ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140030
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: in the region
SOURCE: From staff reports
Six teams will arrive in the Roanoke Valley today for the 1996 Division III women's softball championship to be held Thursday through Sunday at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem.
Competition for the double-elimination tournament begins Thursday with Ithaca (N.Y.) meeting Simpson (Iowa) at 5 p.m. and Allegheny (Pa.) Gators facing Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 7. The tournament's top two seeds, Chapman (Calif.) and Trenton (N.J.) State received first-round byes and will face the winners of the first-round contests Friday.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the Salem Civic Center box office at 800-288-2122. A book of tickets for the entire tournament is $17.50 for adults and $10 for students and children. Single session tickets are $5 per adult and $3 for students and children.
HIGH SCHOOLS
Wexel wins 4th district singles tennis title
At Hot Springs, Melanie Wexel of Parry McCluer defeated Bath County's Kellie Peters 6-1, 6-3 to win her fourth consecutive Pioneer District girls' singles tennis title. In the semifinals, Wexel downed Katie Hardbarger of Bath County 6-4, 6-3 and Peters beat Ashley Eason of Parry McCluer 6-1, 6-1.
In the doubles title match, Peters and Hardbarger defeated Eason and Wexel 7-5, 7-6 (8-6). In the semifinals, Peters and Hardbarger downed Catherine DeRuss and Ruthie Wheeler of Parry McCluer 6-0, 6-0 and Eason and Wexel beat Michelle Rollins and Julie Shanks of Bath County 6-2, 6-2.
Wexel, Peters and Hardbarger and the Bath County team will play at the Region C championships Monday in Lexington.
Glenvar's Josh Williamson defeated Bath County's Kevin Campbell 6-1, 6-0 to win the Pioneer District boys' singles tennis title at VMI.
Williamson later teamed with Tommy Lesperance to defeat Glenvar's Ryan Teaque and Eric Johnston 6-4, 6-4 for the doubles title. The winners advanced to the Region C singles and doubles tournament in Wytheville Monday and Tuesday.
Lee Meadows was a double winner at the Mountain Empire District boys' tennis tournament in Galax.
Meadows won the individual singles title over Jason Spangler of Narrows 6-3, 6-2, and teamed with Joe Meadows to win the doubles title over Shaun Lundy and Rick Whisenhunt of Galax 7-5, 6-2.
Winners advance to the Region C championships May 20 at Fort Chiswell. Galax won its second consecutive team title and also advances to regional play.
Brad Wright scored three goals and Derrick Manns and Will Hodges combined for 10 saves as Laurel Park downed Bassett 5-1 in the play-in game of the Piedmont District boys' soccer tournament in Martinsville.
Tony Carter and Coen Weber added goals for Laurel Park, which advanced to play Martinsville in a semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Fieldale-Collinsville meets Magna Vista in the other semifinal at 5. The final will be at 7 p.m. Friday.
Danny Deskins of Bassett scored off an assist from Mandy Willis.
Six different players scored for Franklin County as the Eagles bombed William Fleming 6-1 in the first round of the Roanoke Valley District boys' soccer tournament at Rocky Mount.
Erin Adkins, Wade Fort, Stuart Angel, Chris Myers, Marquis Toney and Brad Lynch all scored for the Eagles, and Josh Williams and Tim Windom added assists.
John Otey scored for the Colonels.
Franklin County, which advanced to play Cave Spring at 6 tonight, outshot William Fleming 40-7. Patrick Henry meets Pulaski County at 8 in the other semifinal, and the final is scheduled at 8 p.m. Thursday.
In girls' action, Cave Spring plays Franklin County today at 4. The winner meets Patrick Henry for the title at 6 p.m. Thursday.
ETC. Ferrum
makes Div. III tourney
The Ferrum College baseball team was selected to the NCAA Division III playoffs and will compete in the South Regional to be played at Methodist College in Fayetteville, N.C., Thursday through Sunday. This is the Panthers' eighth appearance in the past nine playoffs.
In a double-elimination format, Ferrum (33-9-1) will play as the No.2 seed against No.3 Emory (Ga.) University (32-14) at noon Thursday. Top-seeded Methodist (31-7) will play No.4 Millsaps (Miss.) College (29-8) at 4.
Defending Atlantic 10 champion Virginia Tech has signed two golfers for the 1996-97 season. Michael Veres, from Chapmanville, W.Va., is the Hokies' top recruit. Veres is a three-time state player of the year from Logan High School.
Tech's second signee is Brad Hyler of Raleigh, N.C., who led Millbrook High School to back-to-back state championships in 1994 and 1995.
H. Clay Earles and Paul Sawyer have been named co-winners of the Bill France Award of Excellence for 1996.
Earles, 82, is the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Martinsville Speedway, where he has been promoting NASCAR races for 49 years.
Sawyer, 79, has been promoting races in Richmond since 1955, and ran races on a dirt track until it was paved in 1968. Sawyer has expanded Richmond International Raceway to include luxury suites and nearly 90,000 seats.
Lisa Boyer has been named head coach of the Richmond franchise of the American Basketball League, the women's pro league that begins play in the fall.
Boyer, who has been the head women's basketball coach at Bradley for 10 years, also was an assistant at Davidson, East Carolina, Miami of Ohio and Virginia Tech.
Brian Jones and Damon Daniels each won a state title in the Virginia/USA Wrestling Greco-Roman and Freestyle championships in Hopewell on Sunday.
Jones, of Franklin County, won the 154-pound Greco-Roman juniors division (for high school students 17 and older) and took fourth in the junior freestyle in the same weight class. He was named the most outstanding wrestler.
Daniels, of Cave Spring, won the 209-pound class in the Greco-Roman cadets division (for high school students aged 15-16). Daniels also finished fourth in the cadet freestyle division.
Also in Greco-Roman juniors, Pulaski County's Eric Queen was second in the 154-pound class, while J.R. Osborne, also of Pulaski County, was third in the 178-pound division, and Luke Naughton of Cave Spring was fourth in the 132-pound class.
In Greco-Roman cadets, Matt Berger of Cave Spring was second in the 242-pound class, Franklin County's Stacy Menefee was second in the 103-pound class, and Cave Spring's Garrett Peace was third in the 182-pound division.
In cadet freestyle, Menefee was fourth in 103 and Berger third in 242.
The top two finishers in each weight class qualified for the Cadet and Junior National Tournament in Fargo, N.D., on July 5-13.
LENGTH: Long : 132 linesby CNB