Virginia Tech women’s basketball signee Hannah Young was recently featured with her father Lewis in the Newcastle Herald (New South Wales, Australia). Hannah will follow in her father’s footsteps by playing collegiately in the United States. Lewis competed at Gardner-Webb in the 1970s where he ranks fifth amongst the team's all-time leading scorers. He followed that up with a year with the Harlem Globetrotters and later competed professionally in Scotland.  

Read the complete article here. 

Former Virginia Tech baseball player Austin Wates received national attention recently when he made an unbelievable catch while playing in the outfield for the Corpus Christi Hooks, a Double-A team of the Houston Astros.

 

Wates robbed San Antonio’s Nathan Freiman of a home run on May 5, as he and centerfielder Brandon Barnes both tumbled over the fence in left-center field. The play was named the top play on ESPN’s SportsCenter for May 5.

 

To watch the video of the play, please check out this link.

 

Wates continues to enjoy success in Houston’s organization since the Astros selected him in the third round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft following his junior season at Tech. He hit .340 in the month of April for Corpus Christi, with a homer, 15 RBI and five stolen bases. He’s hitting .295, with two homers, 17 RBI and six stolen bases on the season.

 

Wates hit .382, with eight homers, 54 RBI and 18 stolen bases his final season at Tech.

Former Tech and current Carolina Panthers linebacker James Anderson will be visiting three elementary schools in his hometown of Chesapeake, Va., on Friday, May 4, to distribute summer reading books to first-graders.

 

The visit is part of Anderson’s new literacy initiative entitled “Read Like a Pro.” He is teaming up with Scholastic Inc., the global children’s publishing, education and media company, to promote the importance of reading and literacy, and to help the schools he has “adopted” tackle the summer reading slide. In addition to providing books to first-grade students, Anderson will read aloud to the students and talk to them about how literacy and reading affected his life and got him to where he is today.

 

When students don’t read over the summer, teachers typically need 4 to 6 weeks in the fall to re-teach material students have forgotten. What researchers call the “summer slide” in reading skills is a major concern for educators and is responsible for the majority of the achievement gap between children from middle class and low-income families. Children from low-income families are less likely to have access to books at home.

 

 Anderson played at Tech from 2002-05. In the 2006 NFL Draft, the Panthers selected Anderson in the third round, and he has been with the team ever since. Last year, he finished with 145 tackles, two interceptions and 1.5 sacks. In 2010, he recorded 130 tackles, 3.5 sacks and an interception.

In July of last year, the Panthers rewarded Anderson for his steady play, signing him to a five-year contract worth $22 million, $8.5 of which was guaranteed.

Virginia Tech Sports Medicine, in conjunction with Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM), is holding a sports medicine clinic on May 4 and 5. The goal of the clinic is to provide an opportunity for learning and sharing techniques in managing current issues in athletics.

Participants will have the ability to spend time in the state-of-the-art cadaver laboratory at VCOM, where atendees will be working with prosected cadavers to identify major anatomical structures and injury scenarios that relate to the topics discussed. The lectures and speakers will cover topics related to areas of interest in sports medicine and open discussion for the current issues facing the medical care of our patients.

All who are interested or involved in sports medicine are welcome! There will be both professional and non-professional rates! Full course information and registration can be found on the website at http://www.hokiesports.com/trainers/eddieferrell/ .

Virginia Tech signee Montrezl Harrell is one of twenty-four players to have accepted invitations to attend the 2012 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team Training camp June 5-12 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo. The USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team committee issued the player invitations.

 

Harrell, from Tarboro, N.C., signed with the Hokies during the early signing period in November. He played this past season on the post-graduate team at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va.

 

The 2012 USA U18 National Team will be led by a trio of college coaches at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship, including Billy Donovan (University of Florida) as head coach, with Mark Few (Gonzaga University) and Shaka Smart (Virginia Commonwealth University) as assistant coaches.

 

Following the first three or four days of training camp from June 5-12 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., finalist for the team will be selected by the USA Men’s Junior National Team Committee and will continue to train at the USOTC.  

 

The official, 12-member 2012 USA Men’s U18 National Team will be selected prior to the team’s departure for the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, which will be played June 16-20 in Sao Sebastiáo do Paraiso, Brazil. Players eligible for this competition must have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1994.

 

Eight teams will compete in the 2012 U18 zone qualifier, including the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. The top four finishing teams in the tournament will qualify for next summer’s 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship.

 

In addition to chair Jim Boeheim (Syracuse University), the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee includes NCAA appointees Lorenzo Romar (University of Washington), Bruce Weber (Kansas State University) and Roy Williams (University of North Carolina), as well as athlete representative Jay Williams.

On April 16, 2007, tragedy struck the Virginia Tech campus when a disturbed gunman took the lives of 32 people. In the days, weeks, months and years since then, a nation provided prayers, thoughts, sympathy and support to those in the Blacksburg community. A lot of those came from the sports world, where many expressed their thoughts in countless ways.

 

This April marks the five-year anniversary of the tragedy. Here is a column by ESPN’s Chris Fowler, published two days after the shootings, that captured the spirit of the Virginia Tech community. Please take time to read this, as a campus and community remembers those lost and injured.

Former Virginia Tech golfer Johnson Wagner will tee off at 9:40 a.m. in the first round of the Masters Tournament on Thursday morning at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.

Wagner, currently second on the FedEx Cup list on fourth on the PGA Tour money list, was the PGA Tour Player of the Month for January 2012. He will be grouped with Hideki Matsuyama and two-time Masters champion, Tom Watson. This is Wagner’s second appearance in what is one of golf’s premier events. He tied for 36^th in the 2008 Masters.

Johnson Wagner, who played golf for the Hokies from 1998-2002, is currently the leader in points for the FedExCup. The FedExCup is a season-long competition in which players accumulate points in each eligible FedExCup Points event. At the end of the season, the winning player will be crowned the PGA TOUR FedExCup Champion.

 

Wagner, who was named the PGA Tour Player of the Month for January, tied for fourth place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 25 and in doing so, passed Rory McIlroy into the lead in the standings. The leader in FedExCup points following The Tour Championship will win a $10,000,000 bonus.

 

Wagner, who won the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, will compete in the 2012 Masters Tournament April 5-8 in Augusta, Ga.

Katie Baer, a Virginia Tech athletics trainer, will be coordinating a university event entitled “Women in Sports Medicine” that will be held March 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the Bowman Room on the fourth floor of Tech’s Jamerson Athletics Center.

 

Speakers will include:

• Stephanie Aldret – Her topic will be the manipulation for practitioner-patient mismatch, and the importance of appropriate table height, mechanics and technique

• Baer – Her discussion will center on women in the athletics training room – perceptions and reality.

• Jenn McCrady – Her topic is on how to relate to the male athlete from a rehab/medical provider aspect.

• Jennie Schafer – She will discuss how to use a healthy lifestyle to portray confidence and stand out

• Bridget McSorley – Her discussion will be on networking and athletics career opportunities for a woman with a family.

• Renee Selberg-Eaton – Her topic focuses on females in a male-dominant setting – how to communicate and make connections to male patients.

 

For more information, call 540-231-2711 or e-mail Katieatc@vt.edu.

Former Virginia Tech men’s soccer All-American and current Chicago Fire striker Patrick Nyarko has been added to the roster of Ghana’s national team that will play Chile on Wednesday in an international friendly at PPL Park, the home of Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union, in Chester, Pa.

A native of Kumasi, Ghana, Nyarko will be looking to make his debut for the Ghanaian national team in the match along with his fellow Fire teammate and countryman Dominic Oduro.

Selected by the Chicago Fire with the seventh pick of the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, Nyarko completed his fourth season with the club in 2011 and for the second consecutive season, he led the team in assists with nine. He also tallied a goal in 30 matches played. For his career with the Fire, Nyarko has made 96 appearances with 70 starts, totaling seven goals and 21 assists.

As a Hokie student-athlete, Nyarko was the runner-up for the 2007 MAC Hermann Trophy, the award given to the top player in college soccer, as he led Hokies to their first-ever College Cup appearance. In the Virginia Tech men’s soccer record books, Nyarko ranks tied for third all-time in goals (31), third in assists (24) and fourth in points (86). He was also a first-team NSCAA All-American in ‘07. In 2006, he led the Atlantic Coast Conference with a school record 16 goals, while also setting a school record with 40 points. Nyarko, a three-time first team All-ACC pick, was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year after tallying eight goals and six assists in 2005.

Former Virginia Tech All-American Kristi Castlin won the 60 meter hurdles at the USA Indoor Track & Field National Championship in Albuquerque, N.M. on Sunday.

Castlin’s winning time of 7.84 in the final was a personal best and is currently the world’s leading time. Castlin, who won her first national championship, will represent the United States at the IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championship in Istanbul, Turkey from March 9-11.

While at Virginia Tech, Castlin was a seven-time All-American in the hurdles. A three-time NCAA runner-up, Castlin’s seven All-America awards are the most for any woman in Tech track & field history. She was also a three-time ACC Champion.

In addition, another former Hokie All-American, Jared Jodon, tied for seventh in the pole vault with a mark of 17-8.5 (5.40m). As a Hokie student-athlete, Jodon earned All-America honors at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championship with a seventh place finish. He was also the ACC outdoor champion in the pole vault last year.

Former Virginia Tech goalkeeping great and assistant coach Chase Harrison has signed a contract with the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer.

 

Harrison returns to the Union after initially signing with the club in September of 2011. Most recently a member of the Harrisburg City Islanders of the USL Professional Division, Harrison led the Islanders to the 2011 USL-Pro final, where they fell in penalty kicks to the Orlando City Lions. During his second season with the club, he registered a total of five shutouts in goal, posting a 1.30 goals against average and 8-6-6 record. As a City Islander in 2009, Harrison earned eight shutouts, finishing with an 8-4-4 record and a 0.81 GAA, the best mark in the league.

 

During his collegiate career in Blacksburg (2002-2005), Harrison made 79 appearances in net for Tech, establishing three school records: goals against average (1.12), shutouts (24) and minutes (7,181). He also holds a pair of single-season records with eight shutouts in 2004 and 2005 along with clocking a total of 2,062 minutes in 2003. Harrison stands fifth on the school's all-time saves list with 289 for his career.

 

Harrison, who was selected 26th overall in the third round of the 2006 MLS Supplemental Draft, also served at Tech as a goalkeeper instructor and volunteer assistant coach for three seasons.  During his professional career, he has been called up to the senior squad for Major League Soccer's D.C. United and Columbus Crew, while playing for a number of other USL clubs.

 

A native of Huntington, W.Va., Harrison graduated from Tech with a degree in consumer studies.

Virginia Tech graduate and former Tech golfer Johnson Wagner has been selected the PGA Tour Player of the Month, presented by Avis, for the month of January.

 

Wagner won the Sony Open on Jan. 15, marking his third career PGA Tour victory. Also, he finished tied for ninth at the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions and he tied for second at the Humana Challenge on Jan. 22.

 

He was nominated in January along with Steve Stricker, Mark Wilson and Brandt Snedeker. Wagner won the award in an on-line vote on PGATour.com.

 

With the award, Avis will present a check for $50,000 to be distributed to charity. Wagner has announced he will donate half the award money to the First Tee Foundation and the other half to the Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C.

Despite not playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, former Tech golfer Johnson Wagner remained in second place on both the PGA Tour’s money list and in the FedEx Cup rankings.

 

Wagner has played in four tournaments this season, making the cut in all four and winning the Sony Open in Hawaii. In three of those four, he has recorded top-10 finishes. For the season, he has earned $1.586 million, which ranks behind only Kyle Stanley’s $1.793 million on the list. He’s also behind Stanley in FedEx Cup points.

 

Another former Tech golfer, Brendon de Jonge, ranks 35^th on the money list with $302,400 in earnings and 31^st in the FedEx Cup rankings. De Jonge has one top-10 finish and two top-25 finishes this season.

 

Both Wagner and de Jonge, who also did not play in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, are scheduled to play in the Northern Trust Open held at Riviera Country Club near Los Angeles on Feb. 16-19. The $6.6 million purse is one of the largest on the Tour, excluding the majors.

Bob Liebau, a former Tech student who worked as a graduate assistant in the athletic training department with legendary trainer Eddie Ferrell, was named the 2012 Clinical and Emerging Practice Athletic Trainer of the Year by The Virginia Athletic Trainers’ Association. He received the award at the VATA’s annual meeting and symposium in Richmond on Jan. 14.

Liebau has worked at the University of Mary Washington for the past 25 years and currently serves as the Associate Director of Campus Recreation and the Director of the Fitness Center at Mary Washington. He graduated from Tech in 1979 with an undergraduate degree in health and physical education. He received a master’s in physical education, specializing in exercise physiology, from Tech in 1985.

From 1982-84, he worked with Ferrell, helping with the football team under then coach Bill Dooley and the wrestling team under then coach Jerry Cheynet.

Former Virginia Tech golfer Johnson Wagner is one of four players nominated for the PGA Tour Player of the Month, presented by Avis, for the month of January.

 

Wagner won the Sony Open on Jan. 15, marking his third career PGA Tour victory. Also, he finished tied for ninth at the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions and he tied for second at the Humana Challenge on Jan. 22.

 

Wagner is nominated this month along with Steve Stricker, Mark Wilson and Brandt Snedeker.

 

To vote for Wagner, go to:

 

http://www.pgatour.com/pom/

The Virginia Tech athletics department launched a women's basketball Fan Page on the athletics department’s website, hokiesports.com, on Thursday. The interactive pages include photos, videos and links to more information about the women's basketball program.

To check out the women's basketball Fan Page, please click here.

Former Virginia Tech men's tennis player, Mark Tepes will represent the United States February 6-11 when the team travels to San Diego, Calif. to compete in the 2012 International Tennis Federation (ITF) Senior World Championships. 

The Italia Cup is one of 10 cups – each of which represents a different age division and/or gender. Ages range from 35 to 55 for both men and women. In all, 40 players will represent the United States in a competition unlike any regular tennis match as they match up against teams from around the world. It is the highest ranked team event on the circuit.

Tepes played at Tech under former coach Larsen Bowker from 1994-98 and graduated in the Fall of 1998. 

Full Story by Michael Gladysz at the UTSA can be found by clicking here.

 

The Virginia Tech athletics department launched a men's basketball Fan Page on the athletics department’s website, hokiesports.com, on Tuesday morning. The interactive pages include photos, videos and links to more information about the men's basketball program.

To check out the men's basketball Fan Page, please click here.