Today's Sports

Ann Stewart is interim no more.
Los Alamos High School announced Monday it has hired Stewart as its regular girls basketball head coach, a position Stewart adopted during the middle of the 2012-13 season.
It didn’t come as much of a surprise that Stewart was selected after the position was opened up following the conclusion of the girls basketball season.
Stewart was brought in to replace Tarah Logan in mid-January after her abrupt resignation. At approximately the same time, two members of the Hilltopper roster, both starters, left the team.
“I’m just excited for the opportunity,” Stewart said. “I hope we can build a tradition, something the kids can be excited about and the commuity can get behind.”
Despite the whirlwind surrounding the team when Stewart was named interim coach, the Hilltoppers rebounded under Stewart to finish third in a very tough District 2-4A race and earn a postseason at-large bid. The Hilltoppers then traveled to Deming for the first round of the postseason and upset the Deming Wildcats 62-45.

Los Alamos High School took the interim tag off Ann Stewart’s title Monday.

Stewart, who took over the Hilltopper girls basketball program at midseason last season is now the full-time coach at the school.

With Stewart at the helm, the team advanced to the Class 4A quarterfinal round for the first time in three seasons. Los Alamos defeated Deming in the first round of the playoffs, on the road, to advance to the quarterfinals.

Having to deal with insane heat, temperature swings of nearly 100 degrees, hard-to-navigate terrain and more didn’t seem to faze Garth Reader one bit.
In fact, it couldn’t have worked out a lot better.
Reader, 50, a local ultra-runner, finished in the top three among United States competitors and No. 9 in his age group at this month’s Marathon Des Sables, held in the western Sahara Desert in the country of Morocco.
Reader finished the race in 30 hours, 55 minutes, 57 seconds to finish 110th overall in the competition which featured more than 1,000 competitors.
“I exceeded all expectations going in,” said Reader of the nearly weeklong competition in northwestern Africa. “I thought I ran a pretty smart race. I ran a little conservative, not knowing what to expect.”
The race cuts right through the desert and is separated into five stages of varying length. Despite the race being run in one of the harshest environments in the world, it is well organized with volunteers and medical staff and the course is well marked so competitors don’t take a wrong turn somewhere.
In the race, along with having to deal with temperatures which peaked at 125 degrees and dropped down into the 30s, competitors are responsible for bringing along their own food and carry it with them.

Gold buying event will support LAHS athletics

Los Alamos High School’s athletic department is hosting a gold buying event May 5.
A certified and accredited gold buyer will be on hand between noon-4 p.m. that day to purchase unwanted gold, silver and platinum.
A portion of the proceeds from the buying event will go to benefit LAHS athletics and activities.
The gold purchase will be in the administration area of LAHS.
More information can be found by visiting golddoesgood.com.

Bower 5K race will benefit research for Alzheimer’s disease

A race to raise funds for Alzheimer’s disease research is scheduled for May 11.
The Jerry Bower Memorial Run will begin at 9 a.m. May 11 at the Betty Ehart Senior Center.
Price for participation is $25. T-shirts are available to participants.
Race registrations forms are available at several locations throughout Los Alamos County.
Registration forms may also be downloaded at atomicrunners.com.
More information is available by calling 672-1639.