the men’s 1500-meter at NC State. The freshman previously ran the 3200-meter race in 9:15.
Travis Martin and Alec Sauter will continue the distance racing trend, competing in the 5000-meter run. Sauter broke the four-minute barrier in the 1500 during his freshman year, running 3:53.55.
The final competitor of the weekend is Daniel Hilmer, who will race in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
The Huskies have a lot to prove in two of the most competitive meets of the season.