LAKE PLACID, NY — It was as if Alysa Liu couldn’t believe it. 

As her free skate ended and the crowd rose to their feet, the 20-year-old figure skater threw her hands on her head. She needed a big day on Sunday, Nov. 16 to win first place at 2025 Skate America, and she felt like she didn’t perform as well as she could’ve.

‘In my opinion, I did not skate that good,’ Liu said. ‘That’s why I was just like ‘ah, silly mistake.”

Despite how she felt her program went, the day ended with the hardware around her neck matching the color of her dress: gold. 

Liu delivered a powerful free skate to win Skate America for the first time in her career, and continue her stellar run as she heads toward returning to the Winter Olympics.

Liu delivered an emotional short program on Saturday, Nov. 16, letting the tears come down as the crowd serenaded her with a standing ovation. She considered herself “lucky to be able to cry over something,’ she said.

For as good as the performance was, Liu knew there were a couple of mistakes that likely left some points off her scoresheet. It showed with a second-place finish, less than a point behind Rinka Watanabe of Japan.

As the second-to-last skater inside the famed Herb Brooks Arena, Liu crushed her ‘MacArthur Park Suite” program, nailing her moves despite not feeling like performed her best. She earned a score of 140.54, a season-best for the one-time Olympian that set herself up for a chance at the top of the podium.

‘My body just moves with the music,’ Liu said of this free skate, which she brought back after using last season. ‘When I when I was like, oh, maybe I’ll go back to this program. I was like, no yeah, go back to this program. I love this program. It’s a great program.’

Watanabe was the final skater, and even though she had an early stumble, she was still strong with her triple axels. It looked like she had a good shot at first, but she received a 136.61, putting her total more than three points behind Liu.

It’s been quite the year for Liu. She won the world championship in March and finished second at the Cup of China less than a month ago. Now with the win at Skate America, she has her first Grand Prix win of her career, which will send her to the Grand Prix finals in December.

The strong year gives hope that Liu can be the American star should she qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina. The United States haven’t had a woman win a medal in the single’s event since Sasha Cohen in 2006, the longest drought the Americans have gone without taking home a medal.

Now after a strong showing in Lake Placid, New York, Liu continues her triumphant march toward a promising showing for what could be her second Olympic appearance − and she vows to be better than Skate America, hinting that she will be using her Lady Gaga medley in the future.

‘One good thing about making so many mistakes in a program is that I’m so motivated to not make any more mistakes in my next program,’ she said. ‘I’m excited to be able to showcase more.’

Madison Chock, Evan Bates cruise toward tying history

It was practically decided before Sunday, but the decorated American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates cemented another accolade with a dominant first-place finish in the ice dance, cementing a big day for the Americans. 

The pair, now in their second season as a married duo, stormed out of the gates in the rhythm dance on Saturday, delivering a rocking Lenny Kravitz medley that was executed to a tee. They earned a 84.77, more than seven points than second place, a comfortable margin to be heading into the free dance with.

A clean skate would be more than enough to ensure another first place finish, and there were no mistakes when Chock and Bates performed their intense paso doble in the free dance to remind everyone why they are the class of the ice dance. Chock took on the spirit of a matador, using her skirt as a cape while Bates matched the energy. 

It earned them a score of 127.81, the second straight day they registered the best score of the event. In the final standings, Chock and Bates had 212.58 points, more than 15 points than second place finishers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha of Canada. 

With the win, Chock and Bates have won Skate America for the fifth time, tying the ice dance record in the event set by Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto. It’s also their third time winning Skate America in the past four years.

It’s been a year full of winning for the duo, just having won the Cup of China three weeks ago. The first win of the 2025-26 season came after they won the world championship for the third-straight year. They now head to the Grand Prix finals, where they will try to win the event for another three-peat.

The Skate America champions are positioning themselves well for a return to the Olympics, which can be official at the U.S. championships in January, an event they have won for the past four years. 

A trip to the 2026 Winter Games would be their fourth appearance, with the hope of winning a medal in ice dance for the first time in their career.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

Josh Naylor is expected to remain with the Seattle Mariners after the team’s successful run in 2025.

Naylor is finalizing a five-year deal for an undisclosed amount, according to multiple reports. ESPN’s Jeff Passan was the first to report the news.

The Mariners have not yet confirmed the deal, which is pending a physical.

Seattle made Naylor a top priority during the offseason. The first baseman had 160 hits, 20 home runs, 92 RBIs, 81 run scored and 30 stolen bases this past season. He hit three home runs and had a 1.273 OPS (on-base plus slugging) in the American League Championship Series.

Naylor was traded to Seattle by the Arizona Diamondbacks for Brandyn Garcia and minor leaguer Ashton Izzi. Prior to being dealt to the Mariners ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, Naylor hit .292 with 11 home runs and 11 steals for Arizona.

Naylor made his Major League debut with the San Diego Padres in 2019 but was traded to Cleveland prior to the 2020 trade deadline. He played 4½ seasons with the Guardians and was named to the 2024 American League All-Star team. Cleveland then traded him to Arizona in December 2024.

KEARNS, Utah — The scary thing is, Jordan Stolz can get better.

The American phenom won the 500 and 1,500 meters Saturday and flirted with a world record for the second time in his first three races. Stolz’s time of 1:40.48 in the 1,500 meters was just 0.31 seconds off the record set in 2019 by Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands, who he was paired with for the race.

‘I think I can still make a lot of improvements, so that’s good,’ said Stolz, who is now 3-for-3 in this season-opening World Cup, with two more races Sunday. ‘I have a lead right now and I think that lead can get bigger. But I also expect them to get better, too. So it’s kind of a toss up.

‘But I’m happy with where it’s at.’

Erin Jackson also made the podium, finishing second in the first 500-meter race. Brittany Bowe had the lead in the 1,500 meters until the last lap before finishing sixth.

‘It’s a really good feeling going into the rest of the season. Mainly, I feel really good about the way my back feels,’ said Jackson, who has struggled with back issues since winning gold in the 500 meters at the Beijing Olympics.

‘The (time trial) last week was my first race where I didn’t have to worry about my back in three years,’ Jackson said. ‘It was an amazing feeling, so I’m really, really excited.’

That Stolz has three wins in his first three races so far isn’t a surprise. He won all three distances at the world championships in both 2023 and 2024, and was the overall winner in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters last season.

He also swept all his races at five of the last seven World Cups, going back to the 2023-24 season.

Stolz will be favored to win gold at all three distances at the Milano Cortina Olympics. Should he do that, he would join Eric Heiden as the only Americans to win three or more gold medals at a single Winter Games. Heiden famously won all five of his races at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid.

Stolz also would be the first male speed skater to win three or more medals at a single games since Heiden.

But while Stolz doesn’t get caught up in the expectations on him, he does recognize he is now the skater everyone wants to beat.

Stolz had thought a world record in the 1,500 might be possible. But he’s not in peak shape yet and he’d won the 500 about an hour earlier, and he found himself trailing Nuis heading into the final lap.

‘When he was a little bit ahead of me going to the last lap, it was a little bit of a worry,’ Stolz said.

Stolz closed with a fury, however. With the crowd roaring as he came down the final straightaway, Stolz shot ahead. He wound up bettering his previous best time by 0.39 seconds.

‘I’m just pushing as hard as I possibly can,’ Stolz said of his close.

And just like in the 1,000 meters, where he just missed matching his own world record, Stolz was closer to the record than his competitors were to him. Ning Zhongyan of China was second, 0.54 seconds behind Stolz, and Germany’s Finn Sonnekalb was third.

In the 500 meters, his first race Saturday, Stolz was paired with Damien Żurek of Poland, who was second to the American in the 1,000 meters Friday night. Żurek kept the race close, but Stolz edged him at the finish line.

His time of 33.88 was just 0.02 seconds ahead of Żurek. Gao Tingyu of China was third at 33.93 seconds.

‘I was training leading up to this competition, so it’s not like I was super prepared,’ Stolz said. ‘So I’m really happy with the results I did, being the condition that I’m in right now.’

Last season, Alabama’s dreams of a College Football Playoff appearance in its first season under coach Kalen DeBoer was dashed by a 24-3 loss against an Oklahoma team that finished the season 6-7.

One year later, the Sooners were again able to vex the Crimson Tide.

Despite struggling offensively for much of the afternoon, No. 10 Oklahoma forced three turnovers to lift it to a 23-21 victory over No. 4 Alabama on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The loss snapped the Crimson Tide’s eight-game win streak while throwing the race for the SEC championship into flux, with four teams in the conference now with one loss entering Saturday night (Texas A&M is the league’s lone undefeated team in SEC play). Alabama also saw its 17-game home win streak come to an end.

It was the Crimson Tide’s first SEC home loss since 2019 and first homecoming loss since 2001.

With the victory, a Sooners team that had lost two of its past four games after a 5-0 start kept its playoff hopes alive. Coach Brent Venables’ squad has games remaining against No. 24 Missouri and LSU, both of which come at home.

Alabama’s three turnovers led to 17 points, helping Oklahoma pick up a win on a day in which it had just 215 yards of total offense. Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson, one of a handful of Heisman Trophy front-runners, threw just his second interception of the season, which was returned 87 yards by Sooners defensive back Eli Bowen for a touchdown.

Alabama’s two other turnovers, both fumbles, gave Oklahoma the ball inside the Crimson Tide 35-yard line.

Alabama also had a 36-yard field goal blocked in the waning seconds of the first half, a kick that would have tied the game at 17. It was just the second missed kick inside of 40 yards this season for Crimson Tide sophomore Conor Talty.

Alabama got its own 48-yard line with 53 seconds remaining, but a Simpson pass to Ryan Williams on fourth-and-6 was broken up by Peyton Bowen to seal the victory for the Sooners.

Simpson completed 28 of his 42 passes for 326 yards. Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer had 161 total yards and a rushing touchdown in a winning effort.

Ole Miss football took home a win in the ‘Lane Kiffin Bowl’ in Week 12 with a 34-24 come-from-behind win vs. Florida.

Just as the Rebels closed off their 10th win of the season, moving one step closer to appearing in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history, Ole Miss fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium made one thing clear to the Rebels brass and Kiffin: They want Lane.

As captured by the ESPN broadcast, ‘We want Lane’ chants broke out in the Ole Miss student section after Kiffin has been linked to the Florida open head coach vacancy, on top of numerous other Power Four conference openings. It appeared not to faze him, as he remained locked in on the final 60 seconds of the game:

Given what he has done in seven seasons at Ole Miss, Kiffin has become a regular on coaching hot boards as positions become available across college football.

On top of his ties to the state of Florida, former Gators coach Steve Spurrier, who told USA TODAY Sports’ Blake Toppmeyer last month that he is a fan of Kiffin and thinks he is a ‘very good coach.’

‘I wanted to be Steve Spurrier,’ Kiffin said during a recent appearance on the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast. ‘When I watched him and his offenses in the visor and kind of the way he’d throw jabs at other coaches and team and stuff, I was like, Steve Spurrier is the man. That’s what I want to be.’

Kiffin himself has talked at length about his name being tossed around in the coaching carousel, including saying on an appearance on ESPN’s ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ that he will never ‘make a decision based on money’ and that he hasn’t made one based on money in his coaching career.

The win over Florida moved Ole Miss’ record to 54-19 overall under Kiffin.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.