The Elevator

By Ron Kantowski

Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008 | 2 a.m.

GOING UP

The Schwikert sisters: Las Vegans Tasha and Jordan Schwikert are the gymnastics equivalent of Peyton and Eli Manning. Last week, Jordan Schwikert was named the Pac-10 events specialist of the week after leading UCLA to a victory; this week, older sister Tasha was feted as the Pac-10 gymnast of the week (for the fourth time) after posting the conference’s highest all-around score of the season at Washington. No word yet on when the Schwikerts plan to visit Disneyland.

Cholesterol at Green Valley: One of the first athletes tested for drugs at Green Valley High this week said he had a sausage and cheese muffin and three cartons of chocolate milk for breakfast. That’ll kill you faster than a six-pack of Budweiser. It’s a good thing fatty foods aren’t against the rules or that kid would never get off the bench.

Monday-Friday Night Lights: I live just around the corner from the College of Southern Nevada baseball stadium and every night when I come home from work, Tim Chambers’ lights are shining in my bedroom window. That might explain why Chambers’ Coyotes are the No. 1 junior college baseball team in the land. Practicing, playing games, manicuring the field ... not a night goes by that they’re not hitting the cutoff man out there.

Wink-a-dink-a-do: That’s what Marty Fletcher, one of the mtn.’s college basketball analysts, calls UNLV shooting guard Wink Adams, and with good reason. Did you see that weaving 94-foot dribble drive during which Adams switched hands and crossed over and changed directions and made the New Mexico defense look more inept than the Washington Generals’? It was Danny Ainge vs. Notre Dame all over again, except there was plenty of time remaining.

GOING DOWN

“Only area products”: It’s great that Alyssia De La Torres, a former Las Vegas High standout, has earned a starting spot on the UNLV softball team. What’s not so great is that she’s the only area product on the team. Somebody at UNLV needs to contact Tim Chambers about the effect local kids can have on a college sports program.

New blood: There are five new basketball coaches in the Mountain West this year — and at the halfway juncture of the conference season, none has a winning record. Steve Alford, Jim Boylen and Jeff Reynolds are 4-4 at New Mexico, Utah and Air Force, respectively; Heath Schroyer is 2-6 at Wyoming and Tim Mills is 0-8 at Colorado State. Sometimes, the grass on the other side of the fence is greener. And other times, you’ve got to back off on the fertilizer.