ARIZONA SPORTS ARTICLES
D-backs edge Giants in pitchers duel on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s walk-off hit
Gallen continues hot start, but Melancon struggles as D-backs fall to Cubs
Shorthanded Sun Devils fight but can’t overcome UCLA in overtime
KTAR NEWS ARTICLES
GOP Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates: Party may need to lose to ‘find itself again’
World Baseball Classic could pump millions of dollars into Phoenix next year
Phoenix approves boosting police salaries by at least $20K a year
TALKING GLASS MEDIA ARTICLES
“And They’re Off!” Live Horse Racing Returns to Prescott Valley, Continues Through Labor Day
It had been nearly a decade since the sounds of people cheering as horses passed by toward the finish line was heard at the racetrack in Prescott Valley, once known as the Yavapai Downs. On Memorial Day Weekend, Friday, May 24th – Monday, May 27th, those familiar sounds returned as the facility opened its doors again to live horse racing under the new name of Arizona Downs.
“I would say close to 7,000 people came through our doors (on Opening Weekend),” Arizona Downs General Manager Ann McGovern said, adding horse racing will continue every weekend until Labor Day. “I couldn’t be happier. We had so much support from the community. We had great attendance. Everyone had a great time.”
“Changing of the Guards” Mayor Harvey Skoog Says Goodbye to Council, Kell Palguta Sworn In
One final loud smack of the gavel concluded 14 consecutive years, 19 total years, as Mayor of Prescott Valley for Harvey Skoog as he bid farewell to the Town Council on Thursday night, January 10th. Skoog announced in the fall of 2017 he would retire at the end of his current term.
“It’s been a super 19 years as Mayor,” Skoog told the standing-room-only crowd. “The town has been so good to me, the staff has been just great and our council, what a wonderful bunch of people they have been.”
New Horizons Disability Empowerment Center in Prescott Valley Grows with Gym and Sports Activities
It was Valentine’s Day 2014 when Andrew Bogdanov’s life would take a dramatic shift. While snowboarding in Flagstaff, Bogdanov hit a jump, went two stories in the air and overshot the landing. The accident left Bogdanov with a broken neck and paralyzed him from the chest down. A physical change wasn’t the only shift in his life on that day.
“A lot of people look at it as that sucks, that’s a traumatic thing that happened to your life and now you’re confined to a wheelchair,” Bogdanov said. “For me, it was the opposite. It was a near-death experience, I wasn’t doing anything with my life, I didn’t have any purpose. After that happened, it kind of made me appreciate life in a different way.”
Chino Valley High School’s Keller Rock Wins Second State Wrestling Championship
Keller Rock of Chino Valley High School burst onto the scene in his freshman year, winning a high school wrestling state championship.
A year later, he would fall to opponent Robert White and place third in state.
On Friday night, February 8th, at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, the two met again, this time in the division three 170-pound weight class state championship match.
Keller Rock got the upper hand and pinned the three-time state champion White in the third period to achieve his second state championship in three years.
Bradshaw Mountain High School Graduate Headed to World Shotgun Championships in Mexico
It’s a cloudy and cold weekday morning at the Prescott Trap and Skeet Club just outside of Prescott Valley. Joseph Witty is practicing international skeet, an Olympic sport where individuals break clay targets using shotguns.
He raises his shotgun in the air while drops of sleet fall on his St. Louis Cardinals hat, not letting the weather get in the way of practicing his sport. In silence, Joseph goes through a mental process; covering pre-shot routine and putting his eye on the visual hold point of where he wants to break the target.
Joseph exclaims “pull”, sending out the flying target. He pulls the trigger and in the flash of an eye, the once solid clay target is merely a cloud of black smoke with little pieces falling to the ground in every direction.
CRONKITE NEWS ARTICLES
Return of Men’s Tennis Brings ASU a Step Closer to Goal of Becoming Olympic Mecca
TEMPE – From the day he arrived at Arizona State in 2014, Ray Anderson has worked to make the university a destination for Olympic hopefuls.
“Part of my desire coming in was (ASU) President (Michael) Crow’s aspiration that, in fact, we would be able to make Tempe, this area, the Olympic training center, the place where people can aspire to be Olympians,” said Anderson, ASU’s vice president for university athletics and athletic director.
In an athletic department that has already added current and former Olympic coaches in wrestling’s Zeke Jones and swimming and diving’s Bob Bowman, and attracted the likes of swimming legend Michael Phelps to train on campus, Anderson took another step toward his goal Wednesday. He announced that men’s tennis would return to the varsity level for the first time since 2008. Anderson, along with his wife, Buffie, donated $1 million to the program.
“If it’s an Olympic sport, we need to make this a place where folks know they can come 12 months a year and train to reach their goals,” Anderson said. “So, this program without tennis, as an Olympic sport and as an international sport, was just not whole. Well, it’s going to be whole now.”
D-backs’ ‘Throwback Thursday’ campaign brought back rich memories for team, fans
In the fall of 2001, the Valley was painted purple and teal as the upstart Diamondbacks, just four seasons into their existence, were locked in a World Series battle with the storied New York Yankees.
Down by a run in the ninth inning of Game 7, Arizona’s Mark Grace started a comeback rally that would culminate in Luis Gonzalez’s World Series-winning broken-bat single. That game has been immortalized in Arizona sports history, along with the old purple-and-teal jerseys worn by the franchise’s only World Series winner.
“That uniform for me, represents one of the all-time great teams,” said Grace, now the Diamondbacks’ assistant hitting coach. “We were a great team and obviously beat a great team in the Yankees… so I proudly wear those colors.”
Torrence Dunham 
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