Track and hockey teams bring home awards

After winning the team's first-ever Big East championship in 2008, the UConn women's indoor track and field team repeated that feat as league champs this year. --------------------------------------------------------- Photo Courtesy of UConn Athletic Communications

As we wait to see what exciting bounces the NCAA Tournaments have in Storrs for us, lets take a moment to celebrate some outstanding UConn athletes in other winter sports.

• this is the second straight season that UConn’s men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams have won their respective Big East championships.

• for the fourth time in his 20 years at UConn, Greg Roy was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Northeast Region Indoor Men’s Track and Field Head Coach of the Year for leading the Huskies to their 15th New England Championship in the past 16 years.

• women’s track and field head coach Bill Morgan, and his assistant coach Clive Terrelonge, were named the Northeast Region Head Coach and Assistant Coach of the Year respectively.

• at the conclusion of the NCAA Indoor Championship held at Texas A&M the second week in March, five Connecticut track and field student-athletes earned All-American status: Senior Brian Gagnon, junior Mike Rutt (both of whom finished in the top 8 in the country in the 800-meter run), senior Marquis Thomas (who finished in the top 10 in the high jump), junior Carin Knight (who placed 8th in the high jump) and freshman Victoria Flowers (7th in the weight throw) were named All-Americans.

Knight saved the best for last, turning in her best jump of the season (1.80 meters) for the College Station meet.

Coach Morgan noted, “Carin showed great composure clearing 1.80 meters on her first attempt… With great attempts at the 1.83 meter mark, I felt that she showed the energy we have been looking for.”

Coupled with Victoria Flowers’ record-breaking performance in the weight throw (a New England record of 20.74 meters), Knight had spearheaded the women’s team to the New England Championship in Boston before heading for the nationals in Texas.

“We are pleased how everyone was able to step up to the high level of competition to win our second championship meet of the season,” Morgan said after the Boston meet.

After winning the team’s first-ever Big East title in 2008, Morgan’s squad repeated that accomplishment this year.

And on the ice…

Turning from outdoor competition in the Texas heat to indoor action on frozen ice:

• three members of the UConn women’s ice hockey team were named to the Women’s Hockey East Conference all-star teams. Juniors Cristin Allen and Dominique Thibault made the second-team, and senior goalie Brittany Wilson received an honorable mention.

• in men’s hockey, senior defenseman Sean Erickson has signed a contract with the Trenton Devils of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). The three-year captain for the Huskies finished his senior season with five goals and 18 assists for 23 total points.

• and junior goaltender Beau Erickson has signed with the Reading Royals of the East Coast Hockey League.

Posted March 21, 2009

Russian ballet to perform 'Cinderella'

The Russian National Ballet Theatre. Photo courtesy of Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.

The Russian National Ballet Theatre will perform “Cinderella” at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.

The music behind this special event will be explained at a free Concert Talk preceding the performance at 7:15 pm.

The Russian National Ballet Theatre will bring this classic tale to life incorporating both traditional ballet and invigorating new developments in the world of dance.

Founded during Perestroika, this company of more than 50 leading dancers from across Russia includes stars from the Bolshoi and Kirov Ballets, under the artistic direction of Elena Radchenko.

In the tradition of grand ballet, this “Cinderella” includes sumptuous sets and costumes, the jubilant music of Prokofiev, a libretto by Nicolai Volkov and choreography by Rostislav Zakharov.

Tickets are $25, $27 and $30 for adults; $10 for children under 18; and there are some discounts. For more information and to reserve tickets, call the box office at (860) 486-4226, Monday-Friday between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. To order tickets online, go to www.jorgensen.uconn.edu.

Jorgensen is located on the University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus, off of North Eagleville Road, at 2132 Hillside Road.

Free, convenient parking is available across the street in the North Garage.

Posted March 21, 2009