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Sports

Weather Still Wreaking Havoc on the Winter Sports Season

The backlog of basketball games is a challenge for schools and could also affect the girls' track championships that start Thursday.

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.

Tolland was forced to cancel school on Friday because the snow levels on the roof was at or near maximum capacity. The that were as high as 7-feet on the high school's roof. While school was canceled on Thursday as well, 's boys basketball team still played RHAM-Hebron, its first game in a week, which they won.

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For teams such as , 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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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

The girls State Open is Feb. 19.

A complete list of Tolland qualifiers in each event:

55 Hurdles

Bernardi, Hannah (M)10.34

Sprout, Katie (M)9.43

300

Carr, Kristin 43.95

Corbin, Audrey  47.10

Howard Emily  46.50

Lavernoich, Becky  46.98

Sprout, Katie  44.06

600

Carr, Kristin  1:40.82

Howard, Emily  1:46.89

1000

Carr, Kristin  3:14.14

Gedansky, Rachael  3:20.69

Howard, Emily  3:19.30

Morrone, Amber  3:25.72

1600

Connelly, Erin  5:40.98

Krouse, Alexa  5:41.25

Morrone, Amber  5:47.34

3200

Connelly, Erin  11:53.98

Pole Vault

Tetreault, Kristen 8-00.0

Shot Put

Kittredge, Heather  30-02.0

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