April 2011 ArchivesUW senior right fielder Ashley Tuiasosopo (Woodinville, Wash.) from the UW softball team answered a few questions for the Dawg Blawg. Gohuskies.com: Do you have a motto/saying you live by? GH: What is your favorite thing about Seattle/favorite thing to do in Seattle outside of campus? GH: What is your favorite opposing field to play on? GH: If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be? GH: If you were given 1 million dollars, how would you spend it? GH: If you could train with any professional athlete in any sport who would you choose? GH: What do you want to do after you're finished playing softball? GH: What is your favorite moment of your softball career at UW so far? GH: What don't people outside of your hometown know about where you grew up that you think they should know? GH: If you were trapped on a desert island with one teammate, who would you want to be stranded with and why? GH: What is one TV show you can't miss? GH: Better three-hour blockbuster, Titanic, Lord of the Rings or Avatar? GH: What's something surprising that most people don't know about you?
The UW gymnastics team is participating in Relay For Life put on by the American Cancer Society May 21-22 at Husky Stadium! Help support the team and the fight against cancer by making a donation to the team now! http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11GW?pg=team&fr_id=34267&team_id=950666
Getting the opportunity to go to Nationals was an amazing experience. It started out so surreal - I didn't even realize that I had qualified originally, and even once I had, the disappointment of the team not making it seemed more important. But as the two weeks went by I began to get more and more excited, and finally the day came to leave for Cleveland. It was so different not having the whole team leave with me and just being with the coaches instead, but I knew that was something I needed to get used to for this trip. When we got to Cleveland, there was a sign in the airport about nationals, and that made it seem more real. The room keys at the hotel were decorated for the meet too. This was actually happening! The next morning, it was time for practice day. Rotating with Georgia, I didn't know what to expect, but they ended up being really nice and helpful. It was also an entirely new experience being on a podium, since that was something I had never done before either. Overall practice day went really well; it was just good to be able to soak everything in. Saturday morning at 7 a.m., the alarm went off and it was time to start getting ready for the meet. It was a really different experience than most of our meets, since they are usually in the evening and we have the whole day to get ready! This early time was nice in one aspect, though - I didn't have time to sit around and get nervous! Then, finally, after warm-up and march-in, the meet actually started. I competed after Georgia's rotation, which was also another new experience since my spot in the lineups is always at the beginnings. I was surprised to find that I wasn't nervous, especially at a meet like nationals. Being by myself, I knew that what I did had no effect on anyone else, and that took a lot of pressure out of the situation. I could just relax and do my routines like I practiced all year. The rest of the weekend I got to spend time with family and watch the other sessions. Super 6 was probably my favorite of the weekend. There was so much going on and it was just amazing to be able to watch the national championships happen in person. This whole experience was amazing and inspiring, and I'm so glad I got to experience it this year. I got to see where we want to be, and it just motivated me even more to work hard and go back next year - but this time, with the whole team!
Junior Kate Deines (Issaquah, Wash.) and freshman Lindsay Elston (Sammamish, Wash.) will each be gone next week to train as members of two separate National Teams. Deines will be in Carson, Calif., with the U-23 Women's National Team from April 24-May 1 training at the Home Depot Center, the home of the LA Galaxy. http://www.ussoccer.com/News/U-23-WNT/2011/04/College-Players-Headline-US-U23-WNT-Camp-at-The-HDC.aspx. Elston will be gone April 23-30 with the U-20 National Team, also training at the Home Depot Center. http://www.ussoccer.com/News/U-20-WNT/2011/04/US-U20-WNT-Comes-to-The-HDC-for-Training-Camp.aspx. Both teams will be training and play some scrimmages. Follow the links above to see the schedules in the coming days. The UW men's soccer team hosted their Alumni game on Saturday, April 16 in the Dempsey Indoor. They competed in a fun soccer match together that resulted in a 0-0 tie. This year there was a great turn out of alums at the event including many ex-MLS players. Brandon Prideaux - (1994-1997) - In his second year as assistant coach at UW after playing 12 years in the MLS Billy Sleeth - (1998-01) - Made the All-Pac-10 Team from 2000-01 and went on to play with the Chicago Fire Tim Lawson- DC United (1994-97) Chris Eylander- (2002, 2004-2005) - All-Pac-10 Academic team, NSCAA Scholar All-Region in 2004, All-Pac-10 Team from 2004-05, played with Seattle Sounders Billy Sleeth - (1998-2001) All-Pac 10 Team Kevin Forrest - (2003-04, 06-07) - Pac 10 player of the Year in 2004-07 Viet Ngyuen - (1994-95, 1997-98) Scott Jenkins- (1992-95) Morgan McCoy - (1996-99) Ben Somoza - (1999-2001) Brad Keller - (2007. 2009-10) Daniel Gray - (2010) Casey Cunningham - (2006-2009) Lee Eckman - (1981-84) Kyle Fukuchi - (1999-2002) Derek Crismier - (2004-2007) Matt Fischer - (2004-2006) Stefan Cobb - 1981 Greg Shugarts - (1985-87) Attended - Didn't Play Marty Rood - (1972) Jeff Aumell- (1986-88) Joe Gradilla - (1994-95) Rob Lampman - (1993) Scott Gibson - (1979-80) Paul Hurme - (1991-94) Bill May- (1994-97) Frank Gallo Freshman Aliza Vaccher competes at the NCAA Championships tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m. PT in the all-around. Live video and stats are available through NCAA.com and Kent State University. Check out some pictures below of Aliza warming up today.
   Conibear Shellhouse was busier than usual this morning as the Huskies welcomed Rainier Valley Rowing to Montlake to teach the inner-city Seattle rowing group some elite-level tips. For two hours, the Huskies showed the children how to erg, row and work out like Huskies. The students moved station-to-station in groups, and had Husky varsity athletes helping them out at each turn. (Ed note: halfway through the visit, the Huskies had these kids pulling 1:20 splits on the erg! Just kidding.) The Washington Crew program makes its shellhouse available to many of the junior crews and rowers in the area who are interested in the sport, and will host another learn-to-row type event during the week of the 25th annual Windermere Cup. The Huskies made the point to show the children the sport is fun and great exercise. Rainier Valley Rowing is a group dedicated to teaching Seattle children, many of them minorities, the sport of rowing, hoping they take advantage of the aquatic resources the city has to offer. A big takeaway from the event was that rowing is primarily a team sport, and the Huskies noted several times that it takes many oarsmen and women to make boats move fast.
Watch today's NCAA Gymnastics Championship Press Conference beginning at 10:50 a.m. PT. https://ksutube.kent.edu/new/watchlive.php?playthis=5147.
Sophomore Anna Epps captured the Dawgs behind the scenes at NCAA Regionals in Oklahoma. Watch her video below.
Watch the UW360 video on Jenn Salling.
Kevin McGuff had a whirlwind couple of days on his first trip to Seattle as the new women's basketball coach at the University of Washington. He breezed into the Emerald City on Monday night, had meetings on campus all day Tuesday and then flew back home to Cincinnati on Wednesday.
 McGuff plans to spend a couple of days in the Queen City before returning to Seattle and getting a head start on his new duties as head coach. His press conference on Tuesday piqued the curiosity of the Seattle media, which showed up en masse when the new coach introduced himself. Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelley made a few calls and talked with people connected with the Xavier program. Each came away with nothing but positives about McGuff, leaving Kelley to believe McGuff is the ideal fit for UW. McGuff is so clearly the right person to lead the foundering Washington women's program that it almost doesn't need to be said. He won't light up a news conference with a lot of glib one-liners. He won't pirouette and plié on the sideline like John Calipari, but he is as solid as a Dwight Howard screen. And his teams play an entertaining, up-tempo, defense-first system that will be reminiscent, but not a replica, of Lorenzo Romar's men's program. In his nine-years at Xavier, McGuff built a top-10 program. The
Musketeers played in the postseason every year and made six trips to the
NCAA tournament. The past two seasons, his teams have been undefeated
in the Atlantic-10 Conference. An Associated Press report linked on ESPN discussed why Scott Woodward made the flight to Cincinnati to meet McGuff and came away impressed. In the UW Daily, sports editor Josh Liebeskind points out the "overjoyed" reaction from Marjorie Heard, who is eager to play in an up-tempo physical system. "That's the basketball I grew up with -- running the floor and hitting bodies," Heard said. Watch the highlight video below of the UW gymnastics teams' incredible run in 2011.
The University of Washington announced some exciting news Sunday afternoon with Xavier's Kevin McGuff leaving a highly successful program to become the ninth women's basketball coach in UW history.
During McGuff's tenure at Xavier, his teams reached the postseason in each of his nine seasons, including six NCAA Tournament appearances. McGuff's move to Seattle created more than a few ripples both here and in Cincinnati. Here are a few of the best stories on the announcement. First was the report from UW Director of Writing Gregg Bell, who had a chance to talk with McGuff and athletic director Scott Woodward prior to the announcement. Jayda Evans from the Seattle Times notes that McGuff's teams want to have "an identity." He described his style as "physical and fast, with an emphasis on defense and rebounding." Jayda has more on her blog about the commitment Woodward has made to building a top-notch women's basketball program at UW. Here's the reaction from the Cincinnati.com, which notes that McGuff was impressed with Woodward's vision and the expanded footprint of the Pac-12 Conference. More good nuggets on the McGuff move from Cincinnati.com Xavier beat writer Shannon Russell. Terry Wood from the Seattle Times wrote a softball Pac-10 opening day feature. Balancing a rockin' offense with a sometimes rocky group of young pitchers, the sixth-ranked Washington softball team opens Pac-10 play at home this weekend against 14th-ranked Oregon. The Huskies (25-2) begin a three-game series Friday at Husky Softball Stadium at 6 p.m., followed by games Saturday (4 p.m.) and Sunday (noon). Oregon (28-4) has won 12 straight games since losing 10-0 to top-ranked Alabama on March 5. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskies/2014652445_uwsoft01.html.
Former Husky soccer greats Tina (Frimpong) Ellerston and Hope Solo will play with the new WPS team magicJack out of Florida this year. The season starts on April 19. View the complete schedule here: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/schedule/2011-wps-schedule.
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