It’s finally here. The outdoor season kicked off with a bang as the Uconn Club Track and Field team made their way to Marlboro, NY to compete in the MSMC Invitational. The rain was lashing, the air was cold, and the inexplicable constant headwind was in full force, but it was fantastic to see such a successful start to the outdoor season.
The stars of the day in terms of club records were the female sprinters. The trio of Alanna Smith, Kayla Smith and Ava Buckmir re-wrote the history books as they all managed to put themselves on the UCCTF record board for the 100m. A. Smith was the best of the finishers, with an astounding 12.16 second clocking. K. Smith (12.69)
and Buckmir (13.22) were not far behind, as all three finished in the top five overall. No, that is not an earthquake, it is the club track world quaking in its boots as NIRCA Nationals creeps ever closer.
Also making it onto the record books was president Joe Rychwalski. The senior started his 100m campaign with an 11.25 second finish. This places him second all-time, just a few thousandths behind the leading time from 2016. In such awful weather, Rychwalski will almost certainly top the table in the coming weeks with a similar performance at the coming meets.
Also securing himself at second place in the outdoor records was Eric Meade. The freshman continued his stellar form in the indoor season with a 16.95 second effort in the 110mH.
Owen Wollenberg and Cody Stone both brought home fantastic results for the RunUC contingent in the 1500m. Wollenberg clocked in at 4:10.67, which now tops the all-time rankings outdoors. Stone was not far behind, coming through at 4:15.01. They are a great addition to the middle distance squad, and should remain a huge part of the club’s success in the coming weeks.
Also from the RunUC contingent was Colin Slavin, who finished with a stellar time of 15:35.35 in the 5,000m. Going straight to the top of the record books, Slavin is an exciting freshman prospect that ameliorates the Buckley track record for producing talented athletes.
Now some love for the field athletes, who hung on well in extremely difficult conditions to compete well against some tough division III talent. In the javelin, there were two new records, with Kadja Crapo making an instant impact in her first competition with the club. Her 31.14m throw is less than a meter behind the overall record, which has stood since 2016. Gage Rovelli also threw extremely well to get third place on the all-time list for the men. He threw 44.07m, which earned him second place overall in the competition.
Overall, it was something to behold how impressive UCCTF competed in such adverse conditions. While rival schools are running in perfect conditions, the UConn team are lying low and preparing for the worst. If UCCTF can defeat DIII schools and improve on impressive club records in such conditions, who knows what they will achieve in Olivet.
Be afraid, because the men’s basketball is not the only chip coming back to CT this year.
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