Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 21, 1991 TAG: 9104210109
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The winners will be announced Sunday, June 9, at a banquet that honors Timesland's top athletes in all sports, along with the All-Timesland football and basketball teams.
For the boys, the leading contenders into the spring were Bath County's Tim Williams, Martinsville's Troy Brandon, Pulaski County's Curtis Rollins, Parry McCluer's Brent Secrest, Carroll County's Matt Montgomery and Natural Bridge's Robert Thompson.
For the girls, the leaders were Salem's Shaunice Warr, Patrick County's Sabrina Reynolds and Northside's Patti Fisher.
Now, there are other candidates looming for the top honors who haven't made All-Timesland in a winter or fall sport.
Among the girls, Magna Vista's Kiki Hughes was an outstanding basketball player in the Piedmont District. This spring, she is a top performer for the Warriors' track team. Glenvar's Stephanie Martin was a top rebounder and scorer in basketball and second-team All-Timesland in volleyball. Her best sport might be softball, and as a pitcher could take the Highlanders to a Group A championship.
For the boys, Northside's Curtis Ballard was good in football and a starter for a basketball team that was ranked No. 2 among Group AA teams in the state. Ballard's best sport is track, and if he dominates this spring in the long and triple jumps, he could move into contention.
Obviously, the spring is important. Williams, whose brother Chris won a year ago, was the Timesland offensive football player of the year and a double-figure scorer in basketball. Like Chris, who was Timesland baseball player of the year, Tim's chances might depend on a good spring on the diamond.
Brandon was a first-team All-Timesland football player and a second-team selection in basketball. His hopes rest on track and field, where he competes in the high jump, the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the 440-meter relay.
Rollins was All-Timesland in football and wrestling; he is playing soccer for the first time.
Secrest was All-Timesland in football and became one of the few Parry McCluer players to get a Division I grant-in-aid when he signed with Wake Forest. He also placed third in the Group A wrestling tournament at the heavyweight class. He isn't playing a spring sport.
Montgomery and Thompson also were All-Timesland in football. Montgomery was the second-leading scorer for the Cavaliers' Group AA basketball tournament team. Thompson was the fifth-leading basketball scorer in Timesland. Both are playing baseball this spring.
There are a couple of twists in the girls' race. Warr, for instance, failed to make first- or second-team All-Timesland basketball because of the stiff competition. Yet, as the point guard and leading scorer, she was most responsible for taking Salem to the No. 2 spot in Timesland's High Five fall rankings and a couple of victories over Group AA champion Radford. She also was voted Timesland volleyball player of the year.
Fisher was the Group AA and Timesland girls' basketball player of the year, but did not play a winter sport. Reynolds was All-Timesland in girls' basketball and Fisher's closest contender for player-of-the-year honors at the state and Timesland levels. She was a second-team All-Timesland volleyball player.
In the spring, Warr and Reynolds run track. Fisher does more, though, because she is doubling in softball and track. Two years ago, Fisher, without practice, dominated the Blue Ridge District track meet and scored points in the Group AA meet. She is an outstanding shortstop in softball, but the school did not furnish her batting statistics as a junior.
Perhaps there is a sleeper out there in Blacksburg's Gereme Alvarez, an All-Timesland girls' basketball player who, until this year, played only one sport. Now she is running track after recovering from a broken foot. Saturday, she blew away some of the state's best milers to win that event in the All-American Relays at Radford.
The selection will be made by the sports department of this paper in consultation with area coaches. All-Timesland teams have been picked this way for the past eight years.
\ NOTING TIMESLAND: Speaking of Fisher, the Vikings' standout now has met all Proposition 48 requirements, meaning she can play for Radford University next year after signing a basketball scholarship with the Highlanders last fall.
Jay Sandy, an All-Timesland receiver as a junior for Salem, will attend William and Mary in the fall and go out for football as a walk-on. Sandy would have been a prospect as a Division I-AA player or better except that he broke his arm in the second game and missed the rest of his senior season for the Spartans.
Warr will attend Snow Junior College in Ephraim, Utah, on an athletic scholarship. She plans to play volleyball and basketball. The Warr family is from Utah and eventually plans to return to that state; thus, Warr looked only at schools in that section of the country.
Lord Botetourt and Patrick Henry have agreed to play a home-and-home basketball series next year. It will match two of Timesland's better returning players - Lord Botetourt guard Bobby Prince and Patrick Henry's Timmy Basham, who was Timesland's sophomore of the year.
The Cavaliers also are adding Group AA power R.E. Lee-Staunton, which has been in the state championship game the past two years.
"I had a mental breakdown last week," Lord Botetourt coach Don Meredith joked.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on April 24, 1991\ Correction
Because of a reporter's error in Sunday's sports section, the wrong college team was listed as signing Parry McCluer football player Brent Secrest. He has signed with James Madison University.
Memo: correction