Indianapolis, IN

Tide Swimming competitors set for U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis

Published

2 years ago

June 14, 2024

SWIMMING

Numerous local swimmers are competing in the U.S. Olympic Trials, which start Saturday in a pool constructed inside Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

In the women’s 100-meter butterfly Saturday, two swimmers from Virginia Beach and Tide Swimming will compete. The University of Georgia’s Callie Dickinson is seeded 24th and Nikki Venema 36th, according to the “psych sheet.”

Kellam High graduate Nikki Venema, shown competing for Princeton, will swim in the U.S. Olympic Trials. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Dickinson, from Norfolk Academy, is in her third trials, while Venema, a former Kellam High and Princeton standout who will use her final year of eligibility with Northwestern, is in her second.

Stanford teammates Kayla Wilson and Samantha Tadder, Maddy Hartley, Sophia Knapp of national champion Virginia and Virginia Tech’s Emily Claesson are set to compete later in the week, as is the Florida Gators’ Bobby DiNunzio. Hartley has transferred from Arkansas to Kentucky. All are representing Tide Swimming.

LOCAL BASEBALL

Yard Gnomes knock Pilots out of East lead

The last-place Greenville Yard Gnomes cooled off the Peninsula Pilots on Thursday night, beating them 5-0 at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton.

Henry Garcia had two of the four hits by the Pilots (11-6), and Cam Pittman drew two walks. Their second consecutive loss dropped them into second place in the Coastal Plain League’s seven-team East Division, behind the Morehead City Marlins (10-5).

Greenville’s Matthew Jenkins pitched the first four innings, winner Charlie Horne threw the next 2 2/3, and Andrew Hanson, Cole Kenyon and Todd Kniebe completed the shutout. Greenville pitchers struck out 13.

Meanwhile, Yard Gnomes catcher Grayson Ashe was 3 for 3, needing only a triple for the cycle, and scored three runs for Greenville (4-13). Gage Griggs was 2 for 3 with two RBIs, and Jack Herring was 3 for 5 with a solo home run.

Longtime Pilot Trey Morgan, VMI’s all-time leader in games played, took the loss. He gave up seven hits and three runs (two earned) in 3 2/3 innings, walking four and striking out four.

The Pilots were to play Friday night in Colonial Heights against the Tri-City Chili Peppers.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

ODU LB Henderson named Preseason All-American

Old Dominion linebacker Jason Henderson was named a Preseason All-American in Phil Steele’s preview magazine.

Six Old Dominion players were named to the Athlon and Phil Steele preseason All-Sun Belt teams, the magazines recently announced.

Linebacker Jason Henderson earned first-team honors by both magazines and was named a preseason first-team All-American by Phil Steele. Defensive tackle Denzel Lowry earned first-team honors by Athlon and second-team from Phil Steele.

Tight end Jalen Butler was named to the fourth team by Phil Steele, while offensive lineman Santana Saunders earned fourth-team honors from both organizations. Isiah Paige earned fourth-team honors as a punt returner by Phil Steele and third-team by Athlon, and was a fourth-team wide receiver by Athlon. Incoming transfer Patrick Smith-Young received fourth-team honors from Athlon at defensive back.

Eleven James Madison players were named to Phil Steele’s selection, including first-team punter Ryan Hanson.

JMU’s second-team Phil Steele honorees were running back Ayo Adeyi, defensive lineman Eric O’Neill, linebacker Jacob Dobbs and cornerback Chauncey Logan.

The third-teamers were receiver Cam Ross, offensive linemen Cole Potts and Pat McMurtrie and long snapper Logan Ketcham, while Washington transfer quarterback Dylan Morris and linebacker Taurus Jones garnered fourth-team distinction.

COLLEGES

Tribe hires key staff member

William & Mary athletic director Brian Mann announced the hiring of Andy Rowdon as the Tribe’s executive associate athletics director for external operations, effective July 10.

Rowdon will oversee brand management, marketing, media relations, broadcasts and streaming, donor and fan experience, creative services, and ticketing and sales. He has spent the last seven years in a similar role at Eastern Michigan.

A Fredericksburg native who graduated from Virginia Tech in 2002, he was the assistant athletic director for marketing at Old Dominion in 2011-12.

Old Dominion’s athletic department finished ninth in the nation in community service hours (7,645), as announced by the organization Helper Helper.

COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL

Knee injury forces UVA guard to miss season

Virginia coach Tony Bennett announced that sophomore Elijah Gertrude will miss the 2024-25 season.

Gertrude injured his right knee in a scooter accident April 30. He underwent successful surgery to repair the knee May 17.

Gertrude, a 6-4, 185-pound guard, averaged 3.4 points and 1.2 rebounds in 16 games last season.

W&M adds guard

Guard Luke Kinkade, a 6-foot-2 guard from Neuqua Valley, Illinois, has signed with William & Mary as a preferred walk-on, according to Verbal Commits. The left-hander averaged 14.3 points for the Breakaway team on the Under Armour circuit last summer and frequently takes 3-pointers.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Tribe’s Knowles makes A-A third team

William & Mary junior pitcher Nate Knowles’ latest honor was being chosen to the ABCA/Rawlings All-America third team. He compiled an 8-3 record while ranking ninth nationally with a 2.48 ERA.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S SOCCER

ODU hires graduate assistant

Old Dominion coach Angie Hind completed her staff with the announcement of Hope Stacker as a graduate assistant coach.
Stacker will be the primary goalkeeper coach. She was a three-time NAIA All-American selection for Indiana Wesleyan, where she set a school record with a 0.879 goals-against average.

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Indianapolis, IN

Residents demand alternatives to 2-year closure of critical Indianapolis bridge

Published

6 hours ago

April 8, 2026

Press Room

Residents demand alternatives to 2-year closure of critical Indianapolis bridge

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A community meeting took place on Indy’s westside over what’s threatening to be more than a traffic nightmare.

The planned full closure of the 16th Street bridge could put livelihoods and lives at risk, community advocate Aaron Williams with the Keep the Bridge Open Coalition said.

“And not to mention the countless number of businesses, we’ve calculated over 125 million dollars within a quarter mile of this bridge that generate revenue that are going to be directly impacted,” Williams said.

The aging bridge is scheduled for a full replacement this summer. But in order to do it, the city’s department of public works says it will have to be fully closed to traffic in both directions, for two years. The closure recommendation was first mentioned in a scoping report dating back to 2016.

“It’s been pretty consistent that the recommendation has been a full closure based off of what that first scoping report said,” Kyle Bloyd with the Indianapolis Department of Public Works told News 8.

But residents want to know why the critical span that connects downtown to the city’s Haughville neighborhood can’t be reduced to one lane while the reconstruction takes place, allowing some traffic to get through, instead of none at all.

“We’ve seen time and time again, Lafayette Road, West Kessler Boulecard. We’ve seen where a bridge has been open with one lane in each direction,” Williams said.

It’s a question the owner of Longs Bakery, a longtime Indianapolis favorite, has.
The bakery is walking distance to the bridge, and could see a staggering revenue loss tied to even one day of the bridge being closed, let alone two years.

“We really rely on foot traffic and 500 to 1000 customers a day that are impacted by a bridge they can’t get around or a 10th street bottleneck, that’s our biggest concern,” Carl Long, owner of Longs Bakery said.

The bridge opened in the late 1940s. The Indiana Department of Public Works says there’s no record of any significant rehab effort on the bridge since that time.

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Indianapolis, IN

IMPD asks for help to find missing 26-year-old man

Published

19 hours ago

April 7, 2026

Press Room

IMPD asks for help to find missing 26-year-old man

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis police on Tuesday asked for the public’s help to find a missing 26-year-old man with autism.

Tyrese Pepper was described as being 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. He was wearing a dark-colored jacket with a Colts logo and navy jogger pants.

He was last seen riding a navy-and-white bicycle eastbound on East 21st Street, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

IMPD says Pepper is nonverbal and autistic.

If located, please call 911 immediately.

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Indianapolis, IN

Indianapolis councilman says ‘No Data Centers’ note was left at his home after someone opened fire

Published

1 day ago

April 7, 2026

Press Room

Indianapolis councilman says ‘No Data Centers’ note was left at his home after someone opened fire

The home of a councilman in Indianapolis was shot at early Monday in what local police said was an “isolated, targeted incident.”

The incident came less than a week after the Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Commission voted 6 to 2 on April 1 to approve rezoning to allow the construction of a data center.

Ron Gibson, a Democrat who represents District 8 on the council, spoke out in support of the rezoning and the efforts to build the data center in his district.

“Earlier this morning, between approximately 12:45 a.m. and 12:50 a.m., just a few hours after Easter Sunday, an individual fired 13 rounds at the front door of my home and left a note on my doorstep that read, ‘No Data Centers,’” Gibson said in a Monday statement.

“No Data Centers” note, according to a photo taken by Councilman Ron Gibson.

Councilman Ron Gibson

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said it was called to the home on Monday morning, and officers found evidence that gunshots had been fired at the house. Police said no injuries were reported.

“I understand that public service can bring strong opinions and disagreement, but violence is never the answer, especially when it puts families at risk,” Gibson said in his statement.

The Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

The data center is set to be built by Metrobloks, a data center developer based in Los Angeles. Following the vote last week, Gibson shared a statement on social media promoting the project.

“Metrobloks has the potential to bring significant investment, create jobs, and generate long-term tax revenue that supports infrastructure, housing, and essential services,” the statement said.

A data center boom is happening across the US, with companies pouring billions into building the infrastructure to keep up with demand in the era of AI. The data centers have faced increased opposition, with critics pointing to the high resource costs, from water to energy, and other issues like noise pollution, as detailed in a Business Insider investigation.

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