• A tractor works to maintain the dirt track at Les Bois.

After trailing front-runner and rival Bodemeister early in the 137th Preakness Saturday, May 19, in Baltimore, Md., I'll Have Another surged through the Pimlico stretch to overtake the leader.

Winning by a neck, the win marks the second Triple Crown triumph for the chestnut colt, who took home a win at this year's Kentucky Derby.

Jockey Mario Gutierrez pushed the horse to a win with only a few yards to go, marking a more aggressive stride than the Kentucky Derby win. Now Gutierrez, trainer Doug O'Neill and owner Paul Reddam have set their sights on the Triple Crown.

That coveted title has been bestowed on fewer than a dozen horses in history, including equestrian star Secretariat, by winning the Derby, Preakness and the upcoming one-and-a-half mile Belmont Stakes. Since Affirmed became the 11th Triple Crown winner in 1978, 11 other horses have completed the first two legs only to fall flat at the Belmont.

BIg Brown failed to finish at the Belmont in 2008, the last horse to attempt the crown. Local racetrack Les Bois simulcast the win during their Saturday races.

OK all you Danica Patrick and Kenneth Hanson wannabes: start your engines.

This weekend, the second event in the Larry H. Miller Subaru Southwest Idaho Rally Cross Series has racers taking their marks at Pleasant Valley Raceway. "Race what you brung," is the motto, which means you can take to the one-mile track in your suped-up Impreza, your junker VW bug, your alt-fuel truck, your hog or something that's referred to by a collection of letters—UTV or ATV.

If you caught Boise Weekly's recent report on rallycross, you already know that it's not for the pros. Drivers need not have experience, and race several times—though only one at a time—for the fastest combined time.

Want to drive? Saturday, May 19, 8:30 a.m. Entry is $20 to race but free to watch. To get there, take Gowen Road south on Pleasant Vally Road for about 10 miles. You'll find the track about a half-mile beyond the railroad tracks. And for a little inspiration:

There's hockey and then there's playoff hockey. And if you have ever attended an Idaho Steelheads playoff face-off, you know it's the difference between fire and ice.

Monday night, the Steelheads upset the Ontario (Calif.) Reign in a commanding 5-0 blowout to win the opening ECHL playoff series three games to two. The Steelheads, ranked No. 7 going into the series, were heavy underdogs to Ontario, the No. 2 seed.

Steelheads goaltender Jerry Kuhn was flawless, stopping all 46 of Ontario's shots-on-goal.

Next up: Idaho takes on Las Vegas for a best-of-seven series, which begins next Monday in Vegas. The Steelheads will have home games on Thursday, April 19, Saturday, April 21, and Sunday, April 22 (if necessary).

The Division I NCAA Track and Field Championships have taken over Nampa this weekend. Around 550 of the top student athletes in the country, including about 25 aspiring Olympians, opened competition yesterday at Jacksons Indoor Track.

The event is already off and running, literally. Friday a number of preliminary events were held, with the highlight events starting tonight including both the men’s and women’s mile finals.

When the athletes aren’t competing, they are soaking up Idaho.

“We went downtown and checked out the blue turf over at the football stadium. We had to do that,” said Lindsay Schwartz, a sophomore pentathlon athlete from the University of South Alabama. As a pentathlon athlete, Schwartz will compete in five events: hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and the 800 meter run.

Friday had big highlights, including the first four of seven events in the men’s heptathlon. The last three events start today at 10:30 a.m. The heptathalon is a viewer’s showcase, with two top Olympic candidates vying for the title. Gray Horn from the University of Florida and Mantas Silkauskas from Kansas State University both hope to compete in the Olympics. After four events, Horn and Silkauskas sit in second and ninth place respectively. Also of note in this event is Kurt Felix of Boise State. Felix sits in second place overall after strong performance in the high and long jump.

Another local highlight from Friday was Boise State’s Mele Vaisima. She finished sixth overall in the women’s weight throw.

Follow the meet live, get stats and check a schedule of events here.

• Bjorn Barrefors, of the University of Nebraska, clears the bar in the high jump

• Cory Holman, of the University of Georgia, competes in the high jump.

• Olympic hopeful Gray Horn, of the University of Florida, focuses before the shot put competition.

• Olympic hopeful Mantas Silkauskas, of Kansas State University, competes in the High Jump

• Courtesy College of Idaho
• The 1969 College of Idaho football team.

The College of Idaho, which hasn't seen a football team on its campus in more than a generation, is looking at the possibility of restoring gridiron action to the state's oldest private liberal arts college. Football was dropped by the C of I in the late 1970s.

College officials estimated that approximately one-third of its student body is involved athletics—19 men’s and women’s varsity sports teams already compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association.

“A number of factors will be taken into consideration by the board of trustees," said C of I spokesman Dustin Wunderlich. "Such as impact on student life, alumni engagement, revenue and town-gown relations.”

President Marvin Henberg and athletics director Marty Holly have already scheduled a number of meetings with the college community prior to an anticipated May decision.

In a decision that could have wide-ranging economic and cultural impacts, the U.S. Olympic Committee has granted initial approval to Sun Valley to become the the nation's first Nordic Olympic and Paralympic training site. The USOC and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association is now crafting a memorandum of understanding to complete the deal.

Once the official Olympic rings start showing up at a number of sites in the Wood River Valley, the community could reap the benefits by playing host to thousands of skiers and boarders and their coaches.

USOC officials toured Sun Valley facilities the week of Jan. 29 as the region played host to scores of Olympic hopefuls during the Sun Valley Nordic Festival.

Ordinarily in sports, winners get the best prizes. However, the Wall Street Journal reported today that the Aruba Tourism Authority has offered an all-expense paid Caribbean vacation to any member of the New England Patriots football team who needs a little getaway. Nothing like sun, surf and sand to help you forget about a devastating loss in the Superbowl, right?

On the flip side, there will be no consolation prize for Alberto Contador, the Spanish cyclist who won all three of cycling's grand tours in 2010, including the Tour de France and then came under investigation for doping charges. He was stripped of his Tour title Feb. 6 after being found guilty for using clenbuterol. The Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sports ruled in favor of the International Cycling Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency, banning Contador from competition for the next two years. Interestingly this ruling came down just days after the federal investigation against Lance Armstrong for suspected doping in the past was dropped. Go figure.

• Erik Fisher is a 2003 graduate of Eagle High School.

Saturday was a big day for Idaho's elite winter athletes.

Erik Fisher, who came oh-so-close to skiing in the 2010 Winter Olympics (he didn't race due to a broken hand), seems well on his way to making the U.S. team for the 2014 winter games. The Middleton native and graduate of Eagle High finished 12th Saturday in a World Cup downhill event in Chamonix, France. Fisher was the second fastest American for the second straight day, behind Bode Miler.

Meanwhile Olympian Sara Studebaker, a graduate of Boise High School, finished 25th in the E.ON IBU World Cup in Oslo, Norway, on Saturday. It was her second top-25 finish in Oslo in the past week.

"I like the courses here and feel like things are finally coming together for me with my skiing, which is perfect timing," said Studebaker in a release from the U.S. biathlon team.

• Courtesy: Christian Menzoni - Nordic Focus
• Sara Studebaker is a 2003 Boise High graduate.

• Courtesy National Post
• Roz Groenewoud soars above the superpipe at the X Games.

A new queen of the Winter X Games superpipe was crowned Saturday, but not before a tip of the skis to freeski trailblazer Sarah Burke.

Canadian Roz Groenewoud took home the gold in the women's superpipe, stunning the crowd with her moves while adorned with "Celebrate Sarah" stickers on her helmet, honoring her friend and fellow Canadian.

Groenewoud's performance packaged 14-feet of straight air, a right rotating 900 (2 1/2 rotations), a left rotating 540 into a left rotating 720 and ending with a switch-right rotating 540.

The 29-year-old Burke, a six-time X Games champion, died Jan. 19 following a fall during training. She suffered damage to her brain due to a lack of oxygen and blood.

Thousands of spectators framed the superpipe on Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday, waving signs in Burke's honor.

• Courtesy Australian Open
• Novak Djokovic won this morning's Australian Open.

Quick, name the best men's professional tennis player in the world. Roger Federer? Guess again. Rafael Nadal. You're getting closer. It's Novak Djokovic, who early this morning helped write history by winning the longest Grand Slam singles final ever, the 5-hour, 53-minute Australian Open men's championship.

More importantly, Djokovic is only the fifth man since the Open Era began to win three straight Grand Slam finals. Nadal, Federer, Pete Sampras and Rod Laver are the only others. Unfortunately, in losing to Djokovic today, Nadal became the first man in the Open Era to lose three straight major finals. He lost to Djokovic at last year's Wimbledon and U.S. Open.

The final score: 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5.

One of the more thrilling volleys came late in the fifth set—it included 31 booming shots—the longest of the match.

Both players struggled to stay standing during the awards ceremony.

"Unfortunately there couldn't be two winners," Djokovic told the crowd.