ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603210021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
West Virginia and Marshall will renew their in-state football rivalry with a game in 1997 after a 74-year hiatus.
It will be Marshall's first game as an NCAA Division I-A team. The university is leaving the Division I-AA Southern Conference after the 1996 season to join the Mid-American Conference.
``I can think of no better way to begin I-A play than playing West Virginia University in a jam-packed Mountaineer Field,'' said Roanoke native Lee Moon, Marshall's athletic director. ``What a great day for the state of West Virginia that will be.''
The teams last met in 1923, and WVU leads the series 4-0.
In other sports around the region:
The Salem Avalanche has hired two staff members. Mark Aucutt is the Carolina League baseball team's new play-by-play announcer/media relations director, and Christian Carlson has signed on as marketing director.
The VMI basketball banquet originally scheduled for Friday has been moved to April 5.
A social will begin at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and an awards presentation at 6:30. The banquet is open to the public with a cost of $6.50. Reservations can be made by contacting Brenda Wilhelm at the basketball office at 540-464-7384.
Virginia Tech junior John Dattalo will represent the Hokies in the 1996 NCAA wrestling tournament beginning today in Minneapolis. Dattalo (29-4) advanced to the national tournament with his 6-5 decision over Rob Barlow of George Mason.
Today's schedule includes two preliminary rounds and a consolation round. The tournament will continue Friday and the finals will be Saturday.
Four collegiate student-athletes from the region - Virginia swimmer Chris Graber, Virginia soccer players Mike Fisher and Andriy Shapowal and VMI wrestler Jason Foresman - are on the GTE men's university division Academic All-District III Fall/Winter at-large team.
Graber is a senior with a 3.83 grade-point average in chemistry. Fisher, a junior has a 3.35 GPA in biology and Shapowal a 3.95 in his undeclared major coursework. Foresman, a junior, has a 3.70 in civil engineering.
Erika Snyder and Anne-Lamar scored four goals each and Snyder added two assists as Washington and Lee (5-0, 4-0) routed Hollins 21-4 in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference women's lacrosse game in Lexington.
Carolyn Bucher of Roanoke qualified for the Summer Junior Nationals during time trials at the Junior National Championships at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville, Tenn. Bucher swam the 200-yard butterfly in 2 minutes, 7.15 seconds to earn a spot at the summer competition, which will be held Aug.1-5 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB