Placer County Sports Digest

With passholders and skier visits in decline during the past 10 years, JMA Ventures, which bought Homewood in 2006, has had to pivot to a hybrid, semi-private model that will restrict access to season passes to people who buy new Homewood residences and full-time residents of several West Shore homeowners associations.

Sierra College Women’s Basketball are California State Champions for the first time since 1999 after a March 13 win at West Hills College in Lemoore over conference rival San Joaquin Delta College.

Sierra-at-Tahoe has announced plans to open for one weekend only, April 9-10, to celebrate 75 years of “history, cherished memories, good times and … tough times too.”

Alterra Mountain Company has announced plans to invest $344 million in capital improvements. It will include replacing Mammoth Mountain lifts and installing a gondola at Palisades Tahoe.

Luis Medearis went from never having been on a snowboard to becoming a successful snowboard videographer living in Kings Beach. One of the few Black videographers in the industry, he’s hoping to use his success to inspire Black youth.

A new climate change analysis concludes that the Lake Tahoe area is already too warm to risk hosting the Winter Olympic Games. But others aren’t ready to give up. Jon Killoran, CEO of the Reno-Tahoe Winter Games Coalition, says the study is “another piece that would be taken into account. ... [I]t’s a matter of what people do about what those ramifications are, to either mitigate them or not.”

Thirteen athletes from the Tahoe-Truckee area went to Beijing to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Here's how they fared.

A Timbersled is part dirt bike, part snowmobile, all adrenaline. Powersports company Polaris owns the brand, but the name has become the universal term for this hybrid machine, like Kleenex and Xerox.

Placer High School’s wrestling team is seeing a decline in interest from students, but they continue to perform well against other schools.

More than seven years in the making, Colfax is finally closing the deal on getting a skate park thanks to a secured $75,000 donation form Placer County Parks and Recreation Commission.

Roseville City Council has approved a land purchase agreement to build a field sports complex in West Roseville.

In the 1930s, California got its first chairlift. Only the second in the country, it kicked off a nationwide boost of interest in alpine skiing.

“Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche” is a new documentary that looks back at the historic Alpine Meadows avalanche. It will premiere in December but is already gaining traction at festivals.

Haylie Ferreira, a 23-year-old skater who is from Loomis and trained at Skatetown in Roseville, made her debut in Disney on Ice this fall. She is skating the role of Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”

The 2021 high school sports season has faced many challenges and roadblocks for teams across the Sac-Joaquin Section. One problem this fall is a shortage of officials. In particular, the shortage has impacted football.

Tahoe Quarterly profiles freestyle skiing great Hermann Goellner. Still fit at age 78, the Austrian-born pioneer of the sport has lived in the Tahoe area for nearly 20 years.

The Tahoe Weekly compiled a list of opening dates for the 2021-22 ski season with Mt. Rose expected to be the first downhill resort to open for the season on Nov. 12. Auburn Ski Club will open its Nordic ski area on Nov. 13.

After a slow start during a difficult inaugural year due to the pandemic, the event roster is looking busier at the Roebbelen Event Center in Roseville.

Toni Brown, a disc golfer from Rocklin, had two finishes in the Top 10 in 2021 tournaments. But her real passion is the Driving Thyroid Awareness campaign she began in 2018 to help people learn about thyroid cancer.

After seven seasons under Chris Bean, the Lincoln High School Fighting Zebras are preparing to play under a new system and new head coach Allen Berg, the defensive coordinator for the Zebras from 2017-19.

A local business group recently partnered with the Kings and Golden 1 Center to bring an esports competition to the capital city. The inaugural College Esports Tournament took place this month both in Roseville and at Golden 1 Center.

Hundreds of bike enthusiasts will compete Sept. 25 in the first-ever Heart of Gold, a 55-mile gravel course race through the Gold Country aimed at raising awareness and funds for mental wellness programs for youth in Nevada County. The race, which begins in Nevada City, should draw as many as 400 racers from around the state.

The San Francisco 49ers have signed Eddie Vanderdoes to a one-year deal. The 6-foot-3, 315-pound defensive tackle is a graduate of Placer High School.

Most every high school football team has some sort of kickoff to start the season but Del Oro High School takes the volume to 11 with its “Rock The Stadium” concert. The event includes performances by the high school band and cheer squads, plus 1980s tribute band Skid Roses.

In the male-dominated world of fly fishing, trekking out to the river can be intimidating for some women. This is why local fly fisher Amy McCormick and Alpine Fly Fishing have added classes specifically aimed at women.

Lincoln is set to host two major collegiate baseball summer league tournaments at McBean Stadium. The California Collegiate League State Championship and the West Coast World Series will play the field Aug. 4-13, with a fireworks show immediately following their respective championship games.

Rocklin’s William Jessup University broke ground on July 22 for a new field complex, which will be used for its athletic teams and clubs. More than 200 spectators were at the ceremony, including dozens of youth soccer players who will benefit from the new field for both their practices and potentially in the future as Jessup students.

After more than three years of diligent work, the Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, has completed the Stanford Rock Trail on the west shore of Lake Tahoe. The project increases trail access for mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians.

Many Sacramento-area locals are going for gold in the Olympics this summer, including a Granite Bay swimmer and an Orangevale softball player. These are just a few of the athletes hailing from this region of Northern California.

Author Kimberly Reed Edwards, who is president of the California Writers Club Sacramento, has a new book out that will interest local chopper enthusiasts. “Sacramento Motorcycling—A Capital City Tradition” looks at the history of the sport in the greater Sacramento area.

Jim Walmsley locked up his third straight win in the Western States Endurance Run, and three women placed in the top 10 for the first time ever.

In 1983, writes Matthew Renda in the Tahoe Quarterly, Max Jones was testing out his new off-road bike on the Tunnel Creek Trail near Incline Village. He began the laborious process of clearing fallen trees and other debris from the scenic ridgeline route.