Weather Still Wreaking Havoc on the Winter Sports Season

Even if Punxsutawney Phil - and - are right and the snow and ice suddenly cease, the effect two months of wicked weather is not over.

Games have been postponed and rescheduled only to be postponed again and now, with some schools performing structural analysis on their building to make sure they can withstand the weight of the ice and snow, there is precious little time to make them up.

For teams such as E.O. Smith, which qualified for the state tournament in early January, the delays represent nothing but an inconvenience.

The Panthers will play three games next week including two games in two nights against Windham and Hartford Public. But while E.O. Smith relies heavily on the trio of Maggie Sandberg, Murphy Murad and Morgan Olander, the Panthers have plenty of depth and can get scoring and rebounding from players such as Morgan Stewart or Taylor Vonasek.

For Manchester, which has four games scheduled next week, the problem is more acute.

The Indians, who lost their game Monday against Glastonbury, rely heavily on Ashley Perez for scoring, ball-handling and defense. When Miofania Garcia was unable to play because of an ankle injury it left the Indians without a second scorer. Megan Cardarelli is an outside threat but had an off night shooting against the Tomahawks pressure defense.

With games scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday (not to mention the following Monday) it will be a challenge for Manchester Coach John Reiser to buy some rest for Perez, especially with two games coming against a very capable of East Catholic.

Manchester (13-1, 7-1 in the Central Connecticut Conference North) can expect to get the best effort from team's eager to prove something to the Indians, one of the best teams in the state. When Glastonbury won Monday, the Tomahawks stormed on to the floor at Manchester High School to celebrate.

“That's what they should do,” Reiser said. “They played hard and they won and they celebrated like it was a state championship. All credit to them but it shows you what kind of effort we get from everyone.”

No matter the difficulties facing Manchester, the postponement has a greater affect on schools trying to reach the state tournament, which requires eight wins. East Windsor, which has four wins, missed an opportunity Friday when its game against Stafford was postponed.

East Windsor was forced to cancel school Friday so experts could determine whether the building was structurally safe. 

Obviously, basketball is not nearly as important as preventing a tragedy but East Windsor must now fit the Stafford game, one it needs to win, into a crowded two weeks.

Ellington closed school on Thursday and Friday so that ice and snow could be cleared from the roofs of the schools. It too now faces a very cramped schedule of games.

TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS:

The girls tracks state championships are this week (weather permitting, of course) beginning Thursday with the Class S championships,the Class L is Friday and the M and LL are Saturday. All meets are at Hillhouse High School in New Haven.

For Ellington, which will send nine athletes to the Class M meet, Clairborne Jones (55, 300, 600), Emily Baker and Jennfier Hulstein (both in the 1,000, 1,600, 3,2000) will lead the way.

Suffield, a 10th place finisher in the Class S meet last year, had nine athletes qualify in a total of 12 events. Sarah Wilson qualified in the 300, 1000 and 1,600 meters.

Tolland, which finished third in the Class M girls meet a year ago, had 12 athletes qualify and will be eligible to compete a total of 19 times. Emily Howard and Kristin Carr each qualified in the 300 meters, 600 meters and 1000 meters for the Eagles.

Windsor had 13 athletes qualify in the Class L meet, including Brianna Allen, Chalsea Clarke and Natasya Rodriques, who can each compete in the 55 and 300. Medinah Nabadduka qualified in the 1,000 and 1,600 meters and Janae Wilson reached in the high jump and shot put.

The girls State Open is Feb. 19.

Here is a complete list of area qualifiers in each event:

55

Jones, Claiborne; Ellington 7.43

300

Jones, Claiborne; Ellington 42.67

Schneider, Laura; Ellington 46.80

600

Jones, Claiborne; Ellington 1:47.59

1000

Baker, Emily; Ellington 3:25.76

Hulstein, Jennifer; Ellington 3:20.76

Sgarlata, Kayla; Ellington 3:24.32

1600

Baker, Emily; Ellington 5:47.26

Gerber, Leah; Ellington 5:49.53

Hulstein, Jennifer; Ellington 5:42.61

3200

Baker, Emily; Ellington 12:29.56

Cawthorn, Leah; Ellington 12:30.66

Hulstein, Jennifer; Ellington 12:33.08

Long Jump

Moore, Sara; Ellington 15-01.75

High Jump

Moore, Sara; Ellington 4-08.0

Shot Put

Snow, Natalie; Ellington 28-08.50