• Slug: Sports-Auto Racing Radford, 1,100 words.
• 3 photos available. (thumbnails, captions below)

By Hayden Cilley
Cronkite News

SCOTTSDALE – During a week where supercars like the Acid Green Porsche 918 Spyder and Donald J. Trump’s 1997 Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster were auctioned for millions of dollars, the Radford Racing School sought to tap into the crowds of car enthusiasts who attend the annual Barrett-Jackson car auction at WestWorld of Scottsdale.

The auction has taken place in the Valley since 1971, and the company carries a rich history of bringing one-of-a-kind collector cars to the auction while also giving back to the community.

The Radford Racing School, which is at the site of the former Bondurant High-Performance Driving School on the Gila River Indian Community near Chandler, sits only 20 minutes south of the Sky Harbor International Airport. Continue reading “Thrill ride: Radford Racing School drives enthusiasm to new heights at Barrett-Jackson auction”

• Slug: Sports-Turf Paradise Reopens, 625 words.
• 3 photos available. (thumbnails, captions below)

By Stephen Buxton
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Almost 70 years of tradition, community and racing have stemmed from a plot of land off Bell Road in north Phoenix. Just months ago, amid a failed ownership change, nobody knew if the racetrack on that land, Turf Paradise, would ever open its doors again.

That all changed Monday as the track hosted its first race of a 57-day meet running through the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

“The last couple of months have been a rollercoaster ride for us,” said Vince Francia, the general manager of Turf Paradise. “(Track owner Jerry Simms) wants to sell it to someone who wants to keep the racing going.” Continue reading “Back to life: Turf Paradise kicks off 57-day meet despite offseason closure talk”

• Slug: Sports-ABOR Meeting Arizona , 800 words.
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By Addison Kalmbach
Cronkite News

TEMPE – Although the University of Arizona’s budget shortfall is closer to $140 million than the $240 million previously reported, the school is prepared to undergo sweeping changes in budget and oversight, including addressing the $35 million shortfall tied to the athletic department.

That was the message delivered Thursday at an Arizona Board of Regents special meeting and executive session.

“We are going to be very, very careful about this and really go through a careful process to really define the scope and nature of the problem that we are facing right now,” said John Arnold, the executive director for the Arizona Board of Regents and interim senior vice president and CFO of the university. Continue reading “ABOR clarifies UA budget shortfall, says athletics responsible for $35 million of $140 million deficit”

• Slug: Sports-Suns Grayson Allen X-Factor, 1060 words.
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By David Bernauer
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Grayson Allen has been called many things: a great shooter, a hothead, a national champion, an irritant.

A bevy of positive and negative connotations have been associated with Allen in the past. Now it’s time to add a new adjective to the list: X-factor.

Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are the stars for Phoenix, not Allen. But like clockwork, Allen rises to the occasion.

Continue reading “X-factor: Phoenix Suns’ Grayson Allen emerges as ‘absolute stud’ in season of comebacks and thrills”

• Slug: Sports-ASU-USC Photo Essay, 420 words.
• 15 photos available. (thumbnails, captions below)

By Bennett Silvyn
Cronkite News

TEMPE – In a spectacular turnout Saturday, Desert Financial Arena witnessed a regular season-high crowd of 13,746 fans and the second-largest student crowd (4,325) in program history.

The nearly packed arena gathered for the noon tipoff to catch a glimpse of USC freshman Bronny James, the son of NBA star Lebron James, as he made his third collegiate start during the Arizona State men’s basketball program’s hot start to conference play.

“Shoutout to our crowd and our students today,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. “I’m really excited for the opportunity our players had to play in that environment.”   Continue reading “Photo essay: Arizona State men’s basketball gives rude welcome to Bronny James, USC”

• Slug: Sports-Marquette’s Oso Ighodaro, 1,060 words.
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By Addison Kalmbach
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Playing basketball was always a dream for Chandler native Oso Ighodaro. However, his parents had other ideas for him.

Growing up in a strict school-driven household, academics always came before athletics, no matter what, and because of that, Ighodaro did not start playing organized basketball until he attended Desert Vista High School.

“I always really wanted to play, but my parents wanted me to just focus on school and make sure I was strong in the classroom,” Ighodaro said. “Then in high school, they started to let me play.” Continue reading “Eagle leaves the nest: Oso Ighodaro takes unconventional route from Desert Vista basketball to Marquette”

• Slug: Sports-Winkelman 8-Man Football, 1,720 words.
• 3 photos available. (thumbnails, captions below)

By Alfred Smith III
Cronkite News

WINKELMAN – From arsenic in its soil to ravaging floods to a battered economy, this tiny copper mining community located near the confluence of the Gila and San Pedro rivers about 90 miles southeast of Phoenix has endured repeated challenges.

But like the 1,000-foot smokestack that stands tall above Winkelman and the adjoining town of Hayden, its residents have continued to rise above the challenges, and at 1 a.m. on a November morning, they are celebrating.

A symphony from about 50 car horns honking in unison fills the early morning air along Arizona State Route 177 as a convoy of parents, players and staffers from Hayden High School pulls into the G.J. Bar & Grill in nearby Kearny. After a celebratory meal, they continue on toward the Lobos’ football field another 8 miles down the road to ring the victory bell there. Continue reading “Ties that bind: In tiny Winkelman, 8-man football champs reflect copper community’s perseverance”

• Slug: Sports-Bronny James ASU, 740 words.
• 4 photos available. (thumbnails, captions below)

By Hayden Cilley
Cronkite News

TEMPE – Walking into Desert Financial Arena Saturday, an unusual buzz rarely felt in recent years of Arizona State men’s basketball infiltrated the air. 

More than 4,300 students packed into the Inferno, joining about 9,000 other fans to see the USC Trojans come into town. It was the second-largest student crowd since 2018, trailing only the 5,213 students who packed a game against UCLA, and they were on hand to see one player: LeBron James Jr., better known as “Bronny.”  

The son of six-time NBA champion – and arguably the greatest basketball player of all time – LeBron James, Bronny is in his first year at USC and has been the major draw in the Trojans’ disappointing 8-11 start to the season. Continue reading “Boo-SC: ASU men’s basketball, fans show Bronny James tough love in first visit to Tempe”

• Slug: Sports-ASU Water Polo Hungry, 1,280 words.
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By Hayden Cilley
Cronkite News

TEMPE – From one continent to the next, the Arizona State women’s water polo team is leaping international barriers.

Rostering 10 of 21 players from outside the United States, there is a strong international flavor to the program – and a particular connection with Hungary. ASU coach Petra Pardi, who played for the Sun Devils from 2011-15, is Hungarian. Two Sun Devil players and an assistant coach are also Hungarian.

One of those players, junior attacker Luca Petovary, even played against Pardi’s younger brother in Hungary during her teenage years. The other player, graduate student and defender Lara Kiss, was on ASU’s team when Pardi was still the assistant coach. Continue reading “Water-crazed hunger: ASU women’s water polo embraces connection to Hungary”

• Slug: Sports-MLB Dream Series, 945 words.
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By Josh Amick
Cronkite News

TEMPE – Sixteen years after Jackie Robinson’s cleats touched the diamond at Ebbets Field, Martin Luther King Jr. was still advocating for equal rights for Black Americans when he stood on top of the Lincoln Memorial’s marble steps in 1963 and delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

That same speech was blaring through the speakers at Tempe Diablo Stadium at the Dream Series, an event where MLB and USA Baseball host the nation’s top predominantly Black and Latino high school players and invite them to learn from some of the game’s greatest advocates over the MLK holiday weekend.

“We hold the Dream Series event in Arizona every year on this weekend because Arizona was the last state in the country to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday,” said Tony Reagins, MLB’s chief baseball development officer. Continue reading “Dream Series hopes to correct lingering issue in baseball: shortage of Black athletes”

• Slug: Sports-NCAA Athletes Cannabis, 760 words.
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By Jonah Krell
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – After taking gradual steps over the last two years, the NCAA is on the cusp of sweeping changes to its policies on cannabis use by its athletes, including removing it from a list of banned substances.

In a session at the NCAA Convention Thursday, a group of panelists discussed the recent cannabinoid policy updates and the work that remains to incorporate these changes on campus.

The three panelists are all members of the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CSMAS), which recommended in September 2023 that each NCAA division introduce and adopt legislation to remove cannabinoids — the chemicals found in the cannabis plant — from the association’s banned list. Continue reading “Breaking through the haze: NCAA softens stance on cannabis, considers removing from banned list”

• Slug: Sports-NCAA Sports Betting, 1,270 words.
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By Jesse Brawders
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Whether it be on the courts or on the fields, the lines are abundantly clear in sports. But in the evolving relationship between college athletics and sports betting, the NCAA is addressing the cost of the fuzzy lines that accompany that connection.

The growing abuse athletes, coaches and officials face on social media related to betting has put the NCAA on high alert, an issue addressed this week during the organization’s convention in Phoenix. The NCAA is partnering with a data science company to identify threats.

“Basically tracks ugly, nasty stuff that’s being directed at people … and it can shut it down or basically block it,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said. “And in some cases even track where it came from.” Continue reading “NCAA president: Social media harassment of college athletes a growing problem because of sports gambling”

• Slug: Sports-Fiesta Bowl Liberty Chadwell, 750 words.
• 3 photos available. (thumbnails, captions below)

By Hayden Cilley
Cronkite News

GLENDALE – As the crisp desert air cooled off State Farm Stadium Monday, the Liberty Flames saw the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl as an opportunity to reflect on their historic season.

A coach hired just a year earlier. New players. The odds were against a university that made the jump to an FBS program in 2018 yet still found itself in a New Year’s Six bowl game. Although a 45-6 loss to the No. 8 Oregon Ducks in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl wasn’t the intended result, the season felt like a win to the Jamey Chadwell-led team.

“It’s not easy to get a new coach in January and then flip the whole roster before fall camp,” senior linebacker Tyren Dupree said. “So just hats off to these coaches, hats off to the teammates that bought in.” Continue reading “Liberty, Liberty, Liiiberty: Flames’ resurgence spotlights coach Jamey Chadwell, despite Vrbo Fiesta Bowl loss”

• Slug: Sports-Fiesta Bowl Game, 860 words.
• 3 photos available. (thumbnails, captions below)

By Lucas Gordon
Cronkite News

GLENDALE – Monday’s Vrbo Fiesta Bowl was a full circle moment for one of the top quarterbacks in college football.

As a kid growing up in Pinson, Alabama, Bo Nix dreamed of playing in a New Year’s Six bowl.

After watching multiple Fiesta Bowls, Nix would go outside and pretend he was playing in the big game. One in particular stood out: As a 10-year-old, he attended the BCS title game at University of Phoenix Stadium, now State Farm Stadium, to watch Cam Newton lead the Auburn Tigers over Oregon and to their first national championship since 1957. Continue reading “Bo-dacious: Oregon’s Nix ends storied college career with record-setting Vrbo Fiesta Bowl”

• Slug: Sports-Conference Realignment, 1,500 words.
• 2 photos available. (thumbnails, captions below)

By Caitlin Fowble
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – College athletes must juggle multiple responsibilities, but a new change on the horizon may have a deeper impact than people anticipate.

The landscape took a big hit this past summer with the continuation of conference realignment. The Pac-12, originally known as the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), has been around since its founding in December 1915, but one of the country’s most illustrious conferences has now become the latest victim with teams jumping ship to join new conferences.

The Big Ten announced plans in 2022 to add powerhouses UCLA and USC starting in 2024. The Pac-12 losing two of its top schools was already a big hit, but that would only be the beginning. Continue reading “More than a game: Will athletes feel consequences of Pac-12’s major shake-up?”

• Slug: Sports-Weight Cutting Combat Sports, About 1,600 words.
• 3 photos available

By Cody Marmon
Cronkite News

TEMPE – Mixed martial artist Cedric Katamba, who fights out of Arizona Combat Sport, has a unique approach to cutting weight and resisting the urge to eat foods his body is craving during the process.

“I’m on my phone looking up the foods I’m going to eat,” Katamba said. “Some people attempt to stay away from those things, but I love staring at food that I can enjoy after my fights.”

Cutting weight is a necessary evil in mixed martial arts, wrestling, horse racing and other sports for men and women that require fitting into weight categories. Only so many pounds can be lost by sweating. The rest requires eliminating calories, and that takes discipline – and creativity, like Katamba’s. Continue reading “‘Fight before the fight’: MMA warriors battle to beat the scale in grueling process of cutting weight”

• Slug: Sports-College Football Playoff Final Vote, 1,670 words.
• Photo available

By Jordy Fee-Platt
Cronkite News

LAS VEGAS – The Pac-12 Conference was founded in 1915 and for more than a century, the “Conference of Champions” has featured fierce rivalry games and electrifying late-night finishes that few can explain, all set against a backdrop of sparkling Western sunsets.

On Friday at Allegiant Stadium here, the sun set one final time on the conference’s storied football history in a riveting Pac-12 Championship Game. After 107 years of Pac-12 football, two of the league’s founding member schools – Oregon and Washington – closed the book on a conference steeped in gridiron tradition.

The two bitter Pacific Northwest rivals, whose head-to-head matchups are nicknamed the Border War, faced off with a College Football Playoff berth on the line, each with a Heisman Trophy candidate behind center. Continue reading “Final chapter: Washington-Oregon close the book on Pac-12 football”

• Slug: Sports-ASU Football Look Ahead, 1,120 words.
• 3 photos available

By Walker Smith
Cronkite News

TEMPE – For the record books, the 2023 ASU football season will go down as just two numbers: 3-9. However, that record doesn’t show the adversity, progress and impact that defined coach Kenny Dillingham’s first season in Tempe. Now, with a new athletic director and another recruiting cycle on the horizon, the Sun Devils have already begun the offseason changes.

Offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin is not returning next season, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Baldwin departs ASU after a rough first season. During his time, Baldwin’s offense averaged 17.8 points per game, ranked 123rd of 130 FBS teams. The Sun Devils’ total offense ranked 109th in the FBS, with an average of 322.2 yards per game. After ASU was shut out 29-0 by Fresno State and scored only three points in the second half through three games, Dillingham took over play-calling duties for the rest of the season.

More offseason changes have already begun with the roster as redshirt junior tight end Jalin Conyers announced Wednesday on Instagram that he will enter the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. Conyers, one of ASU’s offensive bright spots, finished this season with 30 catches, 362 receiving yards and one rushing touchdown while also spending time playing quarterback in the season’s final three games. Continue reading “Forks down: Exit of OC Beau Baldwin, departure of players mark first changes in busy ASU football offseason”

• Slug: Sports-NBA In-Season Tournament, 1,300 words.
• File photo available

By Sebastian Sanchez
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns are still in the hunt.

Despite not being in action, the Suns were actively watching Tuesday’s slate of NBA In-Season Tournament games of group play to determine if the point differential tiebreaker would sway in their favor to advance to the knockout round.

After the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 106-103, Phoenix got its answer and sealed the West Group’s lone wild-card spot in the quarterfinals next Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers due to a plus-34 point differential over the Wolves. The winner earns a trip to Las Vegas, the host city of the semifinals and championship games. Continue reading “Survive and advance: Phoenix Suns win tiebreaker, eye NBA In-Season Tournament knockout round”