Slusarczyk defies the odds

Senior swimmer, runner and architecture student thrives on competition

Her schedule involves swimming in the pool, running on the track and building in the studio.

Senior Emily Slusarczyk is a captain of the women’s swimming and diving team, a runner for the track and field team and an architecture student.

She began her swimming career before high school when her mother signed her up for swimming lessons at her local YMCA. At the time, the lifeguard said: “She really has some natural form… you should consider signing her up for the YMCA team.”

From there, things took off and she ended up joining her high school swim team, before continuing her swimming career at Roger Williams University.

“It started my freshman year of high school and I’ve been in the pool ever since,” Slusarcyzk said.

She was in contact with RWU Head Swim Coach Matt Emmert since the beginning of her junior year of high school, as she knew she wanted to swim in college.

“I found a talent and it kept going and I couldn’t stop it, which sparked my interest in continuing it in college,” Slusarczyk said.

Emmert said Slusarczyk began her recruiting process early.

“She basically recruited us,” Emmert said. “She was extremely active with sending us her times and keeping us updated.”

She faced some obstacles when she began the recruiting process. She needed to improve her times in order to make the swim team.

Her parents, Rose and Carl Slusarczyk, remember the ride home after speaking to Emmert about what she would need to make the cut.

“We got into the car that day, the three of us, and we’re driving back and she said ‘I’m going to make the team’ and she got right to work,” Carl said.

Slusarczyk’s father witnessed a progression from high school to now and he describes it as nothing less than extraordinary.

“She’s a quiet leader because she is leading by her actions. She is not a yeller or screamer. She goes about her business and people are drawn to her for her personality, her attitude and smile,” Carl said.

Emily’s mother loves watching her compete.

“To see her be the cheerful, happy, smiley young lady on the side of the pool deck, cheering on other teammates, laughing with her teammates and all of a sudden, she walks over to the block and then there is this transition of the eye of the tiger and she is going to swim her heart out. I love seeing that in her,” Rose said.

Slusarczyk began swimming at RWU freshman year but by her sophomore year, she felt like something was missing.

“When swimming season was over, I felt like there was a piece of structure missing. I heard my friends talking about running for the track team and realized I missed it,” Slusarczyk said. “So I looked into figuring out if it was even possible for me to compete in both sports and to make sure they didn’t overlap.”

Head Track and Field Coach Sean Livingston was happy to make it possible for Slusarczyk to compete in both sports.

“We talked a lot about how the seasons would work with swimming ending and taking a break and track starting up and it all just kind of came together,” Livingston said. “I could tell from the conversation we had that she was going to be able to manage it all.”

Slusarczyk’s parents were hesitant when Emily said she wanted to join track.

“We looked at each other and said ‘okay, if your grades slip then we’ll talk about it,’ but her grades actually got better and has always been the case with Emily,” Rose said.

Slusarczyk said she loves the races and thrives on the structure of participating in all of these activities. Her time at practice and time competing helps her balance out her school work schedule.

“They keep me going,” Slusarczyk said. “The different ways of breaking it up with swimming a few laps in the pool, then running a few laps on track helped me get better. I thrive through the competition.”

Throughout the entire process, Slusarczyk has learned a lot about herself.

“If I thought to myself out loud that you will try to do a rigorous architecture program and two varsity sports, it would be overwhelming, but doing it has actually helped each other,” Slusarczyk said. “I’ve learned that you are capable of a lot more than you think you are.”

“The goal is to make these men better people”

New RWU baseball coach preps his team for the season and for life

March 17, 2021

BRISTOL R.I — When he was hired as the university’s new head baseball coach last December, Kevin Kelley did not get the opportunity to know his team like a new coach normally would. Kelley first met his team over Zoom, where he wanted to introduce himself and let the team know what they were getting. 

“I had my first meeting with the guys right after I was appointed. I wanted them to know what they were getting which was an energized coach full of intensity,” Kelley said. 

Kelley wanted to do everything in his power to be able to establish relationships with the players right off the bat. He scheduled individual meetings with each of the 43 members on the baseball team. 

“I asked about their family, what they like to do for fun, if they had a job and I had them elaborate on those in order to create a bond as much as I possibly could over Zoom,” Kelley said.

Once a person to person relationship is created, there is a trust that is established between player and coach. He values this interpersonal relationship.

“I think that trust is the most important part of being a coach,” Kelley said. “I want them to trust every move I make and I want to trust theirs and how you do that is by asking about their personal lives. That is something that I believe distinguishes good coaches from great coaches.”  

Kelley came into this role with some experience as a collegiate athlete. He played baseball at Suffolk University where he started as a walk-on player and worked his way to become a three-year starting player and captain of the team his senior year. He also was the previous Head Coach at Rutgers University-Newark and Associate Head Coach of University of Massachusetts Boston. 

As for RWU’s baseball program, Kelley plans to build a program for sustainable success. 

“The goals for the program are to recruit talent, retain talent and develop talent,” Kelley said. “It is all about academics as well and getting a student athlete who can handle the rigors of college baseball.”

Kelley will also be teaching his players how to be better people. 

“Every Wednesday, we talk about something that will make them a better person, whether it will be how to tie a tie or just how to have a conversation with somebody,” Kelley said. “Baseball aside the goal has everything to do with building you men that will help society in a positive way.” 

Captain Danny Roth, a graduate student on the team, said Kelley pushes them all to be the best.

“Coach Kelley pushes us to get better every day. I know it has only been a couple weeks but it feels like he has been my coach for years and he is really good at developing relationships with us. It has been really great so far,” Roth said. 

Kelley has various goals for the team, including to win 30 or more games, have the team become a force within the region, win regular season, conference playoff and make it to regionals.

“There is one goal that we will try to achieve and that is win the game that is in front of us,” Kelley said. 

Joey Gulino is also a team captain and graduate student on the baseball team. He said Kelley is a players first type of coach.

“He is really great with creating good relationships with everyone on our team,” Gulino said. “He came in here with a plan and a goal for us to be successful and to win.” 

Chris Flynn, senior captain on the baseball team, said the two assistant coaches Kelley has brought in have been great too. 

“They seem to be working really well together. We have seen a lot of progress within our team during this past month alone,” Flynn said. 

Coach Kelley is looking forward to being able to go out and compete with the team.

“After losing baseball for a year it puts things into perspective. Every day is not guaranteed and neither is every baseball season,” Kelley said. 

“I will be making relationships with all the players on the team that will last a lifetime.”

WNBA draft and collective bargaining agreement create buzz in sports world Why is this only being talked about now?

BRISTOL R.I—The WNBA draft occurred virtually on Friday, April 17. Since then, it has been a big topic of conversation within the sports world. The buzz is especially a result of the New York Liberty drafting the No. 1 pick, Sabrina Ionescu, a guard from Oregon University.

Elizabeth Wexler, a sophomore on the RWU Women’s Basketball Team, said she was not surprised when Ionescu was the first pick in the WNBA draft this year.

“She is one the greatest college basketball players, [amongst] men or women, because she is so dynamic on offense and has a hunger to win no matter the opponent,” Wexler said. “I have followed Ionescu throughout her collegiate career and I was really rooting for her this season to win it all.”

JJ Pfohl, a junior on the RWU Men’s Basketball Team, was also not surprised.

“She is the most skilled player in the WNBA draft. Her fundamentals are off the charts and her basketball IQ is very impressive,” Pfohl said. “She makes the right play, even if that means she is not the one taking the shot. She was by far the best player in the draft.”

Ionescu is the first player ever in NCAA history to have 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds.

The real question is, why are we hearing so much about the WNBA right now? Could it be because the NBA season is cancelled?

There are many differences when it comes to the WNBA and NBA. Games are timed differently. NBA games have four 12-minute quarters and the WNBA games have two 20-minute halves. The WNBA competes with a ball that is 28.5 inches whereas the NBA uses a slightly bigger ball, at 29.5 inches. Both associations play at different times of the year. The NBA begins in the fall and WNBA begins in the summer, but the two main differences are popularity and pay.

Sam Mancinelli, a junior and captain of the RWU Women’s Basketball Team, believes there is a massive difference between the popularity of the two associations.

“The NBA is without a doubt way more popular than the WNBA,” Mancinelli said. “When the NBA season was suspended, everyone around the world knew it and it was televised everywhere as a major panic set out that sports were at a halt. When the WNBA season was postponed, not much was said about it.”

Freshman Sophia Araneo, a forward on RWU Women’s Basketball Team, said she isn’t exactly sure why the NBA is more popular than the WNBA.

“You see it start at an early age. You notice that the only fans you see in the stands for a women’s game are the parents and the occasional friend, while the stands are packed for the men’s game,” Araneo said. “This same trend to me seems to follow us as we get older and is even prevalent in professional sports.”

The Washington Mystics and the Connecticut Suns competed in the 2019 WNBA Finals and averaged 381,000 viewers on networks like ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. The Toronto Raptors competed against the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals last year and had 20.5 million views. The WNBA is broadcasted in 24 different countries outside of the U.S., whereas the NBA is broadcasted in over 96 countries.

According to ESPN, the player in the NBA with the highest salary is Point Guard Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. As of the 2019-2020 season, Curry’s salary is around $40 million.

DeWanna Bonner, a forward on the Connecticut Suns for the 2020 season, previously played for the Phoenix Mercury from 2009-2019. She was the player in the WNBA with the highest salary, earning around $127,000.

Mancinelli believes the WNBA players get paid less because of little promotional opportunities.

“This goes into all aspects of promotion, such as the number of commercials, how many games actually get aired live and fans attending games. Although the opportunity is supposed to be equal, the WNBA has always been treated as though it is a step behind the NBA league,”  Mancinelli said.

Pfohl brought up a counterpoint, mentioning how the league is also operating as a business.

“The NBA brings in a lot more revenue than the WNBA, therefore they are compensated for that. The merchandise, tickets [and] concessions bring in a lot more money compared to the WNBA,” Pfohl said.

Pfohl thinks the WNBA has to find different ways to bring in more revenue so the league can compensate the players and coaches differently. The gender pay gap has been an issue for many other professional sports besides basketball, including professional women’s soccer and women’s ice hockey.

The WNBA and WNBPA (Women’s National Basketball Players Association) released a tentative agreement in January 2020. It is an eight-year collective bargaining agreement. The agreement includes significant increases to player cash compensation and benefits; cash compensation triples to more than half a million dollars for top players and there are enhanced travel standards, expanded career development opportunities, new child care, maternity and progressive family planning benefits.

According to an article from the WNBA, “the new eight-year CBA, which commences with the 2020 season and runs through 2027, provides the foundation to chart a new course for women’s professional basketball. The 2020 CBA features significant investments by the league and its teams aimed directly at increasing player salary and compensation, improvements to the overall player experience, resources specifically designed with the professional female athlete in mind, as well as a commitment to implement an integrated marketing plan league-wide.”

The deal includes a 53% increase in total cash compensation consisting of base salary, additional performance bonuses, prize pools for newly created in-season competitions and league and team marketing deals.

Under this new CBA, the WNBA players are able to earn cash compensation in excess of $500,000. For the first time in WNBA history, the average cash compensation will exceed six figures, which means an increase for all players from rookies to veterans.

Wexler said it will benefit the players in many ways.

“They will be getting paid more, which means women will not need to play overseas to actually make a living. With the number of hours of practice and training the women do, they deserve this type of money,” Wexler said. “Also, the CBA will give women freedom to change teams more often.”

Mancinelli also thinks it will have positive impacts on the association.

“Not only was this something that should have been implemented a long time ago, but I think this will send the message that the WNBA deserves to be just as recognized and valued as the NBA currently is,” Mancinelli said. “There is also an abundance of new agreements that will benefit women, not only in terms of money, but also in terms of the quality of their experience being a professional basketball player.”

The NBA does a lot to help the WNBA. Curry and the late Kobe Bryant were vocal supporters.

“Kobe [had] a huge impact on both her [Ionescu’s] life and her basketball career, and there she was the other day being drafted #1,” Mancinelli said. “Stephen Curry is another example of someone who has shown his support in the league and this goes a long way with people being able to recognize the WNBA, and all the hard work those women put into the game. Their work should be just as valued.”

New coach and positive atmosphere gives field hockey a fresh start

September 19, 2019

BRISTOL R.I­–136 shots taken, 2 shutouts completed and 24 goals scored this season, all before conference play has even started. As the field hockey team goes into their seventh season, they are ready for success. 

This season, the team is starting off with new head coach Kelly Blackhurst. She will be taking on the position as the first ever full-time head coach for the field hockey team. Blackhurst said she had some time during the spring season to work with the six seniors and 18 returning players.

“They definitely are a group that wants to push the standard. They want to do more,” Blackhurst said. 

Blackhurst believes that there is an opportunity to elevate the program at RWU. She described the team’s work ethic as “outstanding,” and said the team had been working very hard during preseason to overcome adversity. 

“In the short time span, they have been able to put some different things into play,” said Blackhurst. “It has honestly been remarkable.”

Senior captain Alex Coppinger said that going into preseason was about everyone getting to know one another, including the coach, returning players and seven new freshmen. She believes taking the time to do this has really helped the team at the start of the season. 

“It has been one of the best starts we have had,” Coppinger said. “Everyone is having fun at every game.” 

Junior forward Lea Peterson also believes what they have been working on in preseason has benefitted them in the first couple of games of the season. She said this preseason the team focused on getting to know one another and learning how to play together as a team. 

Peterson recalls a specific moment where she knew what the team had worked on in preseason had shined through.

“When we traveled to our game at Eastern Connecticut State University, we usually have time to spend in the locker room before the game but that day we had to go right out onto the field when we got there,” said Peterson.  “Once we got on the field our coach said, ‘this is the game where all your work you put in during preseason comes out.’ We were tied at the first half 1-1 but we ended the game winning 6-1. It definitely showed that game.” 

Peterson believes Coach Blackhurst’s speech at the beginning of the game got the rest of the team thinking about the work they had done in preseason and that helped put them in the right mindset. 

“We knew that we didn’t put this work in for nothing. We want to show the conference what our team is about,” Peterson said. 

Coach Blackhurst sees that the players are holding themselves to a standard and she wants to make sure that the coaching staff is doing the same thing. 

“We have started to add more film into our sessions. We plan on doing three evaluations for the players during the season. We want to make sure they are hitting their benchmarks.” Blackhurst said.

In order to compete for a conference title (regionally and nationally), she said the team has to constantly be evaluating themselves and their performance. 

“I love to win but I also want to make sure that I’m not breaking them down. Positive talk goes a long way,” Blackhurst said. “So many times, you hear coaches yelling at players for missing a ball. If you constantly use positive reinforcement, then I think they do better, they make better decisions and they feel more confident in themselves.” 

Freshman midfielder Olivia Hampe said she did not come from a high school that was as supportive as the team is here. 

“It has been very different for me. It’s a lot more supportive,” Hampe said. 

Hampe believes that it has a lot to do with how successful they have been this season. She said the positive atmosphere is always kept up at practice and games, whether it’s on the sidelines or on the field.

According to senior forward Carly Doulette, the positive atmosphere helps the team continue to work hard and find motivation very easily. 

“I think most of us just want to be the best we can be. We really have high hopes,” Doulette said. “We know that there is so much potential and it forces us to work hard. Working hard will have good payouts and we will reap the benefits if we just keep putting the time and energy into it.”

Coach Blackhurst concurs that the team is looking forward to the season and is excited for every single game.

“I am looking forward to learning what Roger Williams is about, what makes our athletes tick and getting to know the team on and off the field,” she said.

Men’s swim & dive repeats as NEISDA champions, women’s team places second

February 22, 2018

KINGSTON, R.I.— The air filled with the smell of chlorine. The swimmers fit their goggles to their faces and pulled their swim caps on tight. Looking straight down into the crystal cool water of the pool, they slowly lifted their heads to see teammates cheering them on at the other end. The swimmers know that this is their time to compete. For Roger Williams University swimmers — this is family business.

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed in the New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships this past weekend at University of Rhode Island. The men’s team took first place for the second straight year and the women’s team took second. This motto of “family business” was the main focus of their meets this season and brought the men to another title. Coach Matt Emmert discussed the true meaning behind what this motto is about.

“It’s not about just putting up times and winning championships,” Emmert said. “It’s about lessons and bonds we are making with one another and the investment in one another.”

On the days RWU swimmers were not competing, they cladded shirts that say, “Success is the Family Business.” The message helped the athletes and coaches stay cool, calm, and collected, knowing they have such an amazing support system. 

“No matter what, if you fall down, the family is here to pick you up,” Emmert said.

He believes that there are always lessons learned when competing at this level. The men’s team faced off against University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Bridgewater State University, Norwich University, and Keene State College during the four-day competition.

Determined to perform at their highest level, the men’s team did just that. The men took home first place with a score of 964, giving them a total of 606.2 points. They won first-place in the 800 and 200 freestyle relays, 50-meter freestyle, and 50-meter butterfly.

Freshmen Eamon McKenney and Hunter Wronski, junior Hunter Olson, and senior Gabriel Pasqualucci set a new school record with a first place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay with their time of 1:33.62.

Wronski also finished first in the 1650-yard freestyle, beating the field and registering a time of 16:15.78, setting a new school record by ten seconds.

McKenney earned the win at the 50-yard backstroke with a time of 23.78 — setting a new school record but also a new NEISDA Championship record in the process. He also took the top spot in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 52.03.

The women’s team competed against Simmons College, Keene State College, Westfield State University, and Eastern Connecticut State University.

The women won first-place in the 400-meter medley with a time of 3:58.48 and 200-meter free relay with a time of 1:38.37. They won second place in the 800 and 400-meter free relays with times of 8:00.59 and 3:35.06, respectively. They also placed second in the 200-meter medley relay with a time of 1:48.26. The women finished second place overall, narrowly losing out to Simmons College. 

Sophomore Madison Guitard was emotional at the end of the competition, but is looking forward to next season. 

“I hope we can come back and get some really good recruits and be able to come back and take our championship again,” Guitard said.

As much as the women wanted a championship title for themselves, the team couldn’t be happier for the men’s team earning another chip. Senior captain Andrew Gillie competed in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 58.04 seconds, finishing second. He placed third in the 200-meter butterfly receiving a time of 1:59.10. 

Gillie was ecstatic about the win.

“I am feeling overjoyed with all mixed emotions,” Gillie said. “We put everything out there and we earned this. I could not have done it without our family of guys and our coaches and everybody, even the girls. Everybody helped us to this victory.”

Emmert couldn’t keep his excitement inside either.

“It is always surreal, our sport,” Emmert said. “You are putting in so much work for 100th of a second and this meet is three full days. It does not sink in until about a week later.”

Coach Emmert is looking forward to next season with a chance to keep the legacy that the men’s and women’s teams have made for themselves.

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