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Gophers earn bid to NCAA volleyball tournament, will face Utah State

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

The Minnesota Gophers on Sunday made the field for the 2023 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championships. They will face sixth-seeded Utah State at 4 p.m. Friday in Omaha, Neb.The Gophers (16-12, 12-8 Big Ten) and Aggies will compete in the first match of the evening, followed by No. 3 Creighton facing Colgate at 6:30 p.m. The winner of each match will advance to the second round at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, also at the home of  Creighton.Should the Gophers advance out of the first two rounds, they will travel to the Pittsburgh regional from Dec. 7-9. Their portion of the bracket includes No. 2 seed Louisville and No. 4 Washington State.The Gophers placed fifth in the Big Ten behind only Nebraska (19-1), Wisconsin (17-3), Penn State (15-5) and Purdue (15-5). All four of those teams also made the NCAA field. Nebraska holds the No. 1 overall seed, while Wisconsin (3) will also host one of the four regionals.Purdue will host in the first two rounds, while No. 5 Penn State travels to No. 4 seeded...

Bi-State may run Loop Trolley one year longer than planned

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

ST. LOUIS – The head of Bi-State Development said he’ll likely run the Delmar Loop Trolley longer than first planned.At $51 million in taxpayer money, the trolley is one of the St. Louis area’s costliest projects in recent history.Bi-State Development President and CEO Taulby Roach said the agency is making progress to keep the project afloat and is considering running the trolley for at least four years instead of three.“We solve problems for the region. This wasn’t our project. It’s not the county executive’s favorite project; it’s not the mayor’s favorite project, but what we had to do was solve a problem,” Roach said. “And you know what? We’re doing pretty well.”The trolley was forced to shut down in late 2019 because of a lack of finances brought on by poor ridership.There was a heated debate over whether to let the trolley fail and default on the money the federal government had kicked in for the project. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones led the push to get Bi-State Development ...

River's inspiring journey from Rwandan orphan to football star

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- On the surface, it looks like any other journey for a stand-out football player. Star on the high school gridiron, then move up to division one. But River Lakey's path to Lindenwood University's football team is anything but ordinary."I see how much of a blessing it is to be here," said River Lakey.River was born in Kigali, Rwanda in 2004."River was found in a ditch in a rainstorm or after a rainstorm late at night, 11 p.m. His umbilical cord scab was still in place and the lady who found him, brought him in. She didn't have much in her home," said father Jimmy Lakey. "He ended up in an orphanage. They were well taken care of, for the most part, but it was just poor."Jimmy adopted River in 2008 and moved him to Colorado. He didn't want to turn his back on River's friends from the orphanage in Rwanda. The family started a foundation called River's Promise. The goal was to make a difference in River's hometown."We totally closed out that orphanage. We gave all the kids fa...

Mizzou, KU selected to 2023 NCAA volleyball tournament

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks are dancing into the 2023 NCAA volleyball tournament. Mizzou is an 8-seed and will face Delaware in the first round of the tournament held in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the University of Nebraska. If the Tigers win, they face the winner of the 1-seed Huskers and Long Island University. The Tigers finished seventh in the SEC with a 17-12 record and 9-9 in conference play under first-year head coach Dawn Sullivan. They are much improved from their 9-19 record in 2022 where they finished last in the conference with only two wins in SEC play. Chiefs TE Travis Kelce leads franchise in career receiving yards Kansas is a top-16 seed and a host as a 4 seed. They face Omaha in their first match on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT and face the winner of 5-seed Penn State and Yale.If Kansas wins out in Lawrence, they could potentially face 1 seed Wisconsin and former Jayhawk middle blocker CC Crawford. The Jayhawks will enter their third straight to...

Kiszla: Russell Wilson and Vance Joseph have gone from zeros to heroes during Broncos’ five-game winning streak

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

Hey, Broncos Country: Now that your favorite NFL team has won five games in a row, are you ready to issue an apology to Russell Wilson and Vance Joseph?Let me make it easy for you. I will go first.When this football team was 1-5, I was ready to run Wilson and Joseph out of this dusty old cowtown. My reasons were strong. But I was wrong.After giving Cleveland a 29-12 beatdown in their most complete performance of this NFL season, the Broncos have established a winning identity that can carry them all the way to the playoffs.The quarterback and defensive coordinator who many (me included) wanted to run out of Denver are now leading an improbable run to the playoffs. During a turnaround nobody saw coming, Wilson and Joseph have gone from zeros to heroes.“I’ve never doubted,” Wilson said Sunday. “I’ve never doubted our football team and where we could go.”That identity has been established by the two people who not long ago were designated Persona Non Grata No. 1 and N...

Broncos’ recipe isn’t fancy, but they’ve finally figured out it can be an award-winner: “It’s not just our room believing in us anymore. It’s time to go.”

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

Denver grows more cosmopolitan by the year, but what the Broncos have cooking up isn’t likely to earn any attention from the fancy folk at Michelin.On the menu these days at Casa Sean Payton: Meat. Potatoes. And a fresh-baked pile of turnovers every weekend.Slowly but surely, Payton and the Broncos offense have learned to eat their vegetables.Vance Joseph’s defense will stick to your ribs or, more often than not, plow right through them.The whole refrigerator of ingredients nearly spoiled in the September heat. They’re not exactly the most stocked pantry in the NFL. And it took a long time for the kitchen to find its rhythm. But at the tail end of Thanksgiving weekend, this team put together its most satisfying meal yet: A big, bad, rugged 29-12 victory over Cleveland.The ingredient list:The Broncos out-gained the Browns on the ground, 169-107.They held the Cleveland offense to 2 of 13 on third down and converted 6 of 14 themselves.They took the ball away three more times — th...

Nikola Jokic, Nuggets bounce back against Spurs in Victor Wembanyama’s first visit to Denver

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

Not even the terrifyingly territorial wingspan of Victor Wembanyama can enter the House of Jokic and prevail.When the Nuggets need a win — and they needed one badly Sunday — Ball Arena is their old reliable, always waiting for them with open arms back at altitude. They are 8-0 at home this season after a 132-120 rout of the Spurs in Wembanyama’s first visit to the Front Range.The highly touted rookie registered 22 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and six steals, but Nikola Jokic managed to win the opening tip against all 7 feet and 4 inches of Wembanyama, foreshadowing the next two hours. Jokic piled up an efficient 39 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists to hand San Antonio its 12th consecutive loss.The Nuggets’ only three wins in the last eight games have come against teams with losing streaks of five or more games. But but never mind the opponent: They needed this one coming out of a 1-4 road trip that ended with group stage elimination from the in-season ...

Keeler: Broncos LT Garett Bolles 1, Myles Garrett 0. As in, zero sacks for Cleveland Browns’ All-Pro defender. “You’ve just got to keep swinging.”

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

Garett 1, Garrett 0.As in, zero sacks.“I think Garett Bolles is a hell of a player,” former Broncos defensive lineman Shelby Harris, now raising Cain for Cleveland, told me after Denver’s fifth straight win.“This will be a (game) No. 72 remembers for a long time,” Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey added, “because he had a hell of a night.”Myles Garrett, Cleveland’s one-man wrecking crew, Von Miller’s engine in Paul Milsap’s frame, came into Empower Field averaging 1.3 sacks a game, tops in the NFL.The big defensive end left with no takedowns and with his shoulder in a sling. And Bolles, the Broncos’ veteran left tackle, did the bulk of the pitching in what was just Garrett’s third shutout in 11 games this season. And only the Cleveland star’s sixth shutout over his last 23 tilts.“First off, that dude is a freak of nature,” Bolles said after helping keep Russell Wilson clean in the Broncos...

With Kareem Jackson suspended, Broncos safety P.J. Locke carries hard-hitting mentality in win over Browns

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

Broncos safety P.J. Locke was hitting folks.The Cleveland Browns faced a fourth-and-14 in the fourth quarter when Locke lined up like he was playing man coverage on tight end David Njoku. The disguise worked as Locke flew into the backfield undetected by the Browns’ offensive line and backup quarterback P.J. Walker, whom he strip-sacked before linebacker Alex Singleton recovered the ball.The hit was a fitting conclusion to Locke’s day in the Broncos’ 29-12 win over the Browns on Sunday, one he wasn’t even sure he’d be able to play in 24 hours earlier due to an ankle injury.Locke didn’t miss a step, however, as he made big plays and delivered hits that could be felt in the suite level at Empower Field — including one that could’ve been costly had he and the Denver defense not responded with five straight stops to close out the game.“(Locke) is a baller, man,” Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II said. “When his (name) gets called upon, he is always go...

Mikaela Shiffrin wins World Cup slalom in Killington for record-extending 90th career victory

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:05 GMT

KILLINGTON, Vt. — Mikaela Shiffrin has extended her record of World Cup wins to 90.And she has done so in style.The American two-time Olympic champion dominated a slalom Sunday, pleasing the home crowd by posting the fastest time in both runs on the Superstar course and beating her Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova by 0.33 seconds.“It’s amazing to do this, especially here, with the home crowd,” said Shiffrin, who is from Colorado but can almost consider Killington a hometown race because she honed her skills nearby at the Burke Mountain Academy as a teenager.“It’s just such a good vibe and there’s a little extra intensity because we want this to be good for you guys to watch. I hope it was a good show,” she addressed the spectators in a course-side interview.Shiffrin was put to the test by a frenetic second run from Vlhova, the Olympic champion who led the race by more than a second with only the American left in the start gate.Shiffrin lost half of her first-run lead of 0.28 secon...