ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604090012
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STAFF REPORTS
VMI's Bart Bellairs and Virginia Commonwealth's Sonny Smith were named co-coaches of the year in basketball by the Virginia Sports Information Directors.
Virginia's Wendy Palmer was voted the women's player of the year and Bernard Hopkins of VCU was chosen men's player of the year.
Palmer averaged 15.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per game while shooting 50.2 percent from the floor in leading Virginia to the final eight of the NCAA Tournament. Tora Suber of Virginia, who averaged 16.4 ppg, joined Palmer on the first team along with Virginia Tech's Michelle Hollister (17.3 ppg, 9.1 rpg). Dede Logemann of Radford was on the second team and Wendy Larry of Old Dominion, who led the Monarchs to the Sweet 16 where they lost to Virginia, was the women's coach of the year.(Complete teams in Scoreboard. C4).
Hopkins averaged 16.3 ppg and 10.1 rpg and was chosen player of the year in the Colonial. Joining Hopkins on the first team was Virginia Tech's Ace Custis, who averaged 13.4 ppg and 9.5 rpg in leading the Hokies to a 23-6 record and an NCAA Tournament berth. VMI's Brent Conley and Virginia's Harold Deane made the second team.
Smith was the Colonial Athletic Association's coach of the year after leading the Rams to a 24-9 record and its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1985. Bellairs led the Keydets to an 18-10 record in the Southern Conference.
In other basketball:
* Virginia men's basketball signee Willie Dersch from Flushing, N.Y., will play for the United States All-Stars on Wednesday night in the Capital Classic at the USAir Arena in Landover, Md. The opposition will be the Capital All-Stars, who include a couple of players who have committed to Virginia Tech, Rolan Roberts from Dumfries and Tony Stanley from Arlington.
Ferrum notches 9-1 baseball victory
In a battle of nationally-ranked Division III baseball teams, 16th-ranked Ferrum crushed 10th-rated North Carolina Wesleyan 9-1 Friday in Rocky Mount, N.C.
Jimmy Hamilton (7-0) pitched a three-hitter. He got all the runs he needed when Pat Daly slammed a two-run homer in the second inning.
Ferrum (23-1) broke open the game with three runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth. Riley Hodges, who had two hits, keyed the eighth with a two-run double.
Wesleyan (19-8) and Ferrum play again today.
* The Virginia Tech men's and women's track teams earned five top-five finishes in the first day of the Colonial Relays held in Williamsburg.
Each of the following earned a top-five finish: Tracey Shea, second, 1,500-meter run; Stephenie Ingersoll, fourth, 1,500-meter run; Meredith Newby, fourth, hammer throw; Johli Carscallen, fifth, hammer throw; Justin Davis, fourth, 400-meter hurdles.
* Roanoke College's Renee Rose finished second in the triple jump after the first day of the Lynchburg College Track Classic held in Lynchburg.
Rose leaped 34 feet, 11 3/4 inches, finishing just behind Amy Edward of Lynchburg College who won the event with a jump of 35 feet, 9 1/4 inches.
Other Roanoke College athletes competing included Robin Epstein and Amy Beck, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the javelin throw, and J.J. Maybury, who was fifth in the 5,000-meter run.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB