The Dogwood Junior Championship Regatta is in Oak Ridge this weekend.
During the regatta, the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will partially close Melton Lake Greenway on Saturday, April 24, until Sunday, April 25, at 4 p.m.
“The closure is to help prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the city said. “It will be on the greenway between the boathouse parking lot and the crosswalk to the Emory Valley Greenway.”
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The 2021 USRowing Masters National Championships will be in Oak Ridge in August.
The championships, hosted by Oak Ridge Rowing Association, will be on Melton Hill Lake from August 12-15.
“We’re looking forward to offering the opportunity for our masters rowers to get back on the water at the USRowing Masters National Championships later this summer,” said USRowing Director of Events James Rawson. “Oak Ridge is a beloved racing venue, and we’re thrilled to be working with them for another national championship regatta. As always, our number one priority will be to run a safe regatta. We will be putting COVID protocols in place and will announce these measures closer to the event.”
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A tall, talented Houston team with several future Division I basketball players eliminated Oak Ridge 77-45 in a Class AAA state semifinal tournament game in Murfreesboro on Friday.
Oak Ridge (28-6) took an early 6-0 lead in the BlueCross Basketball Championships game at Middle Tennessee State University. But after Houston (22-3) took the lead with about three minutes left in the first quarter, the Mustangs never gave it up and they led by as many as 33 points.
Still, Oak Ridge was down by only eight points, 29-21, at halftime.
However, the Mustangs outscored the Wildcats 33-10 in the third quarter and had a 62-31 lead going into the final quarter. Houston senior forward Zander Yates (6-foot-8) scored 14 points in less than two minutes in the third quarter to help open up that lead for the Mustangs.
Houston, a team from Germantown east of Memphis, had four starters, including Yates, who are 6-foot-6 or taller. Oak Ridge had one, 6-foot-8 senior center Jonathan Milloway. The Mustangs had a rebounding advantage, 40 to 27, and they also shot 50 percent from the field (26 of 52) and almost 50 percent from beyond the three-point line (11 of 23).
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Note: This story was last updated at 12 p.m. March 19.
Oak Ridge advanced to a state semifinal basketball game on Friday with a 68-57 win over Siegel in a Class AAA quarterfinal game on Thursday.
The Wildcats (28-5) will play Houston (21-3) of Germantown, east of Memphis, at 8:30 p.m. Central time Friday. The BlueCross Basketball Championships are in Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
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The Oak Ridge Wildcats will play Siegel in the first round of the Class AAA state high school basketball championship on Thursday.
Oak Ridge (27-5) and Siegel (27-4) are two of eight Class AAA boys teams in the BlueCross State Championships in Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
The Wildcats and the Stars, a Murfreesboro team, are scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Thursday (Central time). You can see the tournament bracket here.
Oak Ridge, which had finished second in Region 2, advanced to the state tournament by beating Dobyns-Bennett, which had finished first in Region 1, 65-61 in a Class AAA sectional game in Kingsport on Monday, March 8.
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They won the District 3-AAA championship game against Clinton. They advanced to the Region 2 championship game by defeating West and Maryville in quarterfinal and semifinal games.
On Thursday, in the championship game, they finished second in the region, losing 55-52 to Bearden after narrowing a 15-point Bulldogs lead late in the third quarter to one point late in the fourth.
Tonight, Monday, March 8, the Oak Ridge Wildcats (26-5) will play for a chance to compete in the state basketball tournament. They will travel to Dobyns-Bennett (25-4) in Kingsport in upper East Tennessee for one of eight Class AAA sectional games across the state. The winners of the sectional games advance to the state tournament in Murfreesboro, and the season is over for the losers.
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This year’s regatta season will start next week with the Cardinal Invitational in Oak Ridge. That rowing competition with the University of Louisville is scheduled from March 13-14 at Melton Lake Park.
Other rowing events will begin in late April and run almost every weekend through May, a press release said.
This year, the Oak Ridge Rowing Association will host, for the first time, the NCAA Division I American Athletic Conference (AAC) Championship, the press release said.
The races this year follow the cancellation of six regattas in 2020, including the NCAA Division I, II, and III Championships, the press release said.
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The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won the District 3-AAA championship with a 52-43 win over Powell on Monday. They advanced to a Region 2-AAA semifinal game with a 67-58 quarterfinal win over Farragut on Friday.
It was the sixth consecutive district championship win for the Lady Wildcats.
Oak Ridge (21-4), which is coached by Paige Taylor, will host Maryville (23-5) in the semifinal game at Wildcat Arena on Monday.
With their district championship win on Monday, the Lady Wildcats finished first in the District 3-AAA tournament. That meant they played the fourth-place team in District 4, Farragut, in the Region 2 quarterfinal on Friday.
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Oak Ridge will play for a state football championship this Friday.
The Wildcats (11-3) beat South Doyle 14-0 this past Friday in a semifinal game to advance to the state final for the first time since 2005.
Oak Ridge will now play Summit (13-1) of Spring Hill in the Blue Cross Bowl Class 5A state championship at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Wildcats scored early in the first quarter against South Doyle (10-4) on Blankenship Field last Friday after a fumble recovery by Jacob Berven. Oak Ridge senior quarterback Mitchell Gibbons rolled right and threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Cole Adams, who was able to push past two South Doyle defenders and reach his right arm into the end zone near the right pylon.
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The Oak Ridge Wildcats advanced to a Class 5A football semifinal game after a 31-28 quarterfinal win at West on Friday.
The semifinal game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, November 27, against South Doyle (10-3) on Blankenship Field in Oak Ridge.
Before Friday, the Wildcats (10-3) had lost to the Rebels 22-7 during the regular season in September. A year ago, their season ended at West (12-2) in a 34-14 second-round loss.
The Wildcats led early in the Friday night game, but West took the lead late in the second quarter and held it into the fourth quarter. Then, the two teams traded leads three times in the fourth quarter. Oak Ridge senior quarterback Mitchell Gibbons threw the winning touchdown to senior wide receiver Jonathan Stewart with 2:33 remaining in the game.
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The Clinch Valley Trail Alliance opened the new Dirtlab mountain bike park on Friday.
The Friday celebration included a ribbon cutting and an expression of appreciation for volunteers who worked on the project. The mountain bike park and pump track was built over the past year with volunteer effort from the community, a press release said.
Brad Spears, president of the Clinch Valley Trail Alliance, said the community, city of Oak Ridge, and the backing of local businesses helped build the park as they stretched resources as far as possible after construction began in fall 2019.
“Every feature, the kiosk, the bench, the pavilion, the pump track…was built by a volunteer,” Spears said in the press release. The undulating pump track unveiled Friday complements the existing mountain bike park at the 780-acre Haw Ridge Park. The park is off Edgemoor Road along the Clinch River in east Oak Ridge and a short drive from Knoxville.
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The City of Oak Ridge will open its outdoor pool for the season starting June 15, which is later than normal, with changes due to COVID-19.
The pool normally has swimming hours Memorial Day weekend, and then opens for the season around the first of June.
This year, the main outdoor pool on Providence Road will be open, but the little pool for children will remain closed for the summer, the city said in a press release Friday. The indoor pool at the Oak Ridge Civic Center will remain closed through the summer.
A maximum of 200 people will be allowed in the pool area at one time, and reservations can be made online through Eventbrite. Families will be spaced apart. Restrooms will be open, but the showers and dressing rooms will not be. The picnic table area will be closed, and no public or private pool parties will be allowed. Swimming lessons are canceled for now.
In the press release, the city said the pool water is being treated with chlorine, a disinfectant that “wipes out” the virus. The main focus will be following social distancing and repeatedly sanitizing commonly used areas, the press release said.
Here are the changes that will be in effect:
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