For the first time in Olympic history, the San Fernando Valley will host official events during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. That’s not just a headline – it’s a milestone. In both 1932 and 1984, Los Angeles welcomed the world for the Olympic Games. And in both instances, the San Fernando Valley – home […]
For the first time in Olympic history, the San Fernando Valley will host official events during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. That’s not just a headline – it’s a milestone.
In both 1932 and 1984, Los Angeles welcomed the world for the Olympic Games. And in both instances, the San Fernando Valley – home to nearly 2 million residents and one of the largest local economies in the state – was either left out or avoided. Not a single event took place here.
But in 2028, the story is different.
The Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area will host six fast-paced, high-energy Olympic competitions: BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Skateboarding Park, Skateboarding Street, Modern Pentathlon, and 3×3 Basketball. These aren’t just fringe sports. They are youth-driven, globally followed, and reflect the evolving spirit of the Games. More importantly, they are finally putting the Valley on the Olympic map.
BMX was created in the Valley, and there is a permanent exhibit at the Valley Relics Museum dedicated to the sport.
Those of us who lived in the Valley in the ’70s remember the empty pools overrun by skateboarders.
Even the Modern Pentathlon, first held in the 1912 Olympics, is getting a new look – with the horse-riding portion being replaced by an obstacle course similar to “American Ninja Warrior.” And 3×3 Basketball is a burgeoning sport with a league owned by Valley resident Ice Cube.
When I joined the quest to bring the Olympics to the City of Los Angeles in 2015, Mayor Garcetti and Casey Wasserman promised that the Valley would not be left out – and they delivered.
Now, as a member of the LA28 Board of Directors, I’m proud to see this long-overdue engagement of our region. The San Fernando Valley has long been the economic backbone of Los Angeles – home to a thriving mix of small businesses, large manufacturers, film and television studios, and a diverse workforce that keeps the city running. If the Valley were its own city, it would be the fifth largest in the country, sandwiched between Chicago and Houston.
Hosting Olympic events in the Valley is not just symbolic – it’s economically significant. Thousands of spectators, athletes, media personnel and staff will be coming into our neighborhoods. They’ll eat in our restaurants, stay in our hotels, and spend at our businesses. That means real revenue, real jobs and a lasting boost for the local economy.
Beyond the immediate financial impact, the infrastructure and facility upgrades coming to the Sepulveda Basin are long overdue. These improvements – from increased mobility access and transportation connections to revitalized public spaces – will benefit Valley residents long after the athletes leave town.
It’s an investment in our future, and one we’ve long deserved.
This moment is also about visibility. For too long, the Valley has quietly contributed to Los Angeles’ success without receiving its share of the spotlight. The 2028 Games change that. When millions of viewers tune in to watch a skateboarder land a trick or a BMX rider soar through the air, they’ll be watching the San Fernando Valley. They’ll see our community – not just as a backdrop, but as a vital and vibrant part of the city.
The Olympics are about global unity, youth and the future. What better place to showcase those values than right here in the Valley?
In 2028, we’re not just hosting the Games — we’re finally being recognized. The San Fernando Valley is ready.
Let the Games begin.
Stuart Waldman is president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, a business advocacy organization based in Van Nuys that represents employers in the San Fernando Valley area at the local, state and federal levels of government.
2025 Frontier Conference Track and Field Championships Day 2 Recap | Frontier Conference
The Frontier Conference concluded its 2025 Track and Field Championships on Monday in Helena. The Carroll College men and Montana Tech women took home team championships. Jack Marshall SWX Local Sports Reporter
HELENA- The Frontier Conference concluded its 2025 Track and Field Championships on Monday in Helena. The Carroll College men and […]
The Frontier Conference concluded its 2025 Track and Field Championships on Monday in Helena. The Carroll College men and Montana Tech women took home team championships.
Jack Marshall
SWX Local Sports Reporter
HELENA- The Frontier Conference concluded its 2025 Track and Field Championships on Monday in Helena. The Carroll College men and Montana Tech women took home team championships.
Day 1 Recap:
HELENA- The Frontier Conference Track and Field Championships are underway at Vigilante Stadium in Helena.
Jack Marshall
SWX Local Sports Reporter
Day 2 Winners:
Women’s Coach of the Year: Chuck Merrifield (Tech)
Men’s Coach of the Year: Harry Clark (Carroll)
Women’s Field Athlete of the Year: Abby Clark (Tech)
Women’s Track Athlete of the Year: Alyssa Jany (Tech)
Men’s Field Athlete of the Year: Cade VanVleet (Tech)
Men’s Track Athlete of the Year: Brycen Gardner (Carroll)
Track & field star Schwartz ’26 eclipses 40 meters in women’s javelin throw
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ITHACA, N.Y. – Hamilton College’s Dana Schwartz ’26 broke her team record again in the women’s javelin throw at the multi-divisional, non-team scoring Big Red Invitational at Cornell University’s Robert J. Kane Sports Complex on Sunday, May 4. In what seems like a weekly occurrence, Schwartz eclipsed her […]
ITHACA, N.Y. – Hamilton College’s Dana Schwartz ’26 broke her team record again in the women’s javelin throw at the multi-divisional, non-team scoring Big Red Invitational at Cornell University’s Robert J. Kane Sports Complex on Sunday, May 4.
In what seems like a weekly occurrence, Schwartz eclipsed her own record with a distance of 40.42 meters, which is currently the 19th-best performance in NCAA Division III.
Tatiana McCray ’28 (100-meter dash) and Olivia Waruch ’28 (400-meter hurdles) recorded personal-best times in their respective events.
The Continentals compete in the 2025 All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Conference Outdoor Championships at Williams College on May 14 and 15.
TOP PERFORMANCES
100-Meter Dash (11 runners)
7. Tatiana McCray ’28, 12.60 (PR)
1500-Meter Run (9 runners)
1. Keira Rogan ’28, 4:35.05
400-Meter Hurdles (5 runners)
1. Olivia Waruch ’28, 1:05.31 (PR)
Javelin Throw (4 athletes)
1. Dana Schwartz ’26, 40.42m (132 feet, 7 inches; SR)
Former LTC stars shine at America East Championships – Scranton Times-Tribune
Former Lackawanna Track Conference stars excelled in NCAA Division I track and field as the season winds down. Tatum Norris, a former Times-Tribune Female Athlete of the Year and a graduate of Susquehanna, helped Binghamton University achieve a fourth-place team finish at the America East Outdoor Track and Field Championships this past weekend at the […]
Former Lackawanna Track Conference stars excelled in NCAA Division I track and field as the season winds down.
Tatum Norris, a former Times-Tribune Female Athlete of the Year and a graduate of Susquehanna, helped Binghamton University achieve a fourth-place team finish at the America East Outdoor Track and Field Championships this past weekend at the University of New Hampshire.
Norris, a sophomore, placed third in the pole vault with a height of 12 feet, 1.5 inches to earn all-conference honors; finished fourth in the 400-meter sprint with a time of 55.44 seconds; and was sixth in the 200 with a time of 24.78. She also contributed to the 1,600 relay team that finished second and earned all-conference honors and to the 400 relay team that finished fifth.
Former Riverside distance running standout Daniel Danilovitz also competed at the America East Championships. The University of Maryland Baltimore County freshman placed fifth in the 10,000 with a time of 30:14.82. He also raced in the 5,000 and finished 11th with a time of 14:33.63.
Patriot League Championships
A pair of former Times-Tribune All-Region athletes finished in the top eight at the Patriot League Championships.
Lafayette College senior Jack Lynett, a Scranton Prep graduate, placed eighth in the pole vault. He had a height of 15-3.5 at the event. His career-best mark is 15-9, which he achieved this spring in a dual meet against rival Lehigh.
Lehigh University also had an eighth-place finish. Riverside graduate Nathan Oliphant, a sophomore, scored in the 110 hurdles at the Patriot League Championships with a time of 14.91. He ran a time of 14.74 to qualify for the final. Oliphant had a career-best time of 14.58 in March at the Shippensburg University Keystone State Challenge this spring.
Holy Cross freshman Mary Zabielski launched the javelin 125-8 and finished 10th at her first Patriot League Championship meet. This season, the former Valley View standout had a season-best distance of 128-4 in April at the UMass Flagship Opener.
Bucknell University junior Avery Rebar, a Mid Valley graduate, had a career-best mark of 42-11.75 in the shot put and finished 13th at the Patriot League Championships. She also finished 20th in the discus with a throw of 117-6.
Making a mark
Former Delaware Valley star and Times-Tribune Female Track and Field Performer of the Year Taliyah Booker is having a breakout junior season at Grand Canyon University after transferring from Purdue University.
Last Saturday, Booker ran a season- and career-best time of 53.72 in the 400 at the Desert Heat Classic. That equaled her previous best time of 53.72 she had when she finished fourth at the Battle at the Beach in April.
This season, Booker’s 400-meter time ranks second in the Western Athletic Conference. Grand Canyon teammate Aaliyah Rifort-Delem has the fastest time (53.60) this season in the conference.
Booker also has a season-best time of 24.07 in the 200 this season.
The WAC Championships will be held at the University of Texas Arlington at Maverick Stadium from Thursday, May 15, through Saturday, May 17.
Getting ready
Colin Kravitz, a North Pocono graduate and former Times-Tribune Athlete of the Year, had a third-place finish in the 200 at the Larry Ellis Invitational last weekend. The sophomore ran a personal-best time of 21.19 in the event to rank 25th in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season.
Kravitz has an outstanding spring season with personal-best times of 47.21 in the 400 at the Virginia Challenge and 10.73 in the 100 at the UConn Dog Fight in early April. His time in the 400 is ranked 18th in the ACC this season. He also ranks third all-time at Boston College in the 400.
The ACC Championships are May 15-17 at Wake Forest.
Chicago Cubs Have the Best Outfield in Major League Baseball
Cubs Video No team in baseball features a better trio on the outfield grass than the Chicago Cubs. There isn’t a whole lot of room for debate here, either. As a group, the Cubs’ outfield ranks first in fWAR (5.0), well ahead of the New York Yankees (4.2) and even farther ahead of the Boston Red […]
No team in baseball features a better trio on the outfield grass than the Chicago Cubs. There isn’t a whole lot of room for debate here, either.
As a group, the Cubs’ outfield ranks first in fWAR (5.0), well ahead of the New York Yankees (4.2) and even farther ahead of the Boston Red Sox (3.0). While it would be an oversimplification to attribute the team’s early success specifically and solely to that group (given the success of Michael Busch and the tandem of Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly behind the plate), it’s certainly been the outfield leading the way. This was always possible, but it was far from guaranteed, so seeing it come to fruition is as encouraging as it is satisfying.
The acquisition of Kyle Tucker was obviously a boon. With such little positional flexibility when the offseason began, moving Cody Bellinger out of town and finding a suitable replacement for Seiya Suzuki‘s glove in right represented one of the only paths toward legitimate addition within the lineup. Tucker has been crucial to the team’s early run to the top of the National League Central, but it’s been far from the only element driving the offensive (and defensive, for that matter) pace thus far.
In addition to pacing the league in fWAR, the Cubs’ outfield leads the league in isolated slugging (.236) and strikeout rate (16.5%), while sitting top five in batting average (.291), on-base percentage (.367), and stolen bases (21). Their 22 home runs are tied with the Yankees atop the leaderboard, as well. To say that it’s a potent group would be an understatement.
Tucker has been as advertised. Plenty of ink is still to be spilt over the team’s efforts to retain their new-ish superstar, but even with a little bit of a recent “cold” streak, he’s still a top-10 position player in most categories. His 168 wRC+ ranks seventh, while his walk rate (15.3%) continues to outpace his strikeout rate (11.7%).
While Tucker had the ability to raise the floor of what this group could produce, it’s been Pete Crow-Armstrong who has pushed the ceiling upward. Not all of the stats look great. He’s still reaching base at a barely a .300 clip, but he’s tamped down the strikeouts on his way to producing a 139 wRC+. That’s all despite a very cold start. The power has really manifested, to the tune of a .287 ISO that even narrowly surpasses that of Tucker (.285). We knew the speed would be there, and lo: 12 steals.
The mildly ironic thing is that the star-level play we see from each of Tucker and Crow-Armstrong on a daily basis has overshadowed the contributions of Ian Happ atop the lineup. He’s running a 120 wRC+, with virtually no power to speak of (.102 ISO). Generally a slow starter, that Happ is already a worthy contributor without the power (which we don’t typically see until May, anyway) really gets moving speaks to the actual ceiling of this group.
Then there’s the defensive component. The Cubs lead the league with 10 Defensive Runs Saved in the outfield, even with Tucker rating a bit below average. It helps that Crow-Armstrong is jumping his way to covering more ground than almost any individual outfielder in baseball, but Happ’s defense looks legitimately good in the face of metrics that have soured on him throughout his Gold Glove run.
It’s the combination of offense and defense that has given the Cubs two of the nine most valuable players in baseball—and we’re not just talking outfielders. There are 162 qualifying position players in the league. Crow-Armstrong ranks third in FanGraphs WAR, and Tucker sits ninth. Happ’s farther down the list, at 63rd, but it’s nearly impossible to overstate the level at which this outfield has performed.
They’ve been much-needed, too. While catcher (Amaya/Kelly) and first base (Busch) both sit in the top seven in positional value, the middle infield spots have both been middle-of-the-road. Third base is near the bottom of the league (28th). Seiya Suzuki’s phenomenal production as the DH is vital, but since his defensive homes are in the outfield, he feels like an extension of that corps.
Consider some of the groups that were projected to be among the best in the league on the grass in the National League alone. Arizona. San Diego. Milwaukee. FanGraphs’s preseason positional power rankings had the Cubs eighth in left field, 12th in center, and fifth in right. They’ve blown them all away. And then you get into the value of pushing Suzuki into a full-time role as the designated hitter.
It’s this group that has not only made the Cubs into a legitimate NL contender, but a singularly watchable winner. After a handful of years of middle-tier, outright boring baseball, the Cubs have become one of the most exciting teams in the sport on the strength of their outfield.
In pursuit of gold, Andrew D’Asaro shows his mettle | Article
But a second tear, like the one D’Asaro suffered in training in the fall of 2023, almost always brings down the curtain on an athlete’s glory days. Rehab from a second surgery is about 18 months, and the chances of returning to peak performance are low. D’Asaro’s father, John, said his son was “heartbroken” when […]
But a second tear, like the one D’Asaro suffered in training in the fall of 2023, almost always brings down the curtain on an athlete’s glory days. Rehab from a second surgery is about 18 months, and the chances of returning to peak performance are low.
D’Asaro’s father, John, said his son was “heartbroken” when he came home for fall break. But after consulting with doctors in the Philadelphia area, D’Asaro chose to keep competing with the torn ligament.
His parents gave him their blessing, John says, with the understanding, “it’s probably going to hurt like hell.”
“Our advice was do what’s right by you,” his father recalls. “He’s a thoughtful young man, who’s wise beyond his age. We felt comfortable with the care and support he was getting at Denison. His coaches never pressured him to do something he didn’t want to do. We really feel blessed with the experience he’s had at Denison from the professors to the coaches to his teammates.”
D’Asaro, a team captain, practices his javelin throws twice a week. He also runs sprints, does weight training and plyometrics, and performs mobility exercises.
To continue throwing at a high level, D’ Asaro relies on the muscles around the elbow to compensate for the torn ligament. He’s also indebted to the Denison sports medicine staff.
D’Asaro receives cupping therapy in which a local suction is created on the skin using heated cups to increase blood flow and reduce inflammation. He undergoes scraping therapy, a technique used to release muscle tension, break down adhesions, and improve circulation. He takes needling therapy in which thin needles target specific points in muscles to relieve pain and improve movement.
Teammate Chris Slater ’25 admires the mental toughness his good friend has exhibited the past two years to ready himself for meets.
Just weeks after returning to competition, D’Asaro threw a school record 64.07 meters at the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic on April 12, 2024. The three-time track and field All-Academic athlete is enjoying a strong senior season and looks to improve on his 15th-place finish at last year’s NCAA meet, a quest he considers “unfinished business.”
A workout warrior who has spent two years as a Denison strength and conditioning intern, D’Asaro can no longer do heavy pullovers as part of his weight training. Even little things like turning a door knob with his left hand can be challenging.
Once his athletic career ends, D’Asaro will consider surgery to repair the damaged ligament. Whether or not his senior season culminates with an NCAA gold medal, he’s proud of his perseverance, which he wears like a badge of honor.
“I’ve learned I can’t put limits or boundaries on myself,” D’Asaro says. “A lot of people thought I was crazy for doing this. Just proving to myself that I could do it will help me going forward when I face other kinds of adversity.”
