Brian KattenMatt Long '14 a tight end on Wesleyan's Football Team, hopes to make a new friend in about a year. Why would a 6-foot 5-inch, 240 pound scholar-athlete at a prestigious college like Wesleyan who was named an academic all-NESCAC choice in 2011 need to wait 12 months to make a new acquaintance? One very special reason. This past spring, Long, of Williston, Vt., was coaxed by a schoolmate to enlist in a bone marrow donor program during a drive on campus. It was sponsored by DKMS, the world's largest bone marrow donor program. Thus, Matt was on a donor matching…
Cynthia RockwellAt Wesleyan's Neighborhood Preschool on Lawn Avenue, a 23-year-old wooden playscape with safety issues needed to come down. Mark Woodworth ’94, father of current NPS student Dylan, and head coach of Wesleyan's baseball team, signed up to help. On Oct. 5, Woodworth and his team set aside the baseball bat and took swings with sledge hammers and mallets, wielding tools, and lifting timbers between their Friday morning classes. During playtime, the NPS students looked on in amazement, repeating to each other what their teacher, Karyn Hurlbert reminded them, "Stay out of the sandbox"—where the baseball team was dismantling their old climber. The…
David PesciMichael Barsotti ’12, signed a contract to pitch for the minor league Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League. Barsotti, a government major, is Wesleyan’s all time strike-out leader. In his first appearance for Joliet he threw a scoreless inning in relief and did not allow a batter to reach base. On July 14, he was named the M&M Bank Player of the Game for the Slammers after inducing a ground out, a fly out and a pop out while throwing just nine pitches, seven of them strikes. Barsotti was twice named the NESCAC pitcher of the week during his Wesleyan…
Q&As with outstanding students is an occasional feature of The Wesleyan Connection. This issue we speak with tennis star Jeff Legunn from the Class of 2013. Q: You have been playing No. 1 singles for Wesleyan since your arrival and you currently have a career record of 33-11. How do you see your role on the team as a top player and team captain? A: I believe myself, and the other upperclassmen, all maintain leadership roles. As the top player, I think I have the ability to set the bar high and hold the other players accountable. We have a talented…
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Benjamin TraversBelow is a video of Wesleyan's Cardinal Swim Team members in action. Music by Wesleyan's own Almonds and Elephants. [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKZttqAX1xk&feature=relmfu[/youtube]
Ben CohenMost Wesleyan student-athletes spend their summers training for the upcoming season, but this past July, women’s lacrosse standout Emma Daniels ’13 took it a step further. Daniels, a College of Letters major, was one of 28 students selected for Beyond Study Abroad, a program that “aims to connect the world through sports,” according to its mission statement. She spent six weeks in Costa Rica taking courses, training and introducing local youths to the sport of lacrosse. “I went down because I had to go abroad for COL, and summer was the only option because I wanted it to be a…
By Ben Cohen '10, physical education intern Ask any group of NESCAC student-athletes why they chose their respective institutions, and each will likely mention the conference schools’ strength in both academics and athletics. But Joe Giaimo ’11 has taken things one step further. Giaimo, a captain on the Cardinal football and baseball squads, is leading a student forum this semester, CCIV420-02: "Leadership, Mentoring, and Coaching.” The forum evaluates effective forms of leadership, seeks out answers to what is leadership, defines it, dissects the changing conceptions of leadership, analyzes the psychology of leaders, and eventually discusses the difference between leadership and…
Approximately 115 students from the Woodside Intermediate School in Cromwell joined Wesleyan student-athletes from the men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s ice hockey, football, softball, women’s tennis and wrestling teams and the rugby club for an hour in the Bacon Field House for “recess.” Three play stations were set up, allowing groups of third- to fifth-graders from Woodside to interact with the Wesleyan students in kickball, capture the flag, red light/green light and basketball. The Wesleyan football team, through an arrangement between assistant coach Jeff McDonald and Woodside principal Bo Ryan, who met during their college years in the…
Two Wesleyan athletes are going to the NCAA Championships. Kyle Roosa '13 will represent Wesleyan at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships at The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse March 11-12, while Tommie Lark ’12 will participate in the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track Championships at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, March 11-12. Roosa ’13 recently extended the wrestling team’s string of claiming at least one New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) title when he claimed the crown at 174 pounds during the annual NEWA Championships hosted by Trinity Feb. 26-27. The Cardinals, with two runner-ups, three fifth-place finishers and one…
Wesleyan’s men’s ice hockey will play in its first NESCAC semi-final ever when it takes on No. 2 seed Williams on March 5. It is just the latest in a series of firsts by this squad. They began their record-setting run by Jan. 15 by knocking off Middlebury for the first time in 35 all-time meetings with a 4-3 overtime decision. On Jan. 21, the Cardinals defeated defending national champion Norwich 5-2, which was the first time a Wesleyan men's hockey team had beaten a team after they had won a national championship.. The string of firsts continued on Feb.…