– The 2014 Winter Olympics have kicked off Thursday in Sochi, Russia, and the University of Oregon will be represented by Team USA’s Laurenne Ross. The 25-year-old alpine skier lives in Bend, Ore., and trains on the slopes of Mount Bachelor. She is one of 124 first-time Olympians on Team USA and her accolades include the NorAm overall title, the Super-G title at the U.S. National Championships and a runner-up finish in the downhill at the FIS World Cup. Due to her intense training schedule, Ross, a junior art major, is only able to go to the University of Oregon during the spring term. You can follow Ross’ experience in Sochi on her blog, where she plans to update throughout the Olympics. Her Olympic schedule is as follows:

All events can be streamed online at NBCOlympics.com. 

– The Oregon women’s softball team kicks off its season today at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Ducks started their first game of the tournament this morning against Cal Poly, the first of five games that they are slated to play over the next three days. After winning their first Pac-12 championship in school history last year, the Ducks were picked third in the 2014 preseason Pac-12 coaches poll.

– After the first day of the Amer Ari Invitational in Waikoloa, Hawaii, the Oregon men’s golf team is in sixth place behind Thomas Lim’s impressive first round. Lim is the individual leader after the first round, as he carded a 64 on the par-72 course. The Ducks posted a 276 score as a team (-12) and trail first-place Oklahoma State by five strokes.

– Due to the inclement weather in Eugene, Ore., the Oregon women’s basketball team’s two upcoming basketball games have been rescheduled. Friday night’s scheduled game against Utah has been pushed back to Saturday at 2 p.m., and Saturday afternoon’s scheduled game against Colorado has been delayed to 5 p.m. on Monday. The announcement came after Thursday’s practice.

Follow Chris Mosch on Twitter @chris_mosch