Known for incredibly fast, exciting and suspense-filled competitions, a number of local swim athletes have their eye on competing in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials June 25-July 2 in Omaha, Nebraska, in hopes of representing the United States at the upcoming London Olympic Games.    In fact, four local swimmers who have trained at Arden Hills are already qualified to attend the USA Swimming Olympic Trials and three others are headed soon to qualifying meets.  The community at large is encouraged to keep watch and cheer on a number of talented local swimmers, including: Randall Bal -- a graduate of Stanford University in 2003, Bal qualified for the Olympics trials cut a couple of years

During the recent 2012 Columbus Grand Prix competition -- the fourth stop on the 2011-2012 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series -- Arden Hills swim athlete and University of Southern California (USC) sophomore Nick Johnson successfully made his 400-meter free Olympic trials cut on Saturday, March 10.   The 2012 Columbus Grand Prix took place March 9-11 in Columbus, Ohio. Trained by Arden Hills USA Swim Team Head Coach & Director of Aquatics Brian Nabeta since 2005, the talented Jesuit High School alumni had previously achieved a number of prestigious swimming accomplishments that include the following:  High School Swimming All American, USA National Junior Team 2010, USA National Team to Barce

As Sacramento prepares to bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic games, having the right venues on offer – such as a new entertainment and sports complex – will be a key factor to a successful bid. Representatives from the California Winter Games Committee reported to the City Council Tuesday about progress the committee is making to join the bidding process to become a host city. The committee is a volunteer group composed of both state and local civic, business and labor leaders and is working in conjunction with a similar committee from the Lake Tahoe area. Jake Mossawir, chief financial officer for the CWGC, said the group has been polling residents, researching historical data and rev

For anyone who ever wanted to take cycling to a new level in Sacramento – or see some exciting bicycle track races – a local group has the answer: build a velodrome. A velodrome, for those not yet immersed in the world of bicycle racing, is a stadium with a 250-meter oval race track – banked at 25 to 45 degrees – where cyclists race at speeds up to 50 miles per hour in front of nearly 1,000 spectators in the stands. Most velodromes have track lengths between 150 and 500 meters, according to local cycling coach and bicycle mechanic Dean Alleger. And, since there are only four velodromes in California (Carson, Encino, San Jose and Los Angeles) – and 22 in the nation – Alleger and a group

Despite running shorter and offering fewer speakers than past years, the Metro Chambers’ 17th annual Perspectives event offered a range of speakers diverse enough to make the morning entertaining and fascinating for all attendees. Perspectives is an annual event for individuals to see notable political and cultural leaders speak in the Sacramento Convention Center. This years speakers were Olympian Dara Torres, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, and former CIA Director Robert Gates. Previous speakers include Condoleezza Rice, Mikael Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher and Elizabeth Dole. After videos of sponsors, various introductions to the event, and an audio-less video montage of Dara Torres sw

The Sacramento Metro Chamber welcomes the California Winter Games Committee naming Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom as chair in its bid to hold the next available Winter Olympic Games in the Tahoe area. The announcement was made on “Olympics Day,” celebrated at the State Capitol on June 23. The Metro Chamber board voted to support the winter games effort, recognizing that pursuing an Olympic bid offers an opportunity to highlight regional assets and strengths on the world stage. The games would provide a significant economic impact for the region and for all of California. The infrastructure investments, job creation, tourism and business development can create significant benefits for countless Cal

Olympians from all over northern California joined Sacramento River Cats fans Monday afternoon at Raley Field to celebrate Olympic Day and see the final game in the four-game series against the Fresno Grizzlies. While the Cats claimed the first run of the day, the Grizzlies soon came back with two homers of their own in the top of the fifth. By the second half, it appeared the Cats might be in for another loss, but the team turned its offensive game on high, scoring once to tie during the eighth and once more at the bottom of the ninth for the big win and a final score of 3-2. The game started off slowly. Though Cats first baseman Chris Carter gave the Grizzlies a scare in the second, tr

Chances are you know how to ride a bike. Once the training wheels came off and you were feeling more confident, you might have dared to ride off a curb or two. If that didn’t end in a scraped knee or bruised rear, you may have set your sights on something a little more challenging. Consider racing down a 25-foot ramp, gaining speed for two consecutive jumps, enabling you to defy gravity long enough to perform aerobatic stunts. It’s this kind of challenge that separates your version of bike riding from that of BMX legend Ryan Nyquist and the other pro riders set to compete at Saturday’s MegaRamp ASA Triples tour at Arco Arena. Nyquist said the course has been perfected this year and offer

Some think of curling as only a game, akin to shuffleboard on ice. Late Night host David Letterman quips that it is “consistently ranked the world’s number one broom-related sport”. This ancient Scottish sport is often underestimated and misunderstood but I found that it is a wonderfully complex and compelling activity. After getting hooked on TV coverage of curling during the 2010 Winter Olympics, I had to try it for myself. As it turns out, nearby Vacaville is home of the thriving Wine Country Curling Club so off went my friend and I to a free Learn-to-Curl night. After the introduction, we were still intrigued enough to continue in a 6-week league. After our first league night, I’m he

        Hi, my name is Lindol, and I am a sportsaholic.  It's been 15 minutes since my last fix.  It was an Oregon Duck basketball game, possibly my favorite of them all.  We (I graduated from the U of O in 2001, kind of by accident, but that's a story for another time) beat UCLA at home.  If there is one thing I love more than a victory for one of my teams, its a victory for one of my teams over a team from Los Angeles. BEAT LA.   I am a die hard Oregon football fan, I almost cried when "we" got smoked in Boise the first game of the season this year.  I couldn't bear to watch the end, so I saved myself the misery of watching the Legarrette Blount meltdown live.  Of course, I couldn't avoi