Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302280032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
ATHLETE-OF-THE-YEAR COMPETITION STIFF
Last spring, Cave Spring's Ronde and Tiki Barber became the first juniors to win Timesland athlete of the year awards.Because they shared the boys' award, they also are the first to defend the title. Although both had good football seasons, the twins face a lot of competition to repeat as winners.
Each of the Barbers will have to turn in another great track season to have a chance at repeating.
Who is their stiffest competition? For the moment, it is Glenvar's Brandon Semones, who was a contender a year ago as a junior. Semones lost his chance last year when he sat out the track season because of an injury.
This year, Semones was Timesland's defensive player of the year and rushed for more than 2,000 yards in leading the Highlanders to their first Pioneer District football championship.
In wrestling, he won his third consecutive Group A title and stretched his winning streak to 75 by claiming the 189-pound championship.
Semones will not run track this year, but he will not be on the sideline. Semones will try baseball, a sport he hasn't played since Little League.
"I just wasn't enjoying track at all," said Semones, who was a threat to win some Group A championships in the sprints. "My injury [a pulled thigh muscle] made it frustrating."
Semones did some special conditioning, and the injury wouldn't have been a factor if he had decided to continue running track.
As for baseball, Semones joins a strong Glenvar team that is expected to be in contention for the Region C crown and, possibly, the state championship.
Another athlete-of-the-year contender is three-sport star Khris Law of Tunstall, who was an All-Timesland football player and is one of the Piedmont District's leading basketball scorers. He also plays baseball.
Salem's Josh Pugh (football and basketball), Northside's Walt Derey (football and basketball), Patrick Henry's Shannon Taylor (football and basketball), Alleghany's Todd Wheatley (football and basketball) and William Fleming's Eddie Jones (football and wrestling) are other standouts with a chance depending how they do in spring sports.
Not mentioned in this group is Pulaski County's Eric Webb. A sophomore, Webb was All-Timesland in football and was a big reason the Cougars won the Group AAA Division 6 state championship. In basketball, he has helped make Pulaski County the primary competition for Fleming in the Roanoke Valley District.
Among girls' athletes, Blacksburg's Katie Ollendick (basketball and track), Eve Kendall of George Wythe (basketball and volleyball) and Salem's Michelle Harrison (basketball and softball) are front-runners for the best in Timesland award.
A year ago, Ollendick was Timesland's girls' track athlete of the year and Harrison was the softball player of the year. So, both have stronger credentials going into the spring than Kendall does.
With most of the girls' sports to come, it's difficult to get a definitive reading as to who the strongest challengers will be.
\ WRESTLING STANDOUT: Roanoke native Mark Krasnow, who attends Darlington School in Rome, Ga., was runner-up in the Georgia Class A state tournament. Krasnow wrestled in the 152-pound class and was a wrestler at Patrick Henry as a sophomore. He was 21-7 this year and 41-13 the past two. His Darlington team finished third in the state tournament.
\ RETURN ENGAGEMENT? The Group AA and A wrestling tournaments were so successful in Salem last weekend that Virginia High School League programs supervisor Larry Johnson has asked Salem Civic Center manager Carey Harveycutter to keep open similar dates for 1994.
"Nothing is official. It has to go to the executive committee and be approved, but I will recommend that it go back to Salem," Johnson said.
Johnson says the VHSL likes to rotate certain tournaments around the state; apparently, however, the Group A and AA wrestling tournaments may have found a home in Salem.
"There are some factors that point that way," Johnson said. "The key is that 70-75 percent of the Group AA and A schools are near there. We'll take that into consideration.
"Also, people have called me and told me they were pleased with the tournament. They weren't sure before they saw what went on. We'll do a survey and ask coaches for suggestions and whether they like it."
\ FOUR-TIME CHAMP: When Shane Bowman of Grundy won his fourth consecutive Group AA state wrestling championship by taking the 145-pound title last week, he became the first to accomplish the feat since Maury's John Davis completed a four-year Group AAA run in 1980.
There was a bit of irony about Bowman's title. He was wrestling Poquoson's Forrest Holloway in the final.
One of Holloway's coaches is Poquoson assistant Casey Graham, who had a chance to win four straight titles in the early 1980s. He had a huge lead in the championship match as a senior when the crowd began counting down the time. The crowd got ahead of the clock, and Graham let up, thinking the match was over. His opponent pinned him.
Graham was sitting in the other corner last weekend as Bowman pinned Holloway.
\ LONE VICTORY: It seems Salem is luckless when it comes to Blue Ridge District boys' basketball. The Spartans had their best team under new coach Charlie Morgan this year. In winning the regular-season championship, Salem got the best draw in the tournament, then second-leading scorer Josh Pugh developed pneumonia.
Without Pugh, the Spartans lost the first-round game to William Byrd. The question arose, had Salem ever won a Blue Ridge District Tournament game? The answer is yes, but you have to go back to 1989, when the Spartans had just dropped from the Group AAA Roanoke Valley District. After going 6-15 during the season, the Spartans beat Byrd 59-56 in the tournament before losing 49-48 to Northside.
\ ONE REMAINING: Iowa has decided to eliminate six-on-six girls' basketball by the end of the 1994 season, although many teams already have changed to the five-on-five style. Six-on-six once was the only way girls' basketball was played. With Iowa surrendering, only Oklahoma still has girls' teams playing six-on-six.