Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 16, 1993 TAG: 9305160089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"I have no idea what is out there on a regional or state level. Fort Chiswell is next door in the Mountain Empire District, and I don't know what they have," Wythe coach Lillie Moore said.
Moore knows what she has on the 15-girl team that easily won the Hogoheegee District this past week by 43 points over PH-Glade Spring. Super athletes Stacey Green, a junior, and Eve Kendall, a senior, each scored more than 50 points in the Hogoheegee meet.
Those two appear frequently in the Timesland Honor Roll - the three best times or distances in this newspaper's area. For someone like Patrick Henry's Arminta Crosby or Blacksburg's Katie Ollendick, that would be expected. When a Group A performer does that, it draws notice.
Kendall, running only her second year of track, has the fastest time in the 400 meters for Timesland girls. Ollendick, the defending Group AA champion and last year's Timesland's girls' athlete of the year, was considered Virginia's premier runner in that event.
And it isn't a matter of just having the best time. Kendall beat Ollendick in head-to-head competition a couple of weeks ago.
"Eve's capable of 57 seconds. She just needs a hair more conditioning," Moore said. "Eve said she was nervous because she knew Katie is one of the top 400 runners around."
Kendall plans to compete in all five field events as well as the 200- and 400-meter races. She will join Green on the 400-meter relay team. Green will participate in two jumps, the shot and discus, and the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Green is third in Timesland 100-meter competition behind a couple of Group AAA runners. She and Kendall are tied in the 200-meter dashes behind Crosby.
Green tops the triple jump and is second to Crosby in the long jump.
"I felt we should have won the state last year, but we didn't have a good day," said Moore, whose team finished third, 11 points behind Sussex Central.
"This team is doing a good job, but it's probably the smallest in terms of numbers. But we have good talent and I know we have some contenders."
\ TENNIS STANDOUT: Veteran tennis coach John Freeman was lured out of retirement this year to coach Pulaski County. Despite the fact that Freeman has more than 200 victories to his credit, the Cougars have been no threat for the Roanoke Valley District title.
Freeman, though, says Phillip Boyd has been a bright spot in No. 2 singles. "He's unbeaten in the district and his only losses were to Blacksburg," Freeman said.
Boyd moved up to No. 1 after Freeman dismissed his top player. Boyd went 2-1 at the top spot and was seeded fourth for the Roanoke Valley District tournament this past week. Top-seeded Andrew Thomas of Patrick Henry beat Boyd 6-1, 6-2 in the first round.
"He's a top student with a 4.3 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. He plans to go to Virginia Tech for engineering. He had an interview at 9:30 p.m. for an academic scholarship and we had a match that didn't finish until 8:45 p.m. He showered, dressed and still got there," Freeman said.
\ FALL FOLLOW-UP: Bill Duke, a 1961 graduate of William Fleming and current volleyball coach at Wilson Memorial, offered an interesting follow-up to last week's series of articles in this paper addressing the issue of Group AA and A girls' basketball possibly moving from fall to winter play two years from now.
"I am under the impression that most of the concern is over how this move is going to affect the basketball programs, not volleyball," Duke writes.
He points out that at least one volleyball team in his district must practice at 6:30 a.m. just to get gym time in competition with boys' basketball in the winter.
Volleyball was neglected in the series, even though it would have to switch from winter to fall. However, most athletic directors interviewed about the proposed switch didn't feel volleyball was a problem in either the winter or the fall.
In Timesland, most schools alternate times between boys' basketball and volleyball in the winter. A condition such as the one Duke describes of a girls' team forced to practice at 6:30 a.m. is in clear violation of the gender equity issue, which is at the heart of the proposed change in seasons.
If a parent of any player who must practice at 6:30 a.m. were to threaten legal action under Title IX guidelines calling for equality of boys' and girls' athletes in sports, it's likely the practice times would change immediately.
\ SOFTBALL ACE: Though Salem is looking stronger and stronger as a state softball contender, the Spartans might face stiff competition from Tunstall if the teams play each other in Region III.
The Cavaliers have ace pitcher/hitter Brenda Laflamme, a junior, who is 15-0 with 146 strikeouts in 95 innings with two games remaining. In hitting, Laflamme led Tunstall in six of eight categories.
Salem's task might be even harder considering Tunstall is playing host to the Region III tournament this year.
by CNB