So I was folding T-shirts today in marketing waiting for my paycheck and I saw a two-sport athlete and I realized that they needed some love because they didn't get enough. Everyone knows about the famous ones, Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan and Deion Sanders. Even John Lynch (Who in case you were wondering was the first pitcher ever selected by the Florida Marlins in their draft) was a two sport athlete too.
There are several at the University of Connecticut and none of them get that much recognition. I don't like that. I am impressed with the amount of effort and time it takes to be able to play two sports in college. Some athletes look forward to a more relaxed (although from what I gather not that much more relaxed) off-season but these people do not.
4 of them immediately come to mind. It's also possible that one of these athletes understands how great the Tree Hill Ravens are.
Ellis Gaulden is #87 on the football team. He caught a TD vs USF that tied the game up. He also competes on track and field. He won the high jump and was second in the long jump at the Big East Indoor Championships. He was named Big East Field performer of the year. On top of that both his football team and track team won Big East Championships. That is pretty impressive.
Another member of a Big East Championship team would be Meghan Cunningham. She plays on the women's soccer team and is a member of the track team. (Women's Indoor Track won the Big East Championship last year too) This year she scored the game winning penalty kick against West Virginia during the Big East Championship Tournament Semifinals on CBS College Sports TV. She also won a 1000m run at Yale and finished 4th at the UConn invitational in the 800m run. What's just as impressive is that she is pictured twice on the back of the Division of Athletics Annual Report. (Ryan Grace also made the front cover) In one of them she is playing soccer, the other one she is holding her Big East championship trophy. Oh yeah, by the way, last year she was just a freshman on the back cover twice. Although a pretty mature one because she wasn't photographed with her keys around her neck. On top of that she made Dean's list and had a fall gpa of 3.86 according to the media guide. Not quite Maya Moore level, yet not quite that far from it either.
The next athlete will sound similar to the previous one. I heard about both of them from my friend Noelle Horelik who was a member of the track team last year and who currently has her own show on UCTV.
The next athlete would be Ashley O'Brien. She also plays for soccer and runs for track. O'Brien did the opposite of Cunningham against West Virginia. O'Brien scored the first penalty kick for UConn against West Virginia. O'Brien also had the assist on the only goal in regulation. She sent a beautiful pass across the box (ok that's as technical as I can get for soccer now) to Annie Yi who deposited the ball in the back of the net. According to the media guide she had a 3.7 over the academic year in the honors program.
Lastly Dominque Thibault comes to mind. Once again she was a member of the track team. She is much better known as the leader of the Women's Ice Hockey team. She currently leads the team in goals with 16 in 17 games while adding 8 assists. She is a member of the Canadian National U-22 team, and was invited to the Canadian national team camp. She was named Hockey East player of the year, 2nd team All American (kind of funny since she's Canadian) and the New England Writers Division 1 Hockey All-Star team. People should definetly come to Storrs and watch her play at the Frietas Ice Forum. She could be an Olympian one day. She also competed in the shot put for UConn for Track and Field. She finished 3rd in the shot put at the UConn Track and Field invitational in the spring.
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