Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 24, 1991 TAG: 9102240021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Teitlebaum
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In accepting the grant, Veloso might be the first Timesland girls' tennis player to get a full scholarship to a Division I school.
"My first choice was William and Mary before I visited Rice," said Veloso. "I fell in love with Rice after my visit."
Veloso also was offered scholarships to Nebraska, Richmond and Virginia. In her age group (18), she ranks second in the state, third in the Mid-Atlantic region and in the top 75 nationally.
Veloso plans to study the history of art and forgo a career in architecture for the time being.
"A professor said tennis and architecture didn't go well together because [tennis] practice comes at the same time as some [architecture] projects," said Veloso.
Veloso plays in the Group AA boys' competition because the Blue Ridge District does not provide girls with an opportunity to win state championships. She hopes to become the first girl to win a state championship in that division this spring.
She had been beaten the last two years by Salem's Tommy McDonald, who lost in the Group AA finals in 1989 and finished third in the state last spring. McDonald was last year's Timesland boys' player of the year.
\ Three former George Wythe basketball players - including Jeff Cook, who was mentioned as one of the Timesland's sophomores to watch last spring - have been instrumental in making Virginia Episcopal School of Lynchburg one of the state's top independent school teams.
Cook, a point guard, averaged 16.8 points during the regular season as VES went 12-10 to rank ninth among state independent schools.
The other two are Chad Carter, averaging 11.3 points per game, and Tom Hodges, at 10.8 points per game, who played for the Wythe junior varsity a year ago.
Cook, a starter at Wythe last year at point guard, scored 16 points as the Maroons made the Group AA tournament.
\ Mark Hairston will be the new baseball coach at Patrick Henry, replacing Dave Nelson, who was convicted Dec. 11 on charges of marijuana possession.
Hairston was an elementary physical education teacher in the Roanoke school system, and he took over Nelson's teaching duties.
"We offered him the baseball situation, and we'll evaluate it at the end of the year. It's not permanent for next year," said PH athletic director Dave Osborne.
Hairston played some baseball in college, but he hasn't had experience as a high school coach.
\ It appears the shootout between the Western District and Roanoke Valley District to open the basketball season will be dropped after one year.
A sparse crowd turned out at the Roanoke Civic Center in December to see the five RVD teams take on those of the Western District. The teams were ranked in the preseason with the top two squads meeting and so on down the line. It was patterned after the ACC-Big East challenge.
"The Western District isn't receptive at all," said PH's Osborne. "We're not counting it out, but we've had a couple of people in our district who aren't interested in doing it."
If the shootout does come back, look for it to move from the Roanoke Civic Center to Franklin County. It might draw better there, and Franklin County isn't likely to charge what the civic center did in billing the high schools for an evening and afternoon session.
\ Noting Timesland:
Two RVD teams will be hosts for the first round of the Group AAA Northwestern Region next week. If Patrick Henry, which will be one of the hosts, is joined by William Fleming, officials of the two schools would like to have a doubleheader at the Salem Civic Center.
The problem is that the Northwestern Region has a rule against use of the civic centers. So PH and Fleming might be forced to play 25 miles away at Franklin County.
If Cave Spring, Pulaski County or Franklin County wins the other spot, the school still would have a big enough gym to serve as host. But PH still will have a problem.
Former Bath County assistant football coach Steve Williams, now at Appomattox as head coach, is looking for a scrimmage Aug. 16. He said he would be glad to scrimmage away against any team between Christiansburg and Appomattox.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on February 25, 1992.
Because of a copy editor's error, an incorrect score for the Rice-Virginia Tech women's tennis match appeared in Monday's sports section. Rice won 9-0.
Memo: CORRECTION