Sophomore Maresa Hense and junior Josh Mooney broke school records in their respective events at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, California, according to an April 17 announcement.
The achievements by Hense and Mooney are significant for the Connecticut Huskies men’s track and field program, highlighting individual performances on a national stage.
Hense competed in the heptathlon, finishing with 5,816 points to place eighth overall. On Wednesday, she placed ninth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.91 seconds and secured second place in the high jump by clearing 1.71 meters. She also finished eleventh in shot put (11.51 meters) and eighth in the 200 meters (24.24 seconds). On Thursday, Hense took seventh place in long jump (5.92 meters), tenth in javelin (34.77 meters), and capped her performance with a win in the 800 meters (2:09.03).
Mooney set a new program record by finishing third overall with a total of 8,033 points in the decathlon. He was ninth in both the 100-meter dash (10.87 seconds) and high jump (1.90 meters), eighth in long jump (7.12 meters), tenth in shot put (14.00 meters), seventh in the 400 meters (49.22 seconds), and fifth in both pole vault (4.70 meters) and the 110-meter hurdles (14.11 seconds). Mooney also achieved third place finishes in discus throw (44.47 meters) as well as first place finishes for javelin throw at 68.55 meters before closing out his meet with tenth place for the 1500-meter run at a time of 4:52:09.
Another competitor from Connecticut, Diarmuid O’Connor, finished tenth overall with a score of 7,578 points—his performance included second-place finishes both for shot put at a distance of 14.64 meters as well as crossing second for his heat during his run through fifteen hundred meter race timing out around four minutes twenty-three point forty-two seconds.
These results underscore continued progress within Connecticut Huskies men’s track and field athletes competing among top collegiate performers.
