One of our assistant athletic trainers, Jill Radzinski, has signed on as a trainer for the U.S. women’s hockey team. One of our alums, Emily Azevedo, has a shot at making the U.S. bobsled team.

These are two UC Davis folks we know about with ties to the forthcoming Winter Olympics, as participants or staff, and we here at the News Service are hoping to hear from anyone out there who knows of anybody else.

Athletic trainer for women's hockey team

Radzinski — whose nickname is "Rad" — has been an assistant trainer at UC Davis since 1997. Her primary assignments are the women’s soccer and lacrosse teams, and the swimming and diving teams.

She took a leave to work with the U.S. women’s hockey team, which has been training in Blaine, Minn., since early September. The team also has been competing in the United States (where opponents have included men's and boys teams) and internationally — all leading up to the Olympics next month in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

At Penn State, Radzinski played a different kind of hockey — field hockey — but she lists another winter sport as an avocation: snowboarding. And she has been involved with U.S. Olympics since she completed graduate school at the University of Richmond (Va.).

Radzinski went from Richmond to a one-year internship at the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colo., and has continued her involvement since then. She has worked with short- and long-track speed skaters (including Apolo Anton Ohno) and softball players (including Jenny Finch).

Her stint with the hockey team is her first Olympic Games assignment.

"She is very proud of this," said her UC Davis boss, Jeff Hogan, director of athletic training. "But I must say, I may be more proud to say a member of this staff is working the Olympics. It has been many years in the making, and this entire staff has worked hard to allow Rad to continue her quest."

The U.S. women’s hockey team is scheduled to open Olympics play Feb. 14 against China.

From track and field to bobsledding

Azevedo graduated in 2005 with a degree in exercise biology.

She is not from a winter sports town (she is from Chico), and during her time at UC Davis we did not have a bobsled team (nor do we have one now!). But she was a fast and nimble runner (a record holder in the 100-meter hurdles, as a matter of fact), which makes her well suited for bobsled — in which the participants run and push their sleds to get started down the hill.

Azevedo set UC Davis’ record for the 100-meter hurdles (outdoors) at 14.23 seconds in 2005, and this record held until April 2008. Sirena Williams set the new record, and last year she ran the race even faster, setting a new record of 13.50.

Azevedo’s name also appears in the UC Davis record book for two indoor races:

• Tied with her sister Chelsea for third-best in the 60-meter hurdles, at 8.95 seconds. (Chelsea is a senior this year, majoring in exercise biology and human development.)

• Fourth-best in the 60 meters (7.99 seconds).

Now, Emily Azevedo is affiliated with the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, as a brakewoman. According to her profile on the federation’s Web site, Azevedo decided to become a bobsledder after watching the 2006 games in Torino, Italy; she made her debut in the 2006-07 season, placing eighth at the world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and 10th in Innsbruck, Austria, both times with driver Erin Pac.

Azevedo raced with Pac and Jamia Jackson in 2007-08 World Cup competition, placing as high as sixth at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Azevedo teamed with Pac for a silver medal in the America’s Cup in 2008-09, and with Bree Schaaf for fifth- and sixth-place finishes in World Cup competitions that same year.

Azevedo and Schaaf won the 2009 national championships and placed 10th in the world championships the same year.

In World Cup competition in 2009-10, teamed with Schaaf and Shauna Rohbock, Azevedo has placed as high as sixth, in Cesana, Italy.

In an e-mail today from Konigssee, Germany, Azevedo described the "grueling" process of trying to quality "as the right brakeman" for the team's third sled. And, even then, there is no guarantee that the United States will get to send three sleds to the games; two for sure, but, according to Azevedo, the United States is dueling with Canada in the world standings for the right to send three.

"I have been constantly tested and will continue to be throughout the next week," Azevedo wrote. "After all the tests and races, a committee gets to together to decide who the best brakeman for each sled is."

A spokeswoman said the federation will announce its Olympics delegation no later than Jan. 20. Opening ceremonies for the games are scheduled for Feb. 12.

Back in her hometown, the Chico News & Review included Azevedo in a Jan. 7 article titled "Who to Watch in 2010: Nine People Who Are Likely to Make Waves This Year."

The News & Review quoted Azevedo as saying: “We have two more races until the Olympic team is selected. ... I am sure I will be tested many more times in the next few weeks, so the coaching staff feels they have enough numbers and data on each athlete to make the right selection for each sled.

“I never had anticipated how stressful and intense an Olympic year would be, but I have learned that surrounding yourself with positive people who are as confident (or more) in your abilities is the only way to stay determined and focused.”

Do you know of anyone else?

If you know of anyone else who might be involved — say, a faculty member who is serving as a coach or consultant, or whose research may be connected to the Olympics; or students past and present who may be competing — please let us know by sending an e-mail to fridayupdate@ucdavis.edu.