Year in Review: Sports
As you might expect, sports were huge this past year, with the Olympics in Whistler, a state football title and more. Greg Bretz was one of many athletes that flew high.
JANUARY: Mammoth Mountain hosted the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix here in Jan. 7-10. The arrival of the Grand Prix was significant … the stop in Mammoth was part of Olympic qualifying for the U.S. Snowboard team. The biggest names were here, including Shaun White, Kelly Clark and … Mammoth local Greg Bretz, who ultimately claimed the final Olympic team berth later in the month at Park City.
We also told you about local Mammoth skier cross athlete Johnny Teller, who finished sixth in skier cross at the X Games and was placed on the non-injured reserve list in case injured Olympic team members Casey Puckett, who was nursing a separated left shoulder, and Daron Rahlves, who was recovering from a dislocated his right hip, couldn’t race.
Teller didn’t get his Olympic shot, but he is now the #1 U.S. skier cross racer and finished 3rd in a World Cup event in Italy last week.
Jan. 17: Deena Kastor, at that time winless for 10 months, wins the Women’s leg of the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n Roll Arizona Half-Marathon.
In January, Deena and husband Andrew Kastor also formally showed off plans for the Whitmore Track Project, a high-altitude outdoors running and training facility destined for Benton Crossing Road off of U.S. 395. The Kastors and associates had already pulled together $4 million of the facility’s $10 million price tag.
They were also recently awarded $510,000 of Measure R money earlier this month to continue laying the groundwork for development of the facility.
Deena and Andrew are currently expecting their first child.
The Sheet also profiles Jeremy DeCell, a groomer at Tamarack Cross Country Ski Area, who moved here from Vermont and was tapped to groom trails for all the Nordic cross-country ski competitions in Vancouver, B.C., for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Mammoth Mountain Snowboard Team member, Garrett Weinert had a huge day at Bear Mountain Resort. The 16 year-old Crowley Lakes resident placed 2nd in the Gatorade Free Flow Tour Slopestyle comp and 2nd in the Burton Am Halfpipe competition.
Weinert was bested only by another local, Wave Rave employee, Mark Reininga, who placed 1st, at the Gatorade Free Flow Tour Slopestyle comp, which earned him an all-expenses paid trip to Mt. Snow Vermont for the final tour stop. “I’m so happy I won. It totally made sleeping in my car worth it,” Reininga said.
MARCH: Mammoth local Tomas Rodriguez ended his 30-year retirement from long-distance running by entering the 2010 L.A. Marathon on March 21. Rodriguez ran as part of a fundraiser to benefit the MHS Boosters running support programs, raising more than $8,000.
He finished the race in 3 hours, 8 minutes and 59 seconds, 36 seconds below the Boston Marathon qualifying standard. Rodriguez was 3rd in the 55-59 age group, and 217th overall out of 21,532 finishers.
APRIL: Lara Kirkner introduced readers to two young randonee racers. Michela Adrian and Jon Crowley, athletes willing to supply the enthusiasm if you’ll try the sport. Adrian, a Mammoth Mountain Ski Patroller, finished third at the U.S. Ski Mountaineering National Championships in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on March 20, missing World Championship qualification by just one place.
April 3: MMSA’s snowboard team riders place well during a seven-day trip to Copper Mountain for the 2010 USASA Nationals. The team finished the week, earning 17 top-10 finishes. Trent Wallentine led the pack with a first place overall Title for the 7-and-under category. The Freeride ski team rounded out the week with a whopping 21 top-10 finishes. Abigail Hansen took first place overall for the 10-12-year old division.
MAY: Mammoth Mountain and Katal Innovations teamed up to bring a Katal Landing Pad to Mammoth for a 10-day stint. The Katal Landing Pad covers the entire surface area of a jump after the takeoff allowing users to attempt new tricks without the consequences of crashing or hard landings.
JUNE: Mono County staff and elected officials cut the ribbon on the newly completed Crowley Lake Ballfield complex.
The Monster Mammoth Motocross revs through its 42nd annual evenmt.
June 19: Mammoth High School football legend Tom Gault announces he’ll return as head coach of the program after a one year hiatus.
June 25: For the first time in more than a decade, June Mountain opened its J1 chairlift for summer use.
June 22-24: The Isner v. Mahut tennis match at Wimbledon lasts 11 hours in all, smashes old records and sets new ones that may never be broken again in our lifetime. And on this side of The Pond, in contrast to the meticulously maintained grass on the All England courts, Mammoth’s community tennis courts are in a sad state of disrepair, and a major source of unhappiness for the Mammoth Lakes Tennis Club. MLTC President Gail Lonne has lamented the poor shape of the facility, calling the courts a “mess” and saying that “band aids” aren’t enough. The poor court conditions forced the cancellation of the 12th Annual Summer Solstice Tennis Tournament. The courts received considerable attention in the weeks following and have been dramatically improved.
JULY: This year’s 5th Annual Footloose Freedom Mile was the biggest yet, with 343 sign ups and 322 actual racers.
July 4: MMSA closes for season.
July 10: George Fowler would have been pleased, as hundreds of runners — including, for the first time this year, KIDS! — swam, biked and ran the June Lake Triathlon.
July 26: The Sierra Cycle Challenge’s 17 riders completed their three-day ride through the Glass Mountains, raising more than $43,000 for Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra programs.
AUGUST: It was wheels up … and down … and lots of hanging 10 at the 11th Annual Wave Rave Skateboard Competition at the Volcom Brothers Skate Park on Aug. 28-29. Pros
SEPTEMBER: After a year’s hiatus, Mammoth High School’s Huskies Football Team took to the field at Gault-McClure stadium in a return of 11-man football. The Huskies beat L.A. Baptist 6-3.
Sept. 5: This year, 93 runners sprinted away from Mammoth Creek Park in the Mammoth Rock Race. High Sierra Striders co-founder Andrew Kastor, who typically puts on these events and is more behind-the-scenes, finished first overall in 39:42.1. Tina Geller was the highest female finisher overall in 22nd place with a 53:36.5.
Sept. 10: Mammoth High School’s 2010 Cross Country team competes in the Whittel Warrior Invitational at Lake Tahoe’s Zephyr Cove. Freshman Hailey Hugelman, who ran her first-ever race in the frosh division took home a second-place finish in a field of 70 runners.
Sept. 12: The Mammoth Lakes Foundation Golf Classic draws 144 players, and raised $35,000 Sept. 12:
The 2010 Tioga Pass Run celebrated its 30th anniversary this year with 106 entrants, and a new course record, courtesy of Olympic runner and Mammoth resident Ryan Hall, who bested the old record by 7:44 with his time of 1:20:57. Bishop local Dan Yarborough was second with a time of 1:33:54. The first female finisher was Lee Vining’s Rebecca Sopp with a time of 1:51:50, and Michael Walecke, also from Lee Vining, was the youngest finisher at age 14.
Sept. 24: Mammoth Elementary School’s PTO Husky Pup Fun Run, now in its 22nd year, raised at least $20,000. Close to 600 students participated.
Sept. 25: The Mammoth High School Cross Country Team traveled to Griffith Park, in Los Angeles, Calif., and brought back four medals from the 37th Annual Bellarmine Cross Country Invitational. Sophomore runner Toby Qualls came in first. More than 80 high schools and 1,823 runners ran in this year’s event.
Sept. 27: Ultimate Fighting Championship legend Royce Gracie makes a promotional appearance at The Bistro at Snowcreek.
NOVEMBER: Mammoth High School Cross Country team members Hailey Hugelman, Kristin King and Toby Qualls raced their way to CIF prelims after success at Silver Valley High School in Yermo, Calif., where they ran in the Desert Mountain League Finals. Qualls ran in the CIF finals on Nov. 20, and finished in 16th place, fast enough to qualify for the State Finals, to be held on Nov. 27, in Fresno, Calif., where he finished 32nd out of 184 runners with a time of 17:00 flat for the 3.1 mile course.
Nov. 7: Defending New York City Marathon Champion Meb Keflezighi, was the top U.S. Men’s finisher, finishing in sixth place in 2:11:38.
For the first time in many years, Coach Megan Guffey and Mammoth High School’s Volleyball squad made it past the first round of playoff competition. The advance came after a win over Nu View Bridge Academy in Nuevo, Calif. Mammoth’s girls’ were ranked higher than Nu View, the Warrior League’s second-place team, in both the division and state.
Nov. 11: Mammoth Mountain Ski Area opens. The ski area would get a huge dump of snow in December, making it the ski resort with the most snow in the entire world.
Also in November, the Coleville Wolves lost a repeat of last year’s Division 1A championship in 8-man football to Pahranagat Valley for the second year in a row. This time, the Wolves fell 40-6, squashing hopes of another bid for an undefeated season.
DECEMBER: Eastern Sierra runners threw down winning hands during this year’s Rock N Roll Half-Marathon and Marathon in Las Vegas. Mammoth Track Club’s Josh Cox won the Men’s Marathon with a 2:25:05, and Jen Rhines won the Women’s Half-Marathon with a 1:14:57.
Dec. 11: The last time it happened, the year was 1957. Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House and Elvis Presley was the hottest artist on the pop record charts. But that night the Bishop Broncos players, cheerleaders and fans all left John Schwab Field having been witnesses to history, as the Bishop Broncos put away a win over the visiting Boron Bobcats 30-22 to claim the CIF Division 13 (Southern) state title.
Dec. 16: June Mountain celebrated 50 years of operation by opening with a $5 lift ticket price.
Dec. 18: Mammoth Mountain Ski Area debuts the “I Am Snowboarding” art exhibit honoring Jeffrey Anderson. The art will literally be in an Unbound Terrain Park on the Mountain, in the jumps, along the rails and in the “jib-able sculptures” and other park features—huge pieces of colorful art right there in the snow.
