The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/20/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Ed Ryan Jamaal Smith leaps in the long jump on April 4.

More often than not, the men's track team competes away from Storrs, participating in large-scale invitational meets all over the country. This weekend though, the Huskies had an opportunity to show off for the home fans in the UConn Spring Invitational, and they did not disappoint.

The Huskies took a total of 11 first place finishes out of 19 events to run away from the competition and finish first overall with 113 points. Boston University took second overall with only 46 points, third place Brown finished with 25 points and Quinnipiac finished in fourth with only five points.

Two UConn athletes qualified for the NCAA Regionals as well. Senior shot putter Andrew Dubs threw a qualifying distance of 55 feet, 3.75 inches, which was also good for first place on the day. Also qualifying for regionals was Kyle Edmonds in the 400-meter hurdles. He finished in first place with a time of 52.15 seconds. He nearly qualified in the 110-meter hurdles as well, winning that race with a time of 14.55 seconds.

The Huskies were dominant in the field events. Jim Roy barely edged out teammate Ed Strosnick in the javelin, winning with a distance of 196 feet, 7 inches. Strosnick finished right behind. In the pole vault, Matt Alexander took first place with a height of 15 feet, 7 inches and Ellis Gaulden won the high jump with a height of 6 feet, 8.75 inches.

On the track, things were no different as the Huskies dominated nearly every event. Scott Johnson got started with a victory in the 3000-meter Steeplechase. In the 100-meter dash, three Huskies ran their fastest times of the season, including Anthony Pomo, who finished first with a time of 10.68. Tyler Hopson and Anthony Burris were the other two who set season highs, both finishing with a time of 10.80.

Tim Bennatan then won the 800m race with a time of 1:52.38, and following him both relay teams came away victorious. The 4 x 100 team ran a time of 41.44 and the 4 x 400 team ran a time of 3:21.88.

Following the meet, head coach Greg Roy was pleased with the result and looked ahead to the future. He said, "We had a lot of good performances that will move us in the direction we need to, towards the Big East championship, which is in two weeks." Coach Roy also added, "Each weekend we ask ourselves: Are we a better team at the end of the day than we were at the beginning, and I'd say we were today."

The UConn Spring Invitational was the last home meet of the season for the Huskies, who will now take to the road and are back in action Thursday for the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.

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