Indoor Pool to re-open Monday
The Oak Ridge Outdoor Pool will closed for the season on Monday, August 12, and the Indoor Pool will re-open Monday, July 29, after being closed for a few months for renovations.
The last day the Outdoor Pool will be open is Sunday, August 11, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for open swim, the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release.
The Puppy Pool Party, marking the official end of the season, is set for Saturday, August 17, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
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More than 40 youth rowing teams from 20 different states are in Oak Ridge to compete in the Dogwood Junior Championship Regatta.
The regatta is Saturday, April 27, and Sunday, April 28. It’s hosted by the Oak Ridge Rowing Association.
“These young athletes, ages 14 to 19, represent some of the best programs in the nation,” a press release said. “They’ll travel from multiple regions—as far away as Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia, and South Florida—to compete at one of America’s favorite rowing venues.”
ORRA’s Dogwood Junior Championship Regatta is the premier competitive opportunity for many teams, as they prepare for USRowing’s regional and national championships, the press release said. This year, the annual event features 1,100 athletes and more than 650 entries, from the single person scull to the coxed 8+. Racing began with time trials at 7:45 a.m. Saturday. Semi-finals are held on Saturday afternoon, and finals on Sunday over the 2000-meter course.
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The annual championship regatta for the Southeastern Intercollegiate Rowing Association is in Oak Ridge on Saturday and Sunday.
SIRA has been racing on Melton Hill Lake in east Oak Ridge for more than 40 years. They have been a partner of the Oak Ridge Rowing Association longer than anyone, the ORRA said.
“The SIRA regatta marks the end of year regatta for some teams, a prep for Nationals for others, and a qualification for the IRA for some,” the ORRA said. “Expect great racing from the best Southeast intercollegiate teams and select others from around the U.S.”
Here are upcoming regattas, with a list shared by Explore Oak Ridge:
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The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will hold its first public open house for the Outdoor Pool Renovation Project this month.
On Tuesday, June 13, at 6 p.m., the public is invited to join the department for a brief presentation at the Scarboro Community Center followed by an interactive open house, a press release said.
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By Oak Ridge High School Swim Coach Chad Hodge
From Oak Ridge Wildcats Athletics
The Oak Ridge High School swim team finished the regular season undefeated by beating Lenoir City 199-120, Halls 165-90, Catholic 193-129, Webb 198-88, and Maryville 171-142.
Amazingly, the team did this without ever having their full team at a single swim meet.
The Wildcats will be back in action at the KISL City Championships on Saturday, January 28, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
[Read more…]
People in East Tennessee and others across the country will be cheering for former Oak Ridge Wildcat Tee Higgins in the Super Bowl this evening (Sunday, February 13), and another former Wildcat, Zach Witherspoon, will be on the sidelines.
Higgins is a standout wide receiver who played for Oak Ridge and Clemson University, and he is playing in his second season for the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals (10-7-0) play the Los Angeles Rams (12-5-0) at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The game will be broadcast on NBC at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Coverage of Super Bowl 2022 will air live on NBC and Peacock starting at 12 p.m. Eastern.
The Bengals advanced to the Super Bowl by defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in overtime on January 30, with a game-winning 31-yard field goal by rookie kicker Evan McPherson. You can watch highlights of that game here and here, and read a scoring summary here.
[Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Wildcats swim team finished fourth out of 40 teams in the Knox-area Interscholastic Swim League (KISL) City Championship Meet at the University of Tennessee on Sunday.
With the fourth-place finish, the Wildcats have had top five finishes in back-to-back years at KISL for the first time in KISL records dating back to 1997.
“In fact, the highest place Oak Ridge High School had ever placed since 1997 is seventh back in 2003,” a press release said.
The Sunday swim meet was in the Allan Jones Aquatic Center at UT.
Out of 22 ORHS swimmers, nine swimmers competed in the finals, the press release said.
Here are meet results:
[Read more…]
Atomic Junior rower Mason Fischer of Oak Ridge High School has signed a letter of intent to Oregon State University, where she plans to major in kinesiology, a press release said.
She will be rowing for the Beavers in the powerful Pac-12 Conference, the press release said. Fischer is in her third year of rowing and was in the Atomic four that finished 8th nationally last spring.
[Read more…]
An image by Cope Architecture of Knoxville showing what the rebuilt Ben Martin Track will look like at Oak Ridge High School.
A $1.3 million project is under way to rebuild the Ben Martin Track at Oak Ridge High School by June. The asphalt base of the eight-lane track dates back to the 1950s, the rubber surface is washing away, and holes are visible in the disintegrating and patched lanes. The pole vault has been unusable since 2017, and track coaches and athletes from other schools have recently declined to compete in Oak Ridge because of the conditions.
That is expected to change with the new renovated facility, which could host large invitational, sectional, and college track meets. The renovation project will rebuild the asphalt base of the track, add a new rubberized surface, and replace underground utilities. All field events except pole vault will move to the infield. Shot put and discus rings will be on the north end of the football practice field, while long jump and triple jump will be along the straight section of track nearest the bleachers. The pole vault will remain on the south side of the track, but it will move to the west end near the field house.
“This is a first phase of what we hope to be a larger project long-term,” Allen Thacker, Oak Ridge Schools supervisor of maintenance and operations, told the Oak Ridge Board of Education in October. “This is foundational.”
The project has been talked about “behind the scenes” for a handful of years, and there has been intense planning for about two years, according to those involved.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today. Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic
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An image by Cope Architecture of Knoxville showing what the rebuilt Ben Martin Track will look like at Oak Ridge High School.
A $1.3 million project is under way to rebuild the Ben Martin Track at Oak Ridge High School by June. The asphalt base of the eight-lane track dates back to the 1950s, the rubber surface is washing away, and holes are visible in the disintegrating and patched lanes. The pole vault has been unusable since 2017, and track coaches and athletes from other schools have recently declined to compete in Oak Ridge because of the conditions.
That is expected to change with the new renovated facility, which could host large invitational, sectional, and college track meets. The renovation project will rebuild the asphalt base of the track, add a new rubberized surface, and replace underground utilities. All field events except pole vault will move to the infield. Shot put and discus rings will be on the north end of the football practice field, while long jump and triple jump will be along the straight section of track nearest the bleachers. The pole vault will remain on the south side of the track, but it will move to the west end near the field house.
“This is a first phase of what we hope to be a larger project long-term,” Allen Thacker, Oak Ridge Schools supervisor of maintenance and operations, told the Oak Ridge Board of Education in October. “This is foundational.”
The project has been talked about “behind the scenes” for a handful of years, and there has been intense planning for about two years, according to those involved.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today. Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic
Pro
Temporary
If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here. We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!
After struggling this season, the Oak Ridge Wildcats gained confidence headed into the football playoffs tonight with a 48-21 win over region rival Campbell County last Friday.
“This was our best game in a lot of ways, for a lot of reasons,†Oak Ridge Coach Joe Gaddis told his huddled team on Blankenship Field after the victory over the Cougars (6-4, 1-3 Region 3-5A). “That’s a good way to finish the regular season.â€
The 48 points was the most scored by Oak Ridge (3-7, 3-2) this season.
The Wildcats also had the most rushing yards and total yards of the season, by far, against the Cougars on Friday. They ran for 366 yards and totaled 517.
“This is kind of a breakout game,†Gaddis said. “We were able to run the ball.â€
Oak Ridge sophomore De’Javius Dozier broke tackles and scored three touchdowns as he ran for more than 200 yards, the best performance of any Wildcat this season. He also ran for three touchdowns. Dozier’s previous team-high rushing total was 130 yards at Lenoir City on September 3.
[Read more…]The USRowing Masters National Championships is in Oak Ridge from Thursday to Sunday.
The regatta is hosted by the Oak Ridge Rowing Association.
The event draws competitors who are 21 years old and older from all across the United States. For many rowers, it will be their first big regatta in two years, a press release said. The regatta was last hosted by ORRA in 2017.
Racing will run each day from about 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Setup for the four-day regatta began on Saturday, August 7. Teams began to arrive Tuesday, August 10. and practice Wednesday, August 11.
[Read more…]
Olympic athletes finished first in both the men and women’s divisions of USA Cycling time trial races in Oak Ridge on Thursday.
Olympians also won second and third place in the women’s division.
The 2021 USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships are in Oak Ridge and Knoxville this week with the Individual Time Trial races in Oak Ridge on Thursday. It featured the Elite Women’s and Elite Men’s divisions racing against the clock on a 11.6-kilometer course (about 7.2 miles) on Melton Lake Drive. Racing continues in Knoxville on Friday, with a criterium occurring downtown Friday evening. There is a road race on Sunday.
Chloé Dygert of Brownsburg, Indiana, won first place in the Elite Women’s Division in the Individual Time Trial races in Oak Ridge on Thursday. She finished two laps of the course in 30:11.22. Dygert was the 2019 Time Trial World Champion.
[Read more…]