Sports

The teams for this Spring's Amgen Tour of California and Amgen Breakaway from Heart DiseaseTM Women’s Race empowered with SRAM have been announced, and they contain some of the most decorated cyclists in the world.

AEG, the producer and presenter of the 2017 tours, made the announcement today.

The men's Amgen Tour of California runs from May 14-20 and the Amgen Breakaway from Heart DiseaseTM Women’s Race empowered with SRAM starts in South Lake Tahoe on May 11,with the final race on May 14.

The U.S. Forest Service has released two videos created to not only highlight the upcoming World Cup ski events at Squaw Valley, but to celebrate the Tahoe National Forest.

Olympic gold medalist Julia Mancuso is featured in each video showing the beauty and recreational values of the forest where she grew up.

"Women's soccer has arrived," said Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) Women's Soccer Coach Jeremy Evans as he introduced the six South Tahoe High School (STHS) athletes that will be playing for him in the fall.

"I think we will finally be there," Evans said of a team that is primed for post-season play. Not only did he recruit the six young ladies from STHS, he also is adding a Truckee player, one from Reno, a Las Vegas player who was on state championship team for four years and has 14 returnees from his 2016 team.

The American snowboarders turned in a stellar performance at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix slopestyle event on Sunday, sweeping both men’s and women’s podiums. Up-and-comer Red Gerard from Silverthorne, Colo., topped the field to take the win for the men, while South Lake Tahoe's Jamie Anderson continued her global domination with a win for the ladies. Kyle Mack (West Bloomfield, MI) and Hailey Langland (San Clemente, CA) each took second while Dylan Thomas (Kingsley, PA) and Julia Marino (Westport, CT) were third.

Truckee High School was the scene of this weekend's two-day 2017 NIAA 3A Northern League Wrestling Championships, with two South Tahoe High athletes moving onto the mats at the Nevada State Wrestling Championships at Spanish Springs High School in Sparks February 10-11.

South Lake Tahoe native Jamie Anderson, 26, was in an unfamiliar position when she stood on the third-place step of the podium at the slopestyle snowboarding world cup Friday in Laax, Switzerland.

This year’s Dew Tour has been anything but conventional, with weather causing switch-ups to the all the events. The women’s slopestyle contest was diverted into two parts with the jib section going down on Saturday, and the jump portion was rescheduled for Sunday.

But, it’s puking snow and howling wind in Breckenridge, so the jump segment was cancelled. The riders all agreed it would be in everyone’s best interest to hold-off from hitting the booter in these conditions, so they used the top jibs scores for the winners.

For the second consecutive year, the Tahoe Grizzlies Pee Wee team are headed to the International Finals after bringing home a championship win from the Silver Stick Regional Tournament in San Jose, Calif.

“I’m extremely proud of this team,” said Grizzlies coach Mike Gunderson. “They’ve worked hard to get this point and have really come together as a team, many have been teammates going on two or more years now. Everyone on the team contributed during the tournament and all were represented on score sheet.”

8:00 p.m. update: The Lady Vikings have fallen short in their bid to be the back-to-back state champions in Nevada 3A Girls Soccer. It took two overtimes in their Friday night semi-final game for the Southern Nevada number one seed, Western High, to win by a score of 2-1.

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The first round of the Nevada State Soccer Championships start Friday night in Las Vegas, and South Tahoe High's Lady Vikings are there to defend their title.

South Tahoe High, the defending state champs, meet Western, the number one seed from Southern Nevada at 6:00 p.m. November 11.

Amgen Tour of California announced today that professional cycling will return to Lake Tahoe, May 11-12, 2017. The Amgen Breakaway from Heart Disease Women's Race will include the overall start and Stage 2 on consecutive days. The women’s competition will conclude with a third stage in Elk Grove, May 13 and the final in Sacramento, May 14.

The men's race is skipping Lake Tahoe this year and is set to begin in Sacramento on May 14.

The team of Louis Marin and Mickey Sullivan from South Tahoe High won the Nevada State 3A tennis doubles title Saturday, beating Preston Jorgensen and Boen Huxford from Boulder City, 6-1, 6-2

They began the state tournament on Friday with a match against Adan Cano and Kevin Giron from Desert Springs High. After beating them 6-3, 6-3 they went onto a 9:00 a.m. Saturday match against Zach Larson and Noah Warren from Truckee. Marin and Sullivan beat them 6-3, 6-3, setting them up for the championship game.

The state tennis tournament was held at the Tahoe Donner Tennis Center in Truckee.

Hidden among the pines in South Lake Tahoe is a backyard basketball half-court with ax marks on the free throw line and the area under the rim. Crime clues, perhaps?

Hardly. They’re the handiwork of a young man who three decades ago wouldn’t stop practicing his foul shots, come hell or high snowpack.

In the winter, Jerod Haase would shovel the snow off the court, but if it drifted up to 3 or 4 feet — “which it did a lot,” he says — he’d just shovel the free-throw line and the area beneath the hoop. The sun might melt some of the snow, but it would freeze back over into a layer of ice.

Maybe there's just no use talking to PGA Tour players about pressure. Their skills exist on an entirely different plateau, and their weekly exposure to seven-figure paychecks and audiences has inured them from experiencing anything like what we mortals feel teeing it up in a club championship. Then again, what's the point of asking cousin Bob—who's a very nice player—for competitive advice when in the grand scheme he's just another loser, too. If you want to learn something valuable about tournament golf, there's really only one place to go: Lake Tahoe in July.

The kickoff events are now in the record books, and racers are now preparing for the rest of Lake Tahoe Marathon week to get started.

Saturday, October 8

7:00 a.m. - Cal-Neva Marathon, race from Sand Harbor to Homewood
9:00 a.m. - Carnelian Bay Half Marathon, race from Carnelian Bay to Homewood
9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. - Tahoe Sport & Fitness Expo at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel
9:00 p.m. - The Midnight Express 72 Mile Ultra - Round trip race around the lake starting at Lakeside Beach in South Lake Tahoe

Sunday, October 9

Its been 50 years since the first gold medal in skiing and snowboarding was won by an American. Since Gretchen Fraser’s historic slalom gold at St. Moritz in 1948, 31 athletes from the U.S. have brought home 35 gold medals.

In the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Maddie Bowman and Jamie Anderson from South Lake Tahoe each won gold, Bowman in women’s halfpipe skiing and Anderson in women’s slopestyle snowboarding.

Torino, Italy's 2006 Olympics saw South Lake Tahoe Olympian Hannah Teter win gold

A special course created on the snow at Sierra-at-Tahoe will be featured on the October 16 edition of the action sports show, ABC's 'World of X Games.'

SuperSnake, a cutting-edge hybrid course on snow that combines snowboarding and skateboarding, will unveil the never-been-done build out and completely unconventional riding experiences that brought elite skateboarders and snowboarders together to ride alongside each other for the first time ever at Sierra-at-Tahoe near South Lake Tahoe. The film is 22 minutes long and will showcase not only this new snowsport, but Lake Tahoe slopes.

Is South Lake Tahoe bike friendly? Once known as a “Bicycle Friendly Community," the City has applied to become one again.

The application to the League of American Bicyclists has been submitted, and they will be reviewing criteria such as the number of miles of bike lanes and bike paths in South Lake Tahoe, what improvements have been made to the bike infrastructure, how the City engages with the public and encourages them to cycle, law enforcement related to cycling, educational outreach for cycling, and basic demographics of the community.

Author Guy Clifton will speak on his book Dempsey in Nevada in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 6, at 10:00 am.

Many people are surprised to learn that Jack Dempsey once called Nevada home. Dempsey left footprints all over the Silver State that affected the entire sporting arena.

He helped usher in the era known as “The Golden Age of Sport” along with baseball’s Babe Ruth, football’s Red Grange, golf’s Bobby Jones and tennis’ Bill Tilden.

On Sunday, former MLB pitcher Mark Mulder became the first back-to-back winner at the American Century Golf Championship at Edgewood Tahoe since Rick Rhoden accomplished the feat in 2008 and 2009.

Coming from 5 points off the lead on Saturday, Mulder won the annual championship by 5 with the Modified Stableford scoring they use in the tournament. Second place finisher, tennis player Mardy Fish, missed a 12-foot putt for eagle on the 18th hole which would have forced a playoff.

Mulder takes home a trophy and $125,000 for his efforts. Fish, $60,000.

Former professional tennis player, and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish took over the lead of the American Century Golf Championship at Edgewood Tahoe on Saturday. Friday's leader, actor Jack Wagner, is just two points off the lead.

"Birdie is what's the name of the game here and this scoring system," said Fish. He birdied all of the par-5 holes and three others, putting him in a good spot for the final round on Sunday.

Fish is in Tahoe with his wife, who is pregnant with a daughter, and 2 1/2 year old son. "It's been a fun week," Fish added.

Golf and Justin Timberlake fans will have to get up early to follow the popular celebrity over at Edgewood Tahoe on Friday.

Timberlake, paired with good friend Alfonso Ribeiro, will tee off at 6:50 a.m. The singer/actor golfed in Tahoe on Wednesday, then flew to San Diego to participate in Comic Con 2016, and will be back for an early round of golf. Timberlake plays the part of Branch in the soon-to-be-released animated movie, Trolls.

Seventeen celebrities enjoyed Tuesday's Tahoe South Celebrity-Am which paired celebrity golfers with amateurs.

Marshall Faulk's team led the pack of 17 with a 47.1 In his group were Nick Roberts, David Yi, Luke Roberts and William Davies.

Results:

1. Marshall Faulk – 47.2
2. Roger Clemens – 50.2
3. Sterling Sharpe – 52.8
4. Eric Gagne – 53.0
5. Mark Rypien – 53.2
6. Kevin Millar – 53.7
7. Bode Miller – 53.8
8. Bret Saberhagen – 54.1
9. Sebastian Janikowski – 54.3
10. Heather LeMaster – 54.5
11. Marvin Lewis – 55.1

Mountain Resort Television guest reporter and professional waterskier Marcus Brown fills us in on water ski equipment for Lake Tahoe including a new ski disc.

Beach wrestling is returning to South Lake Tahoe and everyone is invited to participate. Local wrestling coaches Ryan Wallace and Dave Borges are continuing with the success of their inaugural event in 2015, and holding their 2nd annual tournament on Saturday, July 16 at 9:00 a.m. on El Dorado Beach at Lakeview Commons.

Once again, South Tahoe Stand Up Paddle and the Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe are sponsoring the event along with the help of the South Lake Tahoe Police Activities League (PAL).