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Andrew John

Coachella Valley

Reporter at @MyDesert and @USATODAY, writing stories about people and the things you want to know.

Featured in: Favicon usatoday.com (+1) Favicon desertsun.com Favicon bbc.co.uk Favicon msn.com Favicon yahoo.com (+5) Favicon oup.com Favicon mdpi.com Favicon stuff.co.nz Favicon freep.com Favicon frontiersin.org

Articles

  • 2 days ago | desertsun.com | Andrew John

    Add another enormous wrestling accolade to the resumes of Daniel Herrera and Beau Mantanona. The two, each of whom captured a CIF State title while wrestling for Palm Desert High School, won U23 freestyle national championships Sunday at the 2025 U23 Nationals & U20 Team Trials at SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio. The two will now join the U23 World Team and compete in Novi Sad, Serbia in October.

  • 1 week ago | desertsun.com | Andrew John

    The Coachella Valley Firebirds were one of the youngest teams in the American Hockey League during the 2024-25 season, with an average age of 23.8 years old among players on the ice in the final game of the season. You may have heard it already, but the Firebirds will almost certainly be even younger in 2025-26.

  • 2 weeks ago | desertsun.com | Andrew John

    Rancho Mirage High School set a goal earlier this softball season. It was simply to do what no other team in school history had done. After Wednesday's 10-8 win over Edgewood in the CIF Southern Section Division 7 quarterfinals, the Rattlers are on their way to doing just that. Rancho Mirage, a team that did not reach the postseason last year, will play on the road in the division semifinals Saturday. But Wednesday's win didn't come without some drama.

  • 2 weeks ago | desertsun.com | Andrew John

    It’s extremely rare to see a game end when a batter is hit by a pitch, but it happened Friday at Shadow Hills High School. With the rarity, the Knights will advance to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 6 playoffs. With the 2-1 win over Arroyo Valley, Shadow Hills will move on to play St. Monica Prep on the road on Tuesday. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Shadow Hills (14-15 in 2025) was batting with junior Arturo Aviles on third. There were two outs.

  • 3 weeks ago | desertsun.com | Andrew John

    With the Coachella Valley Firebirds' season ending almost seven weeks earlier than it did the previous two years, several players are sticking around for a few weeks instead of rushing off for vacations. They either have a few more weeks remaining on their rental lease or they simply want to enjoy the valley’s golf courses while the weather is still tolerable.

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Andrew John
Andrew John @Andrew_L_John
21 Apr 25

Can’t believe he actually said this, out loud, to a group of reporters.

NBACentral
NBACentral @TheDunkCentral

“I did know Luka was important to the fan base. I didn’t know quite to this level.” - Nico Harrison https://t.co/VL3PxbPt4O

Andrew John
Andrew John @Andrew_L_John
12 Apr 25

Something really cool at @coachella today was Weezer performing a cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman. The crowd loved it. Unfortunately, as a reporter covering the event, I’m prohibited from posting the video. But surely you can find one online.

Andrew John
Andrew John @Andrew_L_John
6 Apr 25

Remember that discussion about how many NBA players could lead a 16-seed to an NCAA national title? And how current and former NBA players said the number is high? Well, Cooper Flagg, who will instantly be great in the NBA, couldn’t lead Duke to a title. It’s not easy, guys.