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Ashkan Motamedi

Ashkan Motamedi is an award-winning sports journalist with an M.J. from the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. He has bylines in the Associated Press, the Washington Post, the Seattle Times, the San Diego Tribune, the Kansas City Star, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others. Motamedi had his Title IX story "Students level the playing fields at California high school" featured on PBS News Hour, the Athletic article "Fifty women's sports facts for the 50th anniversary of Title IX" and had his story tweeted by women’s sports icon Billie Jean King. Motamedi was also the wrestling beat writer for the Diamondback, where is work was featured on NCAA.com multiple times, a reporter for Capital News Service, a staff writer for the Maryland Baseball Network, and a sports intern for NBC4 Washington. He even runs his own sports blog page on various topics in his spare time.

AP NEWS •

Students level the playing fields at California high school

Danielle Ellis, left, and Sydney Prenatt, former softball players at Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista, Calif., pose at Buena Vista Ballpark in Vista, Calif., May 10, 2018. As seniors, the friends and teammates were students in a government class taught by Timothy Leary, a beloved figure at the school for 26 years. In the first unit of Leary’s class, Ellis and Prenatt learned about the five concepts of democracy, including civil rights and Title IX’s guarantees of gender equality in sports
CNS Maryland •

Students level the playing fields at California high school

In Vista, California, heroes wear softball uniforms. Their names: Danielle Ellis and Sydney Prenatt.

Ellis and Prenatt resist such praise. But at Rancho Buena Vista High School, where the pair were teammates on the Longhorns softball team for four years before graduating in 2018, that’s exactly how they’re remembered.

“They should absolutely be considered heroes. What they did was selfless and it’s going to help so many girls in the future,” said Ava Bradford, a former Rancho Buena Vista softb
The Diamondback •

Nick Lorusso’s walk-off single in extra innings boosts Maryland baseball over UConn, 7-6

Chris Alleyne braced for impact as he was struck by a pitch in the bottom of the 11th inning. With the bases now loaded, the Terps had a golden opportunity to finally find a way past the Huskies when Nick Lorusso stepped up to bat.

With only one out, Lorusso launched a pitch deep into right field. UConn’s outfielders didn’t even attempt to catch the ball as it bounced off the wall. Kevin Keister crossed home plate before immediately running with his teammates toward the junior.

Lorusso was mob
The Diamondback •

Maryland wrestlers Kyle Cochran, Dominic Solis pushed each other to reach new heights

In the sport of wrestling, intermission is a chance for athletes to regroup and recover before the action picks back up in the second half.

But for Dominic Solis and Kyle Cochran, the intermission period began a routine of warming up together on the mat before their respective bouts at 174 and 184.

The routine started during Maryland wrestling’s dual against Indiana, when Solis felt like he wasn’t properly warming up beforehand for his bouts. Cochran — a superstitious person himself — was all
The Diamondback •

Maryland baseball’s historic season ends in regional final to UConn, 11-8

The sellout Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium crowd had been set ablaze in the first inning.

Slugger Luke Shliger had just hit a towering leadoff home run into right field to start the game off and could only admire his handy work as he flipped his bat and rounded the bases in front of the home crowd.

But those cheers turned to stunned silence just a half-inning later after a grand slam by Matt Donlan gave UConn a five-run lead.

Maryland baseball’s early deficit proved insurmountable. Watching the H
The Diamondback •

Alex Clemsen’s coaching philosophy is changing the culture at Maryland wrestling

Coaches across sports have their wisdom and philosophies about how to run their teams.

But just four words matter for Maryland wrestling: faith, sacrifice, accountability and perseverance.

Those words are written on the Terps’ wrestling room wall and they’re the four pillars every Maryland wrestler lives by as a member of coach Alex Clemsen’s program.

“I say all the time, they can’t be just words on a wall,” Clemsen said. “It has to be what we’re living in, it has to be what we’re about, it h
The Diamondback •

Kyle Cochran shines for Maryland wrestling with Southern Scuffle title win

Just moments after the clock hit zero, the referee raised Kyle Cochran’s arm in the air, signaling he had just become a Southern Scuffle champion.

Cochran then flexed his left muscle to the crowd and went over to high five his coaching staff in celebration.

The moment then began to sink in for the Maryland wrestling captain that he had just pulled off his third-straight ranked win of the tournament, beating No. 13 Jon Loew (Cornell) by decision, 4-1, to win the 184-pound championship.

“When I
The Diamondback •

‘Unheard of’: Gwendolyn Zeckowski’s road back to pole vaulting after Moyamoya diagnosis

She had been feeling ill, tired and out of sorts throughout the day but pushed through and went to her night physics class like normal.

But when she got there, she started to feel worse. That’s when she knew something was wrong.

“My hand was so numb, and it was completely dropping to the ground,” Zeckowski said. “My whole right side of my body was going numb.”

When she got home, her roommates called her boyfriend, and he took her to the emergency room at the University of Maryland Laurel Medi
The Diamondback •

Zach Schrader wins in sudden death, Maryland wrestling beats Navy, 18-16

No. 32 Zach Schrader found himself in a familiar situation in sudden death against No. 33 Riley Smith. If he beat Smith, he would complete another comeback victory for Maryland wrestling.

With loud chants for Schrader echoing around the Xfinity Pavilion, the two were waiting for their moment to go in for the kill. But after a stall warning against Smith brought the two back to the center of the mat, Schrader finished off Smith with a takedown as the Maryland bench jumped in the air.


Schrader

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