Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160153
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Audrey Najjum, the Senior Women's State Championship winner this year, was named golfer of the year. Lee Shirley, the 1994 Virginias Stroke Play Championship titlist and U.S. Amateur qualifier, was named junior golfer of the year.
Najjum, playing out of Roanoke County Club, is a member of the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame and a three-time Hall of Fame and Roanoke Valley Women's Golf Association champion.
Shirley, who plays out of Hunting Hills Country Club, is a three-time State Junior Girls Championship winner.
In other sports in the region:
Freshman tailback David Heggie of Guilford was named player of the year and Lou Wacker of Emory & Henry was named coach of the year as the Old Dominion Athletic Conference announced its football awards.
Heggie was joined on the All-ODAC first team by Randolph-Macon offensive lineman Travis Overstreet (Northside High School), Washington and Lee defensive lineman Robert Hull (Lexington High School), Hampden-Sydney defensive lineman Chad Wheeling (Salem High School) and Emory & Henry punter Mark Middleton (Giles High School).
The second team featured Emory & Henry wide receiver Chris Turner (Chatham High School) and linebacker John Luttrell (George Wythe High School).
(Complete team in Scoreboard. B4)
Three-time defending NCAA champion Virginia dominated the Virginia Sports Information Directors' all-state men's soccer team.
The Cavaliers' Mike Fisher was named player of the year, and the sophomore midfielder was joined on the first team by UVa forwards Nate Friends and A.J. Wood and defender Clint Peay. Virginia defender Brandon Pollard and midfielder Damian Silvera were honorable-mention selections, along with Radford defender Kevin Gealt and midfielder Eduardo Wissar and Virginia Tech midfielder Rodney Walsh. William and Mary's Al Albert was chosen as coach of the year.
CBS Sports basketball analyst Billy Packer will be the guest speaker Nov.28 at the next Roanoke Valley Sports Club meeting.
Packer, who has called 20 consecutive NCAA Final Fours, will speak to the club at the Roanoke Civic Center just after opening another CBS telecast season by working the Texas-North Carolina and Arkansas-Georgetown games. The session begins with a social at 5:45 p.m. and a buffet dinner follows at 6:15.
Cost to members is $10 in advance and $15 at the door, with guests admitted for $20. For reservations and information, call Jody Moir (989-5927) or write to the club at P.O. Box 1112, Salem, 24153.
The next meeting will be Dec. 7 at the Salem Civic Center and will include the presentation of the annual Gagliardi Trophy to the NCAA Division III football player of the year three days before the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson has been ranked No.3 among boys' basketball teams by USA Today. The Warriors lost all five starters from a team that went 33-1 and was ranked No.1 by USA Today last season, but 6-7 Ron Mercer from Madison, Tenn., heads an impressive cast of newcomers. Topping the preseason poll is DeMatha High School of Hyattsville, Md., whose top returning scorer is Virginia signee Darryl Presley.
The Charles Town Races Board of Directors has announced it will not apply for 1995 racing dates and is actively seeking a buyer for the troubled West Virginia thoroughbred track. The decision came after Jefferson County voters rejected a ballot measure that would have permitted video lottery terminals at the track.
Charles Town Races Inc. and Charles Town Racing Limited Partnership ended the 1993 season with a combined loss of $590,798 and is projecting a $1.3 million cash flow. Charles Town is the closest horse racing venue for Western Virginia horse players, via I-81.
D. Keith Wagner, the track's president, said Charles Town plans to finish its 1994 schedule of live and simulcast racing as long as the horse population and purse structure permits. The track's active horse population has dwindled to about 700, and the average daily purse distribution has fallen to $28,000.
The fall racing schedule ends Dec.11.
by CNB