Sophomore runner Susan Aneno’s cross-country trip this week to Eugene, Oregon, and the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be her latest adventure in what has been an eventful two years.
Originally from Mpigi, Uganda on the eastern side of Africa, Aneno’s journey to UConn began in high school after she received interest from head coach J.J. Clark.
“I knew Coach Clark before I came to the U.S. because he went to Uganda to recruit me when I was in high school,” says Aneno. “He was the first American coach I met, and all along I wanted to run for him.”
However, fate would put Aneno at Middle Tennessee State for her freshman season, where she ran cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track for the Blue Raiders. Aneno competed in the NCAA Regionals in outdoor competition, falling just short of a trip to Oregon last year.
She transferred to UConn as a sophomore, just in time to compete during the outdoor season in 2017. The decision to transfer came relatively easily to Aneno, once she had gained her footing as a student-athlete in the U.S.
“UConn is a great school in terms of academics and it has a great business program,” she says. “I was taking accounting, so I knew if I got into the School of Business at UConn, I would have a better opportunity after graduation.”
Another reason for choosing UConn was to be closer to her uncle and cousins in Connecticut – her closest family members that aren’t almost 7,000 miles away in Africa. And getting to run for Clark made UConn a slam-dunk.
“Given Coach Clark’s history in training good 800m runners, I knew if I trained with him, he would make me a great runner too,” she says.
Now with the chance to compete for UConn in the 800m event at her first-career NCAA Championships, Aneno and Clark traveled to Eugene on Monday afternoon to prepare for her semifinal race on Thursday at 9:14 p.m. (ET).
“Knowing that I’m representing UConn makes me so happy,” she says. “I hope I can do my best and put UConn on top of the list.”
Aneno has already enjoyed a successful inaugural campaign for the Huskies, earning gold medals in both the 4×4 (3:43.42) and 400m (54.47) at the UConn Northeast Challenge on April 15.
At the American Outdoor Track and Field Championships, she won the 800m in a time of 2:04.97, while placing fifth in the 400m (54.31) and 4×4 (3:41.91).
“I have always been optimistic and tried to work hard to get below two minutes in the 800m,” says Aneno, who qualified for NCAA’s last week at the NCAA East Preliminary in Lexington, Kentucky, with a school-record run of 2:02.66.
“Running 800m now in the world, you must get below two minutes to qualify for championships or the Olympics, and that’s my goal,” adds the sophomore runner. “I am still working hard to get there.”
Aneno is the only athlete representing UConn, on the men’s or women’s side, at the NCAA Outdoor Championships this season. Despite that deserved recognition, she wishes her teammates were joining her in Oregon.
“I really would love to be together, train, and go to nationals with my teammates,” she says, “but hopefully next season we all make it.”
As Aneno prepares for her first trip to Oregon, she does so as UConn’s last track and field representative of the 2016-17 season. She will attempt to make her great sophomore season a historic one for the program.
