Sports Archives - Oak Ridge Today

Lady Wildcats win championship in Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic

Posted at 11:58 pm December 29, 2018
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The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won the championship game in the Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic basketball tournament, beating Jefferson County 49-36 at Greeneville on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was updated at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 30.

GREENEVILLE—After finishing second the past two years, the Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won the championship game in the Andrew Johnson Bank Ladies Classic basketball tournament in Greeneville on Saturday, beating Jefferson County 49-36.

It’s the sixth time Oak Ridge (15-2, 3-1 District 3-AAA) has won the title in 10 appearances in the tournament final. The Lady Wildcats have been runner-up four times, including in 2016 and 2017, when they lost to Bradley Central. Oak Ridge’s last championship win in the tournament was in 2002.

The team didn’t want to settle for second place again this year.

“When you want to play for championships, you want to win championships,” Oak Ridge Coach Paige Redman said.

It was the second championship win for Oak Ridge in about a week. The Lady Wildcats won their division championship in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix on Saturday, December 22.

Oak Ridge senior guard Jada Guinn was named the most valuable player of both tournaments. [Read more…]

Limited amount of sod from Blankenship Field available Friday

Posted at 8:51 pm December 6, 2018
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The high school football season is over, and renovation work started at Blankenship Field in November 2018. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

A limited amount of sod from Blankenship Field will be available to football fans during a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday afternoon.

Renovations have started at the field, which will be converted from grass to synthetic turf, possibly by the end of April.

The ceremonial groundbreaking will be hosted by the City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools, and it is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Friday, December 7.

“Football fans will be given the opportunity to take home a piece of sod from the field beginning at 3:30 p.m. Friday,” a press release said. A limited amount of sod will be available at no cost on a first-come, first-served basis. [Read more…]

Photos: Work begins on Blankenship Field

Posted at 4:19 pm December 3, 2018
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The high school football season is over, and renovation work started at Blankenship Field in November 2018. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

The high school football season is over, and renovation work has started at Blankenship Field.

The City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools have both posted photos of the start of the work.

On Wednesday, the City of Oak Ridge said maintenance crews from Oak Ridge Schools were doing preliminary work, including removing irrigation, fencing, and sod.

“Heavy machinery will arrive with the contractors soon,” the city said in a post published on Twitter. “We can’t wait to see the finished product next year!” [Read more…]

Updated: Oak Ridge football season ends with quarterfinal loss to Catholic

Posted at 11:33 pm November 16, 2018
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Oak Ridge senior Jordan Graham (8) runs during a 20-14 loss to Farragut on Blankenship Field on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo by Barry Houchin)

Oak Ridge senior Jordan Graham (8), pictured here during the Sept. 7, 2018, game against Farragut, ran for four touchdowns during a 42-40 quarterfinal loss to Catholic on Blankenship Field on Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. (File photo by Barry Houchin)

Note This story was last updated with photos at 3 p.m. Nov. 17.

For the second year in a row, the Oak Ridge football season ended with a state quarterfinal loss to Knoxville Catholic on Blankenship Field.

Last year’s final score was 37-28 in favor of the Fighting Irish. Catholic went on to win the Class 5A state championship.

This year’s final score in Oak Ridge was closer, 42-40, but Catholic prevailed again.

The Wildcats (9-3) led by 13 points, 27-14, at halftime of the Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday. They widened their lead to 33-14 early in the third quarter when senior Jordan Graham scored his fourth rushing touchdown, his second four-TD performance in two weeks.

But after that score, the Fighting Irish (10-3) rallied with three touchdowns on three drives to take a 35-33 lead at 1:26 in the third quarter. They tacked on one more touchdown early in the fourth quarter to widen their lead to 42-33. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge shuts out Rhea County in first round of playoffs

Posted at 10:04 pm November 2, 2018
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Oak Ridge shut out Rhea County 42-0 in a first-round Class 5A playoff game on Blankenship Field on Friday, Nov. 2, 2018. Above, coach Joe Gaddis talks to the Wildcats after the game. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 10 a.m. Nov. 3.

Oak Ridge shut out Rhea County 42-0 in the first round of the Class 5A football playoffs on Blankenship Field on Friday.

“That was a complete game,” Oak Ridge Coach Joe Gaddis said. “It couldn’t have been more timely. No one has beaten them (Rhea County) like this.”

The Wildcats (9-2), a Region 3 team, advance to play at Soddy-Daisy (6-4), a Region 4 team, in the second round at 7 p.m. next Friday (November 9). Soddy-Daisy eliminated Clinton (a 4-7 Region 3 team) in another first-round game this Friday.

Winners of the second-round games advance to the state quarterfinals. The winner of the Oak Ridge-Soddy-Daisy game will play the winner of Catholic-Fulton in a quarterfinal game on Friday, November 16. [Read more…]

Football: Oak Ridge Wildcats 6-1 so far this season

Posted at 9:48 pm October 1, 2018
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The Oak Ridge Wildcats walk down the stairs at Jack Armstrong Stadium before a 41-12 win over Dobyns-Bennett on Blankenship Field on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. (Photo by Barry Houchin)

The Oak Ridge football team is 6-1 so far this season.

The Wildcats have had three wins and no losses in Region 3-5A. They have defeated Campbell County at home and West and Karns on the road.

Their other three wins were in non-regional games, with victories at Hardin Valley, at home against Dobyns-Bennett, and at Sevier County.

Their one loss, a non-regional game, was to Farragut on Blankenship Field.

All three games remaining in the regular season are regional games: Clinton (1-5, 0-2); Powell (6-1, 3-1); and Fulton (5-1, 2-0).

Oak Ridge is off this week. They play at Clinton on Friday, October 12. Their final two games, against Powell and Fulton, will be at home on October 19 and 25.

Here is a summary of the first seven games. [Read more…]

Oak Ridger, teammate advance to world rowing championship quarterfinals

Posted at 1:52 pm August 9, 2018
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Kristopher Fisher of Oak Ridge (bow) and Cooper Tuckerman of Bozeman, Montana (stroke), cross the finish line in the white boat at center in a 2,000-meter race in the second heat of the Junior Men’s Double Sculls event at the World Rowing Junior Championships on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018, in Racice, Czech Republic. (Photo by Kimberly Bell)

Representing the United States, an Oak Ridge rower and his teammate advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Rowing Junior Championships this week in the Czech Republic.

Kristopher Fisher and his teammate Cooper Tuckerman of Bozeman, Montana, are racing in the Junior Men’s Double Sculls in Racice, which is outside of Prague.

They finished fourth among six teams in the second of five heats, Heat 2, on Wednesday.

The top four teams in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals, meaning 20 of the 30 teams advanced from the five heats.

The quarterfinals are Friday. Fisher and Tuckerman, the U.S. junior men’s double team, will compete in Lane 1 at 6:06 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (12:06 p.m. in the Czech Republic). [Read more…]

Fisher, an ORHS graduate, competes in world rowing championships this week

Posted at 3:59 pm August 7, 2018
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Local rower Kristopher Fisher participates in a signing ceremony with Temple University at Oak Ridge High School on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Local rower Kristopher Fisher, who attended Oak Ridge High School last year and signed with Temple University in February, will compete in world rowing championships in the Czech Republic this week.

Fisher and Cooper Tuckerman of Bozeman, Montana, will race in the Junior Men’s Double Sculls event at the World Rowing Junior Championships, which are scheduled from August 8-12 in Racice, outside of Prague in the Czech Republic. (You can see the start list here and the Heat 2 start list for Wednesday here.) More than 750 athletes from 57 nations are competing.

Fisher and Tuckerman swept the Men’s U19 2x at the USRowing National Team Trials in July, winning the best-of-three format handily with victories in both the first and second event, according to the Oak Ridge Rowing Association.

On July 5, Fisher and Tuckerman were tightly matched by Jeremy Wolpert of San Juan Capistrano, California, and Michael Fairley of Saratoga Springs, New York, through the first 500 meters before pulling away in the middle 1,000, finishing in 6:56.41. The second place pair finished well back in 7:08.03. [Read more…]

Blankenship Field renovations to start after football season

Posted at 6:14 pm July 12, 2018
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Blankenship Field and Jack Armstrong Stadium are pictured above on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The renovations at Blankenship Field, including the installation of synthetic turf, won’t start until after this year’s football season ends, officials said Thursday.

At one time, there had been hopes that the renovation work would have started this past January and be finished by this June. Then, after an $800,000 contract was approved in June, there had still been the possibility that the work could be complete this summer, on or around the first home football game in August.

But on Thursday, the City of Oak Ridge announced a decision to wait until the Oak Ridge High School football season is complete to begin the renovations.

“The decision was based on the contractor’s estimate that the project could not be completed without impacting the first three home football games,” a city press release said. [Read more…]

USA Cycling selects Oak Ridge for individual time trial championships

Posted at 8:57 am June 7, 2018
By John Huotari 2 Comments

USA Cycling has selected Oak Ridge for one of three national championships in East Tennessee this month.

The USA Cycling Professional Road, Individual Time Trial (ITT), and Criterium National Championships will be in Knoxville and Oak Ridge from June 21-24.

The ITT National Championships will be on Melton Lake Drive on June 21, kicking off the championships, a press release said.

The City of Oak Ridge is hosting the ITT National Championships in partnership with Visit Knoxville, the press release said. [Read more…]

Van Berkel finishes fourth in girls discus at state track meet

Posted at 4:32 pm May 24, 2018
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Oak Ridge junior Erin Van Berkel finished fourth in the girls discus at the state track and field meet in Murfreesboro on Thursday, May 24, 2018. (Photo by ORHS track fan)

Oak Ridge junior Erin Van Berkel finished fourth in girls discus in the state track and field meet in Murfreesboro on Thursday.

Van Berkel had a throw of 118.5.

Oak Ridge is competing in events at the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association championship track and field meet at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro on Thursday.

Besides girls discus, the Wildcats are competing in the girls 1,600-meter run, the boys 4×800-meter relay, the boys 4×100-meter relay, and the girls 4×100-meter relay. [Read more…]

Big 12 Rowing Championships in Oak Ridge this weekend

Posted at 11:45 pm May 11, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Kansas State competed in the SIRA Championship Regatta on the Clinch River (Melton Hill Lake) in Oak Ridge on Saturday, April 21, 2018. The Wildcats will also race in the 2018 Big 12 Rowing Championships in Oak Ridge on Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13, 2018. (Photo by Julio Culiat)

Note: This story was last updated at 12:30 a.m.

The 2018 Big 12 Rowing Championships are in Oak Ridge on Saturday and Sunday.

The races will feature some of the top rowing programs in the country. The eight participating teams, including No. 3 Texas, will compete for an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships set for May 25-27 in Sarasota, Florida, according to TexasSports.com.

Besides Texas, other teams competing in Oak Ridge this weekend are Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, in addition to rowing affiliate Alabama, Old Dominion, and Tennessee.

The Big 12 Championships begin at 2 p.m. Saturday with preliminary heats. Final heats start at 9 a.m. Sunday. [Read more…]