Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge hosting three regattas this month

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A mural by artist Megan Lingerfelt is pictured above on the Oak Ridge Rowing Association boathouse at Melton Lake Park. (Photo courtesy Jim Dodson)

Oak Ridge is in the middle of hosting three championship regattas this month.

The regattas began May 12-14 with the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Championship. SMU (Southern Methodist University) of Dallas won all four races at the AAC Women’s Rowing Championship and captured the team title for the third consecutive season, according to Rowing News. The Mustangs finished with 168 points to finish first, while Tulsa placed second with 140. UCF (University of Central Florida) was third with 112 points.

Those three teams were in the top three last year also, with SMU, the champion, powering away from UCF and Tulsa in an intense matchup, a press release said.

This weekend’s regatta is the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) Championship.

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Basketball: Wildcats beat West in rematch

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After a close district loss at West earlier this month, the Oak Ridge Wildcats beat the Rebels by 17 points, 55-38, in a rematch at home on Friday.

The loss at West earlier this month, on January 10, was the only district loss of the season for the Oak Ridge boys.

The Wildcats were led in the win over the Rebels on Friday by Grayson Strader, Ray’Quan Watson, and Kaden Brightharp, who each had 11 points, according to Prepradio.com broadcaster David Clary.

Oak Ridge is tied with Karns for best record in District 3-4A, where both teams are 7-1. However, the Wildcats have a win over the Beavers, a narrow 67-64 victory at Karns on January 13.

The two teams will meet again next week, this time at Wildcat Arena. That game will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

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Basketball: Lady Wildcats undefeated in district

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The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats are undefeated at 8-0 in their district, District 3-4A, and the girls have only two district games remaining in the regular season.

Oak Ridge defeated West at home on Friday, 59-12. The Lady Rebels are 0-8 in the district.

The Lady Wildcats were led Friday by Ze’Yana Stewart with 16 points and Lindsay Cleveland with 10, according to Prepradio.com broadcaster David Clary.

The Lady Wildcats’ next game is at home on Tuesday against Karns, which is second in the district with a 6-1 record. The game will start at 6 p.m. at Wildcat Arena.

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Wildcats name new football coach

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Image by Oak Ridge Schools

Oak Ridge football has a new coach, Derek Rang.

Rang has an overall head coaching record of 86-29 at Powell, Dresden, Gatlinburg-Pittman, and Lewis County High Schools, and he coached the Dresden Lions when they won the 2016 state championship, according to Oak Ridge Schools.

5Star Preps reported that Rang, 28, resigned after one season at Lewis in west Tennessee, where he had an 11-2 record in 2022.

Oak Ridge Schools said each school coached by Rang has advanced to the TSSAA playoff quarterfinals or beyond, and Rang has won 18 postseason games as a head coach.

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ORHS swim team undefeated in regular season

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Andrew Chou (Photo by Tara Kneiser, used with permission)

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.

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Football: Powell eliminates Oak Ridge

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Powell eliminated Oak Ridge from the Class 5A football playoffs in a 43-13 quarterfinal win on Friday.

The Panthers (11-2) advance to a semifinal game against West (13-0) next Friday, November 25. It’s a rematch of a semifinal game last year. Powell won that game 35-7 on the way to a state championship.

The season is over for the Wildcats (7-6). They lost to the Panthers twice this year, once during the regular season in a 30-14 loss on September 30 and then again in the playoffs on Friday.

Powell had almost twice as many yards on offense on Friday as Oak Ridge, 442 to 249, and more than double the number of first downs, 14 to 6. The Panthers had one player run for more than 100 yards and another with more than 100 yards receiving.

Powell senior quarterback Jordyn Potts, who has committed to Tennessee Tech, threw for 250 yards against Oak Ridge with five touchdowns and one interception. He was 16-of-26 passing (about 62 percent completions), according to preliminary game statistics by Oak Ridge’s Mark and Shawna Haste.

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Wildcats play at Powell in quarterfinal

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Oak Ridge will play at Powell in a quarterfinal game of the Class 5A football playoffs.

The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Friday, November 18. Tickets are $10.

Oak Ridge (7-5) lost to Powell 30-14 during the regular season on September 30. It was the only loss for the Wildcats in Region 3 this year, and they finished 4-1 in the region.

The Panthers (10-2), undefeated in Region 3 during the regular season this year (5-0), were state Class 5A champions last season.

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Oak Ridge, others cheering for Higgins in Super Bowl

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Oak-Ridge-Higgins-TD-Catch-Clinton-Thomas-Aug-18-2016-Web-Cropped
Oak Ridge wide receiver Tee Higgins (5), who was then a senior, catches a 17-yard pass from junior quarterback Johnny Stewart before falling backward into the end zone for a touchdown near the left pylon, putting the Wildcats ahead of the Clinton Dragons 42-7 with 2:57 left in the first half at Clinton on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Higgins is defended here on his second TD catch by Clinton senior J’Quan Thomas (5). (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

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.

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Wildcats finish 4th in KISL swim meet

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Andrew Chou (Photo by Barry Houchin)

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:

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Former Wildcat Tee Higgins competing in NFL playoffs Saturday

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Wildcats Tee Higgins Catch at Ooltewah Nov. 13, 2015
Oak Ridge Wildcat Tee Higgins (5), who was then a junior, makes a catch during a 26-17 loss at Ooltewah in a second-round Class 5A playoff game on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. (File photo by Julio Culiat)

Former Oak Ridge Wildcats wide receiver Tee Higgins and the Cincinnati Bengals will play the Tennessee Titans in an NFL playoff game in Nashville on Saturday.

Higgins, who was a standout football and basketball player at Oak Ridge High School, has played for Cincinnati since he was drafted in April 2020.

While still in high school, Higgins won Tennessee Titans Mr. Football award two years in a row and was a finalist for Mr. Basketball.

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Atomic Junior rower gets scholarship to Oregon State

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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. (Submitted photo)

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.

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$1.3 million project will rebuild ORHS track

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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

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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, according to those involved. 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.


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!