HUSKIES ENTER CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON-University of Connecticut Athletics

KENOSHA, Wisc. – The UConn women's cross country team is headed out to Wisconsin for the 2023 BIG EAST Championships presented by JEEP on Saturday afternoon.  The Huskies will line up in the 11-team field looking to use their "For the Pack" mentality toward success in this year's title race.

This year's championship is hosted by Marquette University at Wayne Dannehl Course in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Following the practice day on Friday, Oct. 27, the Championship will begin on Saturday, Oct. 28 with the Men's 8K championship race at 12 p.m. ET. At 12:50 p.m., the Women's 6K race will ststart an awards presentation at 1:40 p.m./12:40 p.m. The event will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network.

Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Beth Alford-Sullivan will be taking the Huskies to their second conference championship race under her guidance and off a strong fall where UConn posted a top-five finish in every race they participated in. 

"We have had some great success each meet and building momentum meet to meet," stated senior Jenna Zydanowicz (West Hartford, Conn.).  "I think that is really powerful to accomplish our goals going into conference and regionals.  We set the goal of being top-five at each meet this season and we have met that so far.  So now we want to reach even farther."

Junior Chloe Thomas (Dundas, Ontario) echoed her team'sthoughts heading into this weekend.  "The goal for the BIG EAST Championship is to crack into that ttoo three.  Anything can happen and we have been working really hard all season.  To see the improvement in my teammates has been super exciting.We are a really excreadynd ready to go."

Thomas has had a great regular season for the Huskies, coming into this rthe off three straight personal best times and three consecutive top-seven finishes. Last season, Thomas was an All-BIG EAST finisher, taking 15th overall at the

Zydanowicz gives the Huskies a strong one-two punch at the top of the lineup.  She isoffing off a personal best time and 11th place finish at the Arturo Barrios Invitational last time out, just missing out on her third top-10 finish.

The Huskies were third at last season's BIG EAST Championship and were third at the race in 2021 as well.  UConn's roster also features senior Sophie Coughlin (Melbourne, Australia), grad student Caroline Webb (Greenwich, Conn.), sophomore Madison Relyea (Mayfield, N.Y.) and senior Caroline Towel (Bedford, Massare .) who all ran last year's title race.

UConn's success on Saturday will be a "Pack" effort, as it has been all year. "The team motto is 'For the Pack' and it means is run, train, do all the little things for the group and I think we really embody that as a team," stated Thomas. "We are really focused.  We run for each other, you have to run for your team and love your teammates.  You have to really care about them and how the team does as a whole or you're not going to get through that 6K."

Zydanwoicz says this Husky "Pack" is ready to get it done. "We run for the pack, run for our teammates.  I think going in we are in a really great place and I am excited to see what we can accomplish."