Athletics

May 18, 2018 | Athletic Communications

Track Star Susan Aneno Breaks Conference Record at AAC Championship

The junior set a new conference meet record in the 800 m race on May 13, helping the Huskies finish fourth at the outdoor championship.

Susan Aneno, a junior, set a new conference meet record in the 800 m race on May 13, helping the Huskies finish fourth at the outdoor championship. (American Athletic Conference Photo)

Susan Aneno, a junior, set a new conference meet record in the 800 m race on May 13, helping the Huskies finish fourth at the outdoor championship. (American Athletic Conference Photo)

Susan Aneno of the UConn women’s track and field team set a new conference meet record in the 800 m race on May 13 at the American Conference Outdoor Championship. Aneno successfully defended her outdoor title, while helping the Huskies to a fourth place finish and 87 points.

She also garnered the 2018 Outdoor Track and Field Most Outstanding Performance award, as announced by the American Athletic Conference on Wednesday. The award is presented to student-athletes who recorded the highest-ranking marks on the NCAA performance list at The American Outdoor Track and Field Championships this season.

“We had a lot of great performances this past weekend, and great efforts were put together,” said JJ Clark, head coach of women’s track and field. “I congratulate Susan for winning and breaking the conference record in the 800 m. Divine [Oladipo] was very active this weekend scoring in two events. She continues to develop and uses her talents to propel our team. Mia [Nahom] was sensational. I’ve never had a freshman score in three individual distance events. Overall, we were four points out of second, and the team rallied on different occasions to stay in the title hunt.”

Aneno won her second straight title in the 800 m run in record-setting style. The junior took down 2016 conference champion Rosie Chamberlain of UCF in a meet-record setting time of 2:03.89. Aneno’s performance is now the 14th fastest time in the nation.

The Huskies grabbed two of the top three spots in the event, as Katie Foley joined Aneno on the podium with a third place finish (2:07.20).

Mia Nahom placed in her first of three events on the day with a fifth place finish in the 1500 m,  after crossing the finish line in 4:32.32. The freshman continued her impressive performance with a fourth overall finish in both the 5000 m (17:24.85) and the 3000 m steeplechase (10:33.60).

Divine Oladipo, who claimed second in the discus, continued her success with a third place finish in the shot put. Oladipo threw for a distance of 16.48 m (54-01.00) on her way to claiming the bronze.

In the sprints the Huskies garnered a handful of points to keep themselves in title contention. Kat Surin garnered a fifth place finish and four points in the 400 m dash, after clocking a time of 54.68. Teammate Ashley Wiggins picked up three points in the 100 m hurdles, with her time of 13.68 in the race, and Kristina Cherrington blasted across the finish line in 1:00.93 in the 400 m hurdles, claiming two points.

Cherrington, Surin, Foley, and Aneno all finished the day as multi-event scorers, as they claimed a silver medal in the 4x400m relay. UConn (3:36.51) put together a strong performance, but ultimately fell to Houston (3:36.35) by a difference of just 0.16 seconds.