By Nick Rosa
Breaking records, owning school records and looking to repeat at NEC Championships this year, sophomore Aaron Radden is having a stand out season.
Radden began his track career as a freshman at Sacred Heart High School and has only blossomed since. After not making the basketball team he wanted to do a sport that lasted all year round, so it came down to track or swimming.
“I wasn’t wearing a speedo,” Radden said with a smirk, “so track ended up winning.”
Track wasn’t the only thing he did while attending Sacred Heart. Throughout his high school career, besides burning up the track, he played soccer, football and ran cross country.
A big influence in Radden’s life was his uncle.
“He pretty much was the person who got me to this level right now,” he said. “I had made New England’s my senior year the same day as my graduation party and he told my mom that I was going to New England’s no matter what.”
That is the race head coach Eric Blake decided to recruit him for CCSU. “If it wasn’t for my uncle I probably wouldn’t be in this situation I am in now.”
For his recruitment, former head coach George Kawecki and head coach Eric Blake was interested in bringing Radden’s speed to CCSU.
“He [Blake] came and saw me run at New England’s for indoor and state opens for outdoor my senior year,” Radden said. “My number one school actually was Southern and my number two was Central but I called the Southern coach and he said I wasn’t good enough to run there. The same day I called Coach Blake and a few days later I had a huge packet in the mail and from there on out it was Central.”
Eric Blake saw potential within Radden; potential the Southern coach overlooked.
He owned the 100 meter and 200 meter records for the high school which he broke his senior year. At New England’s his last year he placed second in the 100 and sixth in the 200.
He continued to break records a freshman Blue Devil at CCSU. As a freshman Radden was the top sprinter in the NEC, setting the school’s 200 meter record with a blistering time of 21.03 and placing first in the 60 and 200 meter races at the NEC championships.
During the 2009-2010 indoor season he was also awarded with NEC Rookie of the week.
His biggest awards were being named Most Valuable Performer, Outstanding Track Performer, and Outstanding Rookie Performer at the NEC championships last year.
After achieving these as a freshman he will look to capture MVP and Outstanding Track performer again this weekend at NEC’s.
In outdoor his freshman year Radden suffered the first injury of his running career, which sidelined him for two weeks. He stretched his shoulder away from the joint which requires a few weeks to heal but he went back to running as soon as he could.
Despite missing a couple weeks he was still able to receive the honor of NEC athlete of the week and helped the Blue Devils get to its highest place at the NEC’s in program history by placing third.
Last summer Radden went to Des Moines, Iowa to compete in the USATF Junior Championships where he had another great performance. He made it to the finals and placed fourth in the 200 with a time of 21.36.
“He has come a long way in just one season with us,” said Blake. “Aaron proved he was one of the top performers in the league in 2009-10, and now he proved he can be among the nation’s elite with his performance in the 200 in Iowa. We are proud of his accomplishments and look forward to great things from Aaron as a Blue Devil.”
It seems those “great things” have already come. So far this year he has broken the school record for the 60 meter dash with a 6.83 run and was a part of the Distance Medley Relay with Mike Waterbury, Jeremy Schmid, and Mohamed Hrezi, which broke the school record with a 9:56.67.
Radden’s 200 meter time of 21.41 is ranked twenty-sixth in the NCAA, and at the Albany Great Dane Invite at the Armory in New York City he won the 200 meters and set the meet record in that race.
Going into NECs Radden has high expectations for the team. “We have so much talent this year compared to previous years. We just need to get mentally there, not more dedicated, just more serious about it. As far as talent and potential on the team we are heading in the right direction.”
While the goal is to get a team championship ring, Radden also has very big individual goals for himself.
“I’d like to be able to go to nationals and be a contender there, possibly top three and to become a stronger more powerful runner,” he said. “It’s always good to have individual achievement and, obviously the better you do individually the better you do to help the team. That’s how I take my perspective from it, I’m going to do the best I can and hopefully everyone will tune in as a whole and when you look at it we’ll do pretty well.”
As a sophomore Radden has plenty of time to do the individual goals he wants for himself and a possible NEC Championship ring isn’t too far away from him and this talented Blue Devil team.
