WATERBURY, Conn. -- As the 2024-25 athletic year kicked off this past weekend with Post University Football's home opener against West Virginia Wesleyan College, it also marked the start of the new athletic year for three newcomers to the Athletic Communications team with the arrival of Graduate Assistants Grace Glasrud and Jake Haddad along with newly named Sports Information Assistant, Jarrett Michaels, as announced by the Athletic Communications office on Monday.
For Glasrud, she is no stranger to Post University or the Athletic Communications department,the Athletic Communications team as an intern this past spring where she got hands-on experience in photography, videography, statistics, and broadcasting throughout the course of the four months. She also just finished an historic three-year career with Post University Women's Ice Hockey, appearing in a program record 62 games and starting a program record 53 games over the course of three seasons, breaking multiple season and career records for the program.
Glasrud is the current leader for most games played and started in a single season at 26 and 21 respectively as well as number one and number two all-time in minutes played for a season at 1,310:19 during the 2022-23 campaign while having 1,220:16 minutes played in 2023-24. She is also tied for the single-season wins mark with five in 2023-24 and has the single-season save record at 771, surpassing her own record of 767 the season before that.
In addition to the career records for games played and started, Glasrud also holds the record for most career minutes played at 3,217:18, lowest goals against average at 3.63, wins with 10, and finally career save percentage with a .911 mark. She was named to the NEWHA All-Sportswomanship Team for Post in 2023-24 and is a three-time member of the NEWHA All-Academic Team as well as a Krampade/AHCA All-American Scholars honoree.
Over the course of her senior campaign, Glasrud took the reins of the Women Ice Hockey program's Instagram channel where she was able to grow the page to over 2,000 followers in addition to boosting engagement metrics across the board for the program. She earned her undergraduate degree at Post, Glasrud graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Sport Management with concentrations in Sport Psychology and Sport Marketing in May 2024.
Haddad comes from Eastern Connecticut State University, graduating as a Warrior this past May with his Bachelors of Science in Sport Management and minors in Business Administration and Coaching. An athlete himself, he was a four-year member of Eastern Connecticut's Cross Country and Track & Field teams, earning a First Team All-Conference spot in Cross Country during his final season while also being named to multiple All-Academic teams throughout his career. Prior to attending Eastern, Haddad played four years of soccer in high school, a sport he is very passionate about.
The Vernon, Connecticut native got his start in Sports Information at Eastern with the university's first and only Sports Information Director of 40-plus years in Bob Molta. Alongside Molta and other students, Haddad worked primarily during the spring season under his tutelage at baseball, softball, and lacrosse contests. For 1 1/4 years, (May 2022 - Sept. 2023), he was an Operations Intern with newly founded Hartford Athletic of the USL Championship (2nd Division of U.S) where he was responsible for ticket scanning, assisting with parking, selling merchandise, helping with halftime activities, and assembly of the advertisement boards.
Both Glasrud and Haddad will complete their Masters of Business Administration in 2025.
Michaels comes on as a Sports Information Assistant after attending and graduating from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor's degree in Communications in May 2024. During his undergraduate years at UConn, Michaels was a member of the Women's Basketball practice squad. Prior to attending UConn, Michaels played four years of varsity football, basketball, and baseball at Nonnewaug High School. Growing up around athletics, Michaels is very passionate about breaking into the sports industry as part of joining the Athletic Communications team at Post.
Speaking on Glasrud and Haddad, Director of Athletic Communications, Michael Vesci said, "Grace and Jake have a lot of passion for this area of athletics and a desire to be creative and branch out in it. We identified Grace early on as a potential candidate for our Graduate Assistant program and were super excited when she decided to commit to one more year at Post to join our team. Jake was another candidate we identified early on as a good fit as well, he received strong recommendations from his Cross Country teammates and industry veteran Bob Molta, but also showed us he has a passion to take on whatever is thrown his way as well as learn whatever he can in Athletic Communications. Passion, drive, and motivation are huge keys to success in Athletic Communications and these two checked the boxes off on all three of them as we are hungry to grow what we do for our student-athletes here at Post University."
Talking about the addition of Michaels, Vesci said, "Like Grace and Jake, Jarrett checked off the three keys to success we look for to thrive in our department, but what stood out for us was his hunger to learn Athletic Communications and desire to just have a chance to thrive and succeed in athletics as a whole. He received high praise from one of my former colleagues, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, Jon Wilson, from Emmanuel College for his work ethic and we are excited to see him grow as a professional here at Post University and help him garner the necessary skills that will allow him to be a high-level worker in the Athletic Communications field in the future."
