BY Jack Ravitz
Staff Reporter
Four-year Sacred Heart women’s basketball player and graduate student, Erin Storck, received an honor on Feb. 21, as she was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District 1 team. The award recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes.
According to Athletic Communications, Storck, who is now a two-year starter for the basketball team and averaging 10.5 points per game on the season, is the first Pioneer in history to win the award.
Initially, Storck wasn’t aware she had won it.
“Coach Mannetti called me and informed me of the big accolade that it is, and then I saw it posted on social media,” said Storck. “I was just honored and happy because my hard work paid off.”
Storck, who is from Commack, N.Y., views the award as a great memory she and her family can have when looking back at her overall college experience.
“It’s a great achievement for my academic and athletic career,” said Storck. “The award is a good representation of the work that I’ve put in both on and off the court.”
Head coach Jessica Mannetti said that Storck is the best representation of what a Pioneer athlete should be.
“She [Storck] does a tremendous job bringing unbelievable energy and effort, and will never let anyone outwork her,” said Mannetti.
Storck is a marketing major, and as a freshman she enrolled in a program Sacred Heart offers called the “Four Plus One.” This particular program caught Storck’s eye and it was one of the reasons she decided to enroll at the university.
Storck completed the program a year ahead of schedule and graduated early as a result of it.
“Coming into college I knew I had a lot of credits, but in my first year, I didn’t know I was going to graduate that quickly,” said Storck. “It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I really pushed myself to make sure I could graduate in a year.”
Storck has never been fazed about balancing school and basketball during her time here, since she’s been a student-athlete her whole life.
“It [school and basketball] keeps me organized as well as making me good at prioritizing. I’m on such a strict schedule in terms of going to practice, lifts, class, meetings, and film,” said Storck. “With the short amount of free time that I have, I can dedicate it to doing my school work and studies.”
Mannetti loves the competitiveness Storck has within her and sees it as a strong factor contributing to her success.
“She always wants to be the best. She will not settle for second or third or anything other than first,” said Mannetti. “She’ll turn walking up the stairs into a race.”
When it comes to the future, Storck doesn’t exactly know what her plans are, but because of the foundation she has built, she is looking forward to it.
“I’m going to continue to pursue any opportunity that comes my way,” said Storck. “I believe my basketball career will end here. But again, I’m excited for what the future holds.”
Although Mannetti is sad to see Storck leave, she wouldn’t mind working for Storck in the future.
“It’s been an honor of mine to have been able to coach Erin,” said Mannetti. “She’s certainly left her mark on this program in so many positive ways.”
