Men's track and field takes IC4A title

The UConn men’s track and field team completed a trifecta of titles, as it capped off its indoor season by finishing in first place at the IC4A Championships in Boston, Mass.

Competing in their third championship meet in as many weeks, the Huskies proved once again they were a step ahead of the field. UConn finished the meet with 104 total points, nearly doubling the second place team, Cornell, who finished with 57.5 points. The Huskies won the Big East, New England and IC4A titles by an average of 50 points, with the closest meet a 36.5 point win in the Big East Championship. It was just the second time in program history that the Huskies have won the Big East, New England and IC4A title in the same season.

“It is a tough win for a lot of reasons, you need quality, and in our case we were going to our third consecutive championship,” Coach Gregory Roy said. “Our kids were spectacular throughout the championship season.”

Senior Alex Bennatan captured the only individual title of the meet for the Huskies, finishing the 800 meter run in a time of 1:49.45.

“Through the first 200 meters I was sitting in last place,” Bennatan said. “I was thinking two things: one, too much bacon this morning and two, Coach [Roy] is going to chew me out. But it turned out the field went out too fast, and I was able to pick them off one by one.”

The Huskies also took first place in the 4x800 meter relays where each of the four members came from a different graduating class. Freshman Nick O’Leary, sophomore Phil Caldwell, junior Paul DeSalvo and senior Tim Bennatan finished in a collective time of 7:27.66 for the first place finish.

Despite just two first place finishes, the Huskies were able to dominate the IC4A title meet with balance and consistency. UConn earned top five finishes in long and short distance track and team relays as well as jumping and throwing field events.

Twenty of the Huskies’ points came from the 60 meter hurdles and 60 meter dash. In the hurdles, sophomore Selwyn Maxwell Jr. took second place with a time of 7.88 seconds. Junior Claudio DelliCarpini also finished in seventh with a time of 8.02 seconds. In the 60 meter dash, seniors Jesse Drinks and Kevin Smith finished in fourth and sixth place, respectively, while junior Darnell Cummings also chipped in two points with a seventh place finish in a time of 6.88 seconds.

In the 1,000 meter run, freshmen Alvaro Chavez and Alex Levine finished fourth and fifth, respectively, and were separated by just five one-hundredths of a second.

In the field events, senior Josh Faboyede finished in second in the weight throw with a heave of 19.25 meters. Junior Cory Duggan claimed a second place finish of his own in the pole vault with a leap of 5.10 meters. Senior Noel James added a fourth place finish, and five points, to the Huskies total with a bound of 2.06 meters in the high jump.

Junior Jesse Chapman was one of three Huskies to finish in the top five in the heptathlon, taking second place on the back of first place finishes in the 60 meter hurdles and the shot put. Senior Jake Waruch also took fourth and freshmen Kris Horn, fifth.

“We don’t have any big individual stars, just a bunch of talent distributed evenly across the board,” Bennatan said.

After a championship-filled indoor season, the Huskies will look to continue their outstanding year when the outdoor season begins on March 23 at the UCF Invite.