Special Olympics athletes recite an oath before their competitions, “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” These athletes demonstrate courage and determination and rise above daily challenges on and off the playing field.

For one day in Hartford - on Friday, June 15^th - individuals can, themselves, demonstrate courage and go to new heights to support these athletes by participating in Over the Edge – a fundraising event that will test bravery and challenge participants to rappel down the side of State House Square.

The event also offers the opportunity to Toss Your Boss. Co-workers can join forces to raise the funds to send their boss over the side of the prominent building that day. A good-hearted, willing boss is required.

The event will begin at 9 a.m. and run throughout the day. To register and find out more, visit www.soct.org and click on the Over the Edge logo. Pre-registration is required, and will give participants the opportunity to create a personal fundraising page so that their friends, family members and colleagues can “sponsor” them easily and securely. The minimum donation to go Over the Edge or Toss Your Boss is $1,000. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. For more information, contact Chris Renstrom at 203-230-1201, ext. 223 or JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING .

The event is being held to inspire understanding about Special Olympics and its efforts to promote acceptance and inclusion for people of all abilities and to raise funds for its year-round programs.

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Special Olympics Connecticut provides year-round sports training and competitions for more than 13,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities and Unified Partners (their teammates without disabilities). Through a myriad of initiatives throughout the state and the world, Special Olympics is a movement that’s changing attitudes and changing lives by inspiring inclusion, understanding and respect for people of all abilities, in all aspects of life. (www.soct.org)

Partner Sponsors: Adams Hometown Markets/IGA Hometown Supermarkets, Connecticut Light & Power/Yankee Gas/ Western Massachusetts Electric (Northeast Utilities Companies), Law Enforcement Torch Run, NBC Connecticut, TD Bank, and United Technologies.

Year-Round Sponsors: Adams Hometown Markets/IGA Hometown Supermarkets, The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New England, Crystal Rock Water and Coffee Company, Graebel Van Lines, Guida’s Milk and Ice Cream, Marcus Communications, State of Connecticut Judicial Branch Community Service and Worx Branding & Advertising

A small mistake almost cost Windsor girls the indoor track championship this year, to their longtime adversaries, Darien.

According to the Connecticut Association of Schools - Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, "during the seeding of the state open it was discovered that a data input error had caused incorrect results to be distributed at Monday's Class L Championship Meet and subsequently be posted on the organization's website.

A Darien girls pole vaulter was listed in a four-way tie for third, which would have been worth 3.5 points for the team. During the seeding for the open it was determined the vaulter should actually have been listed in 7th place due to the number of misses tiebreaker.

A subsequent review of the official scoresheet from the judges showed this was in fact the case, but that the data had been incorrectly transferred to the scoring system. The girls pole vault results and the team scores for the meet have been corrected. As a result of the correction, Windsor High School is now correctly reflected as the champion with 71 points and Darien High School the runner-up with 70 points."

The corrected results are as follows:

                    Women - Team Rankings - 15 Events Scored
=================================================
    1) WINDSOR                                      71         2) DARIEN                               70   
    3) EAST LYME                                    55         4) FAIRFIELD WARDE           43   
    5) HARTFORD PUBLIC                   30         6) DANIEL HAND                     22   
    6) WOODSTOCK ACADEMY           22         8) MASUK                                 19   
    9) NEW CANAAN                              18        10) BRISTOL CENTRAL          17   
   11) WILTON                                        15        12) POMPERAUG                     14   
   13) BRISTOL EASTERN                   12       14) WETHERSFIELD               11   
   15) LYMAN HALL                                10       16) MERCY                                 9   
   16) FITCH                                             9        18) NORTH HAVEN                    6   
   19) NAUGATUCK                                4        19) E.O. SMITH                            4   
   21) SOUTH WINDSOR                       3        22) FARMINGTON                      1 

Five area boxer's, all training at the Lions Den Training Center in Middletown, by Kasey Coon, John Scully and Ellay Thompson, will see semi-final action this Saturday in the 53rd Annual Western New England Golden Gloves tournament. Bouts will begin at 7 p.m. sharp at Nomad's AdventureQuest in East Windsor (100 Bidwell Ave. in South Windsor).  
 
Chris Aldrich, age 22, Senior at UConn (Forrestry major) from Watertown, Connecticut, boxes in the novice super heavyweight division. Was the runner-up in this division last year. Trained at Lions Den by Ellay Thompson
 
Joshua Zebrowski, age 27 from Derby, Ct. Regional manager at Dunkin' Donuts. Boxing in the 178 pound novice division.
 
Chris Nichols, age 20 out of Manchester. Boxes in the 132 pound open class division. Was runner-up last year.
 
Joshua Figueroa, age 21, and his brother Jonathon, age 20. Joshua boxes in the 165 pound novice class while Jonathon is at 152 novice. Both Hartford residents graduated from Cheney Tech. in Manchester.
 
Josh Figueroa won his bout this past Saturday to set up his semi-final appearance while Jonathon Figueroa has won bouts on each of the first two nights of the tournament, including an impressive upset decision victory this past Saturday over the tournament favorite, Frankie Porto of Wallingford.
 

Two Windsor residents who are seniors at Northwest Catholic have announced their commitment to compete in high-level collegiate sports: Mary Deneen, daughter of Jen and Mike Deneen ’77, will play volleyball at Bates College, while Brian Poirier, son of Trish and Rick Poirier, will run track at Princeton University.

Mary was the MVP of NWC’s volleyball team her junior and senior years; was named All-State and All-Conference as a senior, and All-Academic as a sophomore, junior, and senior. NWC was the runner-up in the Class S State Volleyball Tournament this year – the best performance in school history.

Also a member of NWC’s softball team (All-Academic as a sophomore and junior), Mary was inducted into the National Honor Society as a junior and volunteers with Unified Basketball at the River Street School in Windsor. Her father and four siblings either graduated from or currently attend NWC; her youngest sister, Kelly, attends St. Timothy Middle School.

Brian is the son of Trish and Rick Poirier of Windsor; his sister Rachel Poirier '14 is a member of NWC's volleyball and tennis teams. Recently named The Hartford Courant's "Runner of the Year" for Fall '11 sports, Brian was the Class SS State Champ for Cross Country this past Fall, and won the RI Invitational last month with the fastest mile time in CT this year.

Named All-New England, All-State, All-Conference, All-Academic, and MVP for Cross Country as a senior, he has garnered similar honors throughout his high school career. He was captain of the Cross Country team this year, and is now serving in the same role on the Indoor Track team. He was

Brian was inducted into the National Honor Society as a junior, and volunteers at an independent living facility for adults with mental disabilities.

"The NWC community is very proud of these students who have used their gifts in the classroom, in the community, and especially in athletics, to achieve great things," said NWC Principal/Chief Administrator Margaret Williamson. "They are well-rounded young people who care about others. We look forward to seeing them compete at the next level as they complete their college education."

(updated, Jan. 10, 11:22 am)

The Windsor high school girl's varsity basketball team is making an early run to qualify for the state tournament.

With a record of 6-1, this is the best start in recent years.The roster has five experienced seniors  and  coach  Vinnie Cianfarani continues to depend on individual leadership when obstacles arise.

On Thursday, during a home game against Kolbe Cathedral, the Warrior girls got off to a slow start trailing 12-17 at the end of the first quarter and 22-25 at the half. Instead of yelling at the girls coach Vinnie charted a slow methodical comeback at half time. After identifying Kolbe's weaknesses he instructed the girls to pressure individual players and offensively spread out to keep the middle open so they could slide in and score. Four minutes into the third quarter Windsor took their first lead 30-29. The quarter ended 36-33  in Windsor's favor. Early in the fourth quarter Kolbe tied the game 39-39. Kenice Walker responded with a quick basket. Excellent defense by Sydnee Over sent Molly Curry clear to extend the lead to 43-39. Curry's big shot from downtown got the fans excited. Excellent time management and defense  gave Windsor the win.

Outstanding players for Windsor were Amanda Lopez with 18 points and Molly Curry ans Alexus Williams with 8 points each.Final score Windsor 48-Kolbe Cathedral 41.

Windsor's next home game will be on January 13th against East Hartford.

Photo by Lawrence Jaggon

Mary Deneen was named recently first team All-State in girls volleyball for Class S. Mary is a senior at Northwest Catholic. She received her award on Monday, during an awards banquet at the Aqua Turf. In the photo, she is with her coach Jeanne Digiacomo. Photo courtesy of Michael Deneen.

Photo: Coaches Ron Wilson and Kelvan Kearse discussing track and field techniques.

Students join the high school track and field teams for various reasons. Most join to compete against other athletes while others use the workout to prepare for other sports. Most track and field coaches have a dramatic impact on the athletes’ lives preparing them to become fierce competitors and at the same molding
them to be responsible and successful members of the community.

Kelvan Kearse and Ron Wilson both with law enforcement background have being providing the Windsor high boys and girls track and field teams with extensive technical and event specific instructions. Both coaches have daughters who are part of the team.

During a light work out on Wednesday a number of girls and boys were eagerly awaiting instructions from
the coaches. Juniors Courtney Kearse, Applelonia Dawes and Samantha Blake were doing light stretches in preparation for the upcoming fall season. All three girls are aware of the academic requirements for scholarships and have being focusing on getting high grades. The team will be at full strength with excellent
competitors like Janae Wilson, Sarah Whalen and Medina Nabadduka who are seasoned athletes, but also excellent students. The girls' goals are to obtain scholarships but they want to bring the state open championship to the Windsor high school trophy case.

After winning their first
home game the Windsor boys
fell into a slump and lost to
South Windsor, Glastonbury
and Wethersfield.
In practice the boys were
showing a lot of improvements
but did not look like
a winning team.
Although Coach Pete
Lepak was disappointed
with the losses he continued
to have faith in the boy's
ability and determination.
In a game under the lights
at the Jack O'Brien stadium
on Wednesday the boys took
to the field determined to
demolish Weaver.
The opening whistle had
barely sounded when
Windsor's Robbie Zawasky
drew first blood. Isaiah
Townsend scored in the 9th
minute to increase
Windsor's lead. Two goals
from Stephen Blood in the
13th and 20th minute gave
Windsor a 4-0 half time
lead.
In the second half the
Windsor players maintained
their composure despite the
rough play from the Weaver
players. The boys continue to
score at regular intervals.
Second half goals from
Jevon Chambers, Isaiah
Townsend and Brian
Sappleton sealed Weaver's
fate.
Outstanding players for
Windsor were Stephen Blood
and Isaiah Townsend with
two goals each while goalkeeper
Andrew Tasillo had
a shut out with two saves.
Final score:
Windsor 7 -Weaver 0
Windsor's next home
game will be on October 11th
at 3.45 pm against South
Windsor.