Virginia Tech head men’s basketball coach Seth Greenberg will host a winner and his/her guest for an amazing experience for the Virginia Tech home football game against North Carolina on Thursday, October 29, 2009. This package includes two tickets on the 35-yard line for the game and a “Meet and Greet” with Hokie head football coach Frank Beamer on the sidelines prior to the game. Also included is an invitation to watch the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team practice that day, attend the basketball team’s tailgate party hosted by Coach Greenberg and his staff, and visit the media and hospitality suites of Lane Stadium/Worsham Field. There will also be a visit to the ESPN TV broadcast booth with Coach Greenberg. The winner will receive a basketball autographed by Coach Greenberg, a Virginia Tech coaching shirt and t-shirt, as well as complimentary parking for the game.

This package will be available on the fifth annual Don't Give Up ESPYs V Foundation Auction on July 15 on ESPN Radio. The auction will take place all day on the 15th and the Virginia Tech Experience will be available on The Herd with Colin Cowherd radio program between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. EDT.

Last year’s fourth annual ESPN Radio “Don’t Give Up ESPYs V Foundation Auction” set a record by raising $1,130,314 for The V Foundation for Cancer Research, a 323% increase from the inaugural event’s total of $201,000 in 2005.  The event has raised more money each year ($435,770 in 2006 and $851,036 in 2007).
 
For more information on this package and others that will be available throughout the day on the 15th, log onto: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/show?showId=vfoundation2009
 

David Wilson, who is scheduled to enroll at Virginia Tech for Tuesday’s second summer session, had his second impressive performance in as many games as he helped lead the USA to a 55-0 win over Mexico Wednesday night in the inaugural International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Junior World Championship. The game was played in front of 11,218 fans at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium.

Wilson, from Danville, Va., rushed 11 times for 146 yards and three touchdowns while catching a pass for 25 yards in helping to lead the Red, White and Blue to Sunday’s championship game against top-seeded Canada. He had rushing touchdowns of 50, 36 and 25 yards in the win.

Wilson has rushed for seven touchdowns and 327 yards on 23 carries through two games in the tournament, USA victories over France (78-0 Saturday) and Mexico.

Tariq Edwards, who also is scheduled to enroll next week, had two tackles, including a sack for a 9-yard loss.

USA (2-0) will play Canada (2-0) at 1 p.m. on Sunday in the Gold Medal Game at Fawcett Stadium after Canada defeated Japan 38-35. Mexico (1-1) will take on Japan (1-1) in the Bronze Medal Game at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Fawcett Stadium.

Future Virginia Tech football players David Wilson and Tariq Edwards played big roles in the USA’s 78-0 opening-game win over France Sunday in the inaugural International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Junior World Championship. The game was played in front of 10,045 fans at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium.

Wilson, who was named the game’s MVP, rushed 12 times for 181 yards and four touchdowns with a long of 60 yards.

Edwards was second on the team with six tackles, including a sack for a loss of 12 yards. He helped lead a defense that allowed just seven yards of total offense.

Team USA is competing among a field of eight countries spanning four continents in the 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship.

Also winning in the first session was Canada, Mexico and Japan.

The USA will face Mexico Wednesday at 7 p.m. Live stats and video can be found here.

Former Hokie golfer Drew Weaver shot a third round 74, finishing Sunday afternoon at the 109th U.S. Open Championship at the Bethpage State Park’s Black Course. Weaver began his fourth round on Sunday evening, but will have to finish his round on Monday morning after play was halted due to darkness at 8 p.m. on Sunday night.

Former Virginia Tech golfer Drew Weaver shot a one-under-par 69 in the rain-delayed first round of the 109th U.S. Open Championship at the Bethpage State Park’s Black Course on Friday morning.

When the rains came and play was stopped on Thursday, Weaver was two-over-par through 10 holes. As play resumed Friday morning, Weaver birdied three of his final eight holes for his 69. At one point in the morning, he was atop the leaderboard.

Weaver will play his second round Saturday, teeing off at 10:11 a.m.

Former Hokie Jurrian van der Vaart fell to Sam Hutsby of Great Britain, 5 & 4, on Friday morning in the quarterfinals of the 2009 British Amateur Championship is being held at Formby and West Lancaster in Lancashire, England.

While most of the U.S.'s golf attention has been on the U.S. Open at the Bethpage State Park, another major event is being played overseas. The 2009 British Amateur Championship is being held at Formby and West Lancaster in Lancashire, England. Former Hokie golfer Jurrian van der Vaart has advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Play began on Monday with 288 players competing in stroke play. Van der Vaart shot rounds of 75 and 69 to finish 32^nd and advance into Wednesday's match play. The top 64 players from stroke play advanced to match play.

In the first round of match play, van der Vaart defeated Adam Runcie of Great Britain, 2 & 1 and then defeated Ignacio Elvira of Spain. In the fourth round on Thursday, van der Vaart defeated Stefan Wiedergruen of Germany, 2 & 1. On Friday, he will play Sam Hutsby of Great Britain, beginning at 8:45 a.m., local time. Should he win, the semifinals will be played on Friday afternoon.

In 2007, van der Vaart's Tech teammate, Drew Weaver, won the event at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in Lancashire, England. He is competing in the U.S. Open this week, standing two-over-par after 10 holes when inclement weather halted play.

Recent Virginia Tech graduate Drew Weaver will be one of the first players off the tee in Thursday’s first round of the 109th U.S. Open Championship at the Bethpage State Park’s Black Course.

Weaver is grouped with professionals Angelo Que of the Philippines and Simon Kahn of England in the first two rounds of the event. Their group will tee off at 7:11 a.m. from the first tee on Thursday and at 12:41 p.m. from the 10th tee on Friday. A cut and regrouping will occur following the first 36 holes of the tournament.

Weaver is one of 15 amateurs that have qualified for this year’s U.S. Open. Live scoring for the event can be found on http://www.usopen.com/en_US/scores/index.html.

The Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) announced today the three teams that will represent USA Softball Women's National team program during the 2009 summer season, kicking off with the Canada Cup, July 4-12. The three teams were selected after a selection camp last week in Chula Vista, Calif.

Former Virginia Tech pitcher Angela Tincher was one of 17 players selected Pan Am Qualifier Team, as announced Monday by the organization.

The 2009 USA Softball Pan American Qualifier Team will represent the USA at the Pan American Qualifier in Maracay, Venezuela, July 31-Aug. 9. The team will be coached by head coach Jay Miller and assistants Karen Johns (Whippany, N.J.), Mike Larabee (Dayton, Ohio) and Pat Murphy (Northport, Ala.).

Tincher has returned from Tokyo, where she has been playing with LeoPalace 21 and is now back with the Akron Racers of the NPF for parts of the schedule until her USA Softball duties call. This is her second stint with USA Softball as she was a member of the gold-medal winning World University Games team in 2006.

The roster for the 2009 USA Softball Pan American Qualifier Team is as follows:
Monica Abbott – Salinas, Calif.        
K’Lee Arredondo – Tempe, Az.       
Brandice Balschmiter – Newark, N.Y.  
Chelsea Bramlett – Cordova, Tenn.               
Kaitlin Cochran – Yorba Linda, Calif.
Andrea Duran – Selma, Calif.     
Vicky Galindo – Union City, Calif.
Ashley Hansen – Chandler, Az.  
Ashley Holcombe – Fayetteville, Ga.     
Megan Langenfeld – Bakersfield, Calif.             
Caitlin Lowe – Tustin, Calif.             
Nikki Nemitz – St. Clair Shores, Mich.
Melissa Roth – Long Beach, Calif.
Katie Schroeder – Yorba Linda, Calif.
Angela Tincher – Eagle Rock, Va.
Maggie Viefhaus – Pacific, Mo.
Tammy Williams – Roscoe, Mo.

Joe Mantiply, a pitcher out of Tunstall High School in Danville, Va., and one of the Hokie baseball team’s fall signees of a National Letter of Intent, was drafted in the 48th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Thursday. The New York Mets selected the 6-foot-5 left-hander with the 1,454th overall selection in the 50-round affair.

Mantiply becomes the third Virginia Tech signee to be drafted in the past two years, joining Steve Domecus (White Sox, 40th round) and Mathew Price (Braves, 36th round) from the 2008 draft. Both of those players opted to fulfill their commitment to Tech and went on to be major contributors for the 2009 Hokie squad.

Rising sophomore Ronnie Shaban was recently named the Rawlings Co-Hitter of the Week by his summer baseball league after he finished the first week of the season with a .414 average. Shaban, who hit .326 during his freshman year with the Hokies, plays for the Petersburg Generals of the Coastal Plain League. Of his 12 hits through the team’s first eight games, he had two runs, eight RBIs and five doubles. As a result of his high slugging percentage of .586, he has gained a total of 17 bases and posted a .469 on-base percentage.

You can keep up with Shaban, as well as the rest of the Hokies who are playing summer ball, by visiting http://www.hokiesports.com/baseball/summerleague/. There, you can click on each player’s name to see his team’s stat page. Visit this page periodically to see how the Hokies are doing.

Recent Virginia Tech graduate Drew Weaver qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open Golf Championship by tying for fourth place and advancing out of a six-man playoff on Monday afternoon in sectional qualifying at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md.

Weaver recorded rounds of 69 and 70 on Monday. He advanced following the second playoff hole, along with Jeff Brehaut, Fred Funk and Chris Kirk. Ben Martin of Greenwood, S.C., was medalist at the Rockville site, with rounds of 68-68=136.

Woodmont was one of 13 sites for sectional qualifying. Weaver was one of seven players to advance out of Woodmont. The 2009 U.S. Open will be played at the Black Course of Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y., June 18-21. Weaver also has an exemption into the 2009 U.S. Amateur, to be played at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., in late August.

With the NPF opening another season of softball this past Wednesday, several firsts have taken place for a few with Hokie ties as Rockford hosts Akron in a five-game series.

On Wednesday, in Rockford’s 3-0 win, former Hokie Jenna Rhodes (right) got her first start, stole a pair of bases and scored a run. In the opposite dugout sat former Hokie catcher Kelsey Hoffman, who got her first professional start behind the plate. On Thursday, current Tech assistant coach Barb Sherwood got her first victory as a head coach as her Akron team won 4-0. In that game, Rhodes picked up her first professional hit and swiped two more bases, giving her four in two games.

The series is being played without Akron ace Angela Tincher, who is finishing up the first half of the Japanese Pro League with LeoPalace 21 and will return to the States on Sunday for a tryout in Chula Vista, Calif., with the U.S. National Team June 8-12. She is expected to join the Racers next Sunday at the end of next week’s five-game series at home against Rockford (June 10-14), meaning all four Hokies in the NPF will be on the same field for the only time this year as it will be the last time Akron and Rockford meet.

Virginia Tech pitcher Marc Zecchino kicked off the summer baseball league season on Thursday by tossing eight innings of one-hit ball for the Saratoga Phillies of the New York Collegiate Baseball League.

Zecchino’s performance helped the Phillies to a 4-1 defeat of Glens Falls, as he allowed just one hit and three walks over eight innings of work, while striking out 10 batters.

Zecchino pitched in 12 games, making five starts, during his redshirt freshman season for the Hokies this spring. He finished with a 2-3 record, which was highlighted by a complete-game effort in an 8-1 defeat of High Point on April 28.

Hokiesports.com will not provide updates of every Hokie’s summer league performance, but check back next week for a complete list of where each Hokie is playing this summer, as well as a link to his team’s website.

The Tech men's and women's teams both placed high in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. The men's team received a final ranking of No. 27 after advancing to the NCAA Second Round. The women's team moved up one spot in the final poll with a No. 54 national ranking. Both teams showed improvement from their final 2008 rankings where the men were No. 28 and the women No. 60.