Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 22, 1994 TAG: 9405220084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Perhaps the top athlete to watch is George Wythe's star Stacey Green, who has the potential to win three or four individual titles at the Group A meet in Charlottesville.
"I would say she's tremendously improved over last year," said Lillie Moore, George Wythe's coach, who is looking to win a team title to go with the one her volleyball team won during the winter.
Last year, Green scratched twice in the triple jump and failed to make the final at the state meet. It was Green's best event, but it became a nightmare for her that day because she was tired after competing in so many other events.
Had teammate Eve Kendall not come up with her best jump in the same event, Wythe would have lost the team title. As it was, the Maroons tied Strasburg. Green blamed herself, though she had scored enough points in previous events to keep Wythe in the hunt.
"It's over, and I won't mess up again," Green said as she prepares to end a fine athletic year in which she has come back from injury to make second-team All-Group A in basketball and play a key role on the Maroons' volleyball team.
This year, Green has a triple jump of 38 feet, 6 inches. Her best a year ago was 36-9 1/2. Green also has leaped 19-3 in the long jump this year and has been around 18 feet consistently. Last season, her best was 17-7\ .
Green, plagued by a back injury this spring, still ranks among the top three in Timesland in six events. She's first in three of them, and in the other three she loses out only to Group AAA performers she won't face in state competition.
"East Tennessee [State, where Green has accepted a track scholarship,] was impressed by her 19-3 long jump," Moore said. "They were hoping that she'd get that by the end of her freshman year. Now they have a whole new outlook on her."
Wythe's Carol Skeens has a chance to score in the weights in state competition, and Stacie Kramer might earn some points for the Maroons in the hurdles. If Green is at the top of her form, Wythe might not have to settle for a tie this year.
\ GET A COACH: By now, the boys' basketball coaching job at Alleghany was supposed to be filled. It isn't.
First, Alleghany lost out on Virginia High School's Mike Cartolaro. He was offered the job, but literally minutes before Cartolaro would have accepted, Altavista called. Cartolaro eventually took the job at the Campbell County school.
Former Carroll County player Craig Smythers, an assistant at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, says Alleghany then offered him the job. He, too, turned it down, choosing to seek an opportunity closer to his fiancee's home in Greenville, N.C.
Now, it's anybody's guess who will get the Alleghany job. The best guess? William Byrd assistant Pat Paye, who was on the original list of candidates, or Abingdon coach Marc Quesenberry, who visited this week for an interview.
One source says Alleghany is seeking someone with experience as a head coach to take some of the pressure off in case the Mountaineers struggle the next few years. That would seem to eliminate Paye, but he hasn't received a rejection notice. Also in the hunt is an assistant from a program in Northern Virginia, whose name hasn't surfaced.
Two girls' coaches who were thought to be strong candidates, Alleghany's Danny Keene and Covington's Rob Bennett, are out of the picture. Keene says he wasn't that serious about the job unless school officials wanted to save money by hiring someone within the system. He's built the Mountaineer girls' program into a competitive one, and he likes being an assistant baseball coach.
Bennett, an Alleghany graduate, wanted the job. But Bennett was told by letter he was out when Alleghany went for Cartolaro. He told his girls and Covington High School officials he would be staying. Then, he got another letter saying Alleghany was re-opening the search and that he was back in the running. Bennett feels his interview was only a courtesy.
"All they asked were basketball questions, like bench decorum, what style I'd play, how I'd feel about [former coach] Jimmy Smith being at the school. They never brought up what you want to talk about, like benefits," he said.
"I think their policy about hiring people isn't very good. All I've gotten is letters in the mail. I think I deserve a phone call.
"I have to tell my kids they've [Alleghany] reconsidered. It's not good public relations. I've been on a first-name basis [with their administrators], and they act like I'm from Bristol. I don't think it's good to send out rejection letters before someone takes the job. This is the second time I've applied for a job there, and it will probably be the last."
Douglas won't comment and says the school still is interviewing candidates. Joe Carpenter, assistant superintendent, was unavailable for comment.
\ GET A JOB: It may not be easy to get the Alleghany job, but there is no shortage of openings for boys' basketball coaches in the Richmond area. There are or have been seven vacancies since the season ended.
The most attractive job may be the one at Group AAA champion Meadowbrook. Others still open are Dinwiddie, Varina, Henrico and Manchester. J.R. Tucker has promoted a junior varsity coach to fill its opening, and Clover Hill also might also have a new coach.
Stu Richardson, who was fired by Altavista this spring, is one of the main names being mentioned in connection with the Dinwiddie job.
\ AGNER MOVES IN: It's official: Mark Agner is leaving Lord Botetourt to become wrestling coach at Northside. He'll also be a football assistant for the Vikings.
Agner was told he had the wrestling job only a few hours before his longtime mentor, Ken Shelton, died from complications following heart surgery in Charleston, S.C.
Shelton, revered as a wrestling pioneer in Timesland, was head coach at Northside when Agner wrestled for three Group AA championship teams.
Agner replaces Fred Wagner, a two-time Timesland wrestling coach of the year, who resigned to return to graduate school or pursue other coaching opportunities.
\ OAK HILL RECRUITING: While Derrick Hines of William Fleming has investigated the possibility of transferring to Oak Hill Academy in Grayson County, it's not likely that he'll get the opportunity to play basketball for the Warriors.
Steve Smith, Oak Hill's coach, has told Fleming coach Burrall Paye that he will not pursue Hines.
"Steve Smith always calls me on anything concerning players," Paye said. "He's always been aboveboard."
Roanoke's Curtis Staples, who was the Timesland Sizzlin' Sophomore of the Year at Patrick Henry in 1992, finished his career at Oak Hill during the 1993-94 season. But Staples came to the Mouth of Wilson School from Prospect Hall in Frederick, Md., where he played as a junior.
"We didn't get Curtis Staples from Roanoke," said Smith, who strives to maintain a good relationship with Roanoke coaches but doesn't mind taking a player from coaching rival Stu Vetter of Prospect Hall.
\ TIDBITS: Last week, it was Northside presenting amazing statistics in stolen bases. Now it's Covington, with 90 steals in 100 attempts . . . The Montgomery County school board has approved the addition of girls' soccer at Blacksburg and Christiansburg next year . . . Speaking of Blacksburg, the Indians' tennis team received some good news when Micah Pfeil, who didn't play in the New River District tournament, returned to play in the Region IV event during the weekend. He was needed for a key doubles' victory as Blacksburg rallied to beat Virginia High School 5-4. . . . The Virginia High School League has reversed itself and will not go with the National High School Federation's new weight-class proposals for wrestling because protests might keep the changes from becoming permanent . . . The VHSL also approved new football divisions that drop Pulaski County to Group AAA Division 5 among other changes. The only other switch in the proposal involving Timesland moves James River from Group A Division 1 to Division 2.
by CNB