Sportstars
Whitney’s Smiley Disposition | RETURN TO FALL Football Preview Series No. 14
Whitney Taps Sophomore Jacob Smiley As QB1, Expects To Hold Its Own In Grueling Sierra Foothill League; PLUS Fellow Soph Bradley Kenny Fills Big Shoes At Center-Antelope • This is the fourteenth of 20 installments to our Return To Fall Series — a daily component to our 2021 NorCal... Read more
Jesuit Football’s Action Jackson | RETURN TO FALL Football Preview Series No. 10
Senior Wideout Jackson Hagopian Hopes To Check All The Boxes While Leading Jesuit Football This Fall; PLUS Nos. 11-10 To Our Preseason NorCal Top 20 Rankings. This is the tenth of 20 installments to our Return To Fall Series — a daily component to our 2021 NorCal Football Preview... Read more
GOLD RUSH: NorCal Talent Helping USA Softball Chase Fleeting Olympic Glory
Five NorCal Products Make Up One-Third Of The USA Softball Women’s National Team, Which Faces A Now-Or-Never Shot At Redemption In Tokyo • TOP PHOTO: Pitcher/Infielder Ally Carda, Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove ’11 UPDATED: July 26, 2021, 1pm The USA Softball team’s quest to reclaim Olympic glory has more California... Read more
Reclaiming The Mat | Vacaville Wrestling Plans Summer Salvation
A Trip To Fargo Will Save A Lost Wrestling Season For Ethan Birch And The Sac-Joaquin Section Powerhouse Vacaville Bulldogs • Vacaville wrestling standout Ethan Birch smiles too much. He jokes, laughs and grins like the world was created just to give him a never-ending line of high-fives. The... Read more
Golden Silva | Sophomore Ace Fuels Elk Grove Softball
Aissa Silva Has Some Of The Best Pitching Stats In The State For A Talented Elk Grove Softball Team Chasing A Delta League Crown UPDATED May 10, 2021 A road trip is only as good as its playlist. Elk Grove softball parents Erin and Manuel Silva prefer 2000s R&B.... Read more
Damion Elliott | Del Oro Wrestler Has Singlet, Will Travel
Wrestling In 2020-21 May Just Be A Vision Quest As NorCal Wrestling Stars Like Del Oro’s Damion Elliott Flee State For Chances At Competition • Six months after he seized California Interscholastic Federation stardom by reaching the state finals as a sophomore, Del Oro-Loomis wrestler Damion Elliott found himself... Read more
2021 Early Football Predictions | Staff Stabs: Ike Dodson
With First Practices Two Months Away, And Little Better To Do, SportStars Writers Have Some Fun With Some 2021 Early Football Predictions • We’ve officially entered our NorCal football 2021 Season Preview mode. Because it’s not like anything else is happening. So it’s time for some early football predictions.... Read more
Lily Freitas | SportStars’ 2019-20 Sac-Joaquin Female Athlete of the Year
Pitman High Wrestling Phenom Lily Freitas Earns Athlete Of The Year Honors After Second Straight Undefeated Season • The best female athlete in the Sac-Joaquin Section is a state and national champion wrestler with Olympic ambitions. Lily Freitas is also just a sophomore. The Pitman High-Turlock mat star hasn’t... Read more
Anson Aroz: The Constant | Meet Placer Baseball’s Problem Solver
Baseball Is A Game Of Equations For Relentlessly Driven Oregon-Bound Catcher Anson Aroz Of Placer-Auburn There’s baseball IQ and then there’s whatever-in-the-Isaac-Newton Anson Aroz is. The Oregon-committed, switch-hitting catcher from Placer High-Auburn seems to see the diamond in code — or at least in distances and times. “Say a... Read more
SportStars’ Girls Wrestling Big 10 | NorCal’s Best Wrestlers (’11-’20)
SportStars’ 10 Year Anniversary Project Continues With Its Girls Wrestling Big 10 — The Magazine’s Top 10 NorCal Girls Wrestlers Of The Past Decade • Welcome to the SportStars’ Girls Wrestling BIG 10. This is an installation of our Big 10 Project: A 10-months-long anniversary project to celebrate what... Read more
SportStars’ Boys Wrestling Big 10 | NorCal’s Best Wrestlers (’11-’20)
SportStars’ 10 Year Anniversary Project Continues With Its Boys Wrestling Big 10 — The Magazine’s Top 10 NorCal Boys Wrestlers Of The Past 10 Seasons • Welcome to the SportStars’ Boys Wrestling BIG 10.  This is an installation of our Big 10 Project: A 10-months-long anniversary project to celebrate... Read more
All-NorCal Wrestling Honors | Ike’s Ironmen & Ironwomen 2020
Chase Saldate, Lilly Freitas and 22 NorCal teams represented in SportStars’ Third Annual All-NorCal Wrestling Honors • Though it again spanned three grueling days, the combined Boys-Girls CIF Wrestling Championships at Mechanics Bank (formerly Rabobank) Arena in Bakersfield was a resounding triumph for NorCal’s best wrestlers. And for the... Read more