May 2008 Archives
Former Hokie and current PGA Tour regular Johnson Wagner, who struggled with a 78 in the first round of the tournament, made a strong move on Friday, shooting a five-under-par 67. Wagner's 67 was the low round of the second round.
After playing in the 2007 British Open Championship and the 2008 Masters, this was the first of two regular PGA Tour events for Weaver this summer. He has accepted a sponsor’s exemption to compete in the 2008 AT&T National. The tournament, hosted by Tiger Woods, is scheduled for July 2-6 at Congressional County Club in Bethesda, Md.
Live scoring for all PGA Tour events is available at PGATour.com.
Tech's recruiting class includes Luka Somen, Patrick Daciek, Jonathan Pine and Zachary Pine. The rankings were selected by panelists including junior tennis experts, national and international tournament directors, referees, rankings chairmen and writers from across the nation. Each of the panelists submitted his/her Top 25 with schools receiving 25 points for each first-place vote, 24 for second, etc. Transfer athletes were not considered in the selection process.
The complete listing is located at http://www.tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=246
Fri 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. ET
Fri 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. ET
Sat 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. ET
Former Hokie and current PGA Tour regular Johnson Wagner shot a 78 in the first round of the tournament. The second round will be played on Friday, with Weaver teeing off at 9:39 a.m., and Wagner teeing off at 1:25 p.m.
The tournament, which annually draws the top field in a non-major event, traditionally invites the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur champions to compete. Weaver earned his berth with his victory in the 2007 British Amateur Championship last June at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in Lancashire, England.
After playing in the 2007 British Open Championship and the 2008 Masters, this is the first of two regular PGA Tour events for Weaver this summer. He has accepted a sponsor’s exemption to compete in the 2008 AT&T National. The tournament, hosted by Tiger Woods, is scheduled for July 2-6 at Congressional County Club in Bethesda, Md.
Live scoring for all PGA Tour events is available at PGATour.com.
Weaver will be joined Jack Nicklaus’ tournament by former Hokie Johnson Wagner. Wagner will be grouped with Boo Weekley and Mark Calcavecchia and is set to tee off from the first tees at 8:55 a.m. on Wednesday. The group will tee off from the 10th tee on Friday at 1:25 p.m.
Live scoring is available on PGATour.com.
The camp, which also includes 15 players who were selected for physicals only, is the NBA’s answer to the NFL player combine. The 64 active players will participate in drills on Tuesday evening and Wednesday and Thursday mornings and games on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Other ACC players invited to participate in the camp include Wayne Ellington, Danny Green and Ty Lawson of North Carolina, James Gist of Maryland, James Mays of Clemson, DeMarcus Nelson of Duke and Sean Singletary of Virginia.
The NBA Draft will take place on Thursday, June 26 at Madison Square Garden and will be televised live on ESPN, beginning at 7 p.m.
The NCAA announced the game times for the four first-round games of the upcoming Women’s College World Series. Tech will take on fifth-seeded Texas A&M Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m., Eastern Time (2 p.m., local time). The game will be televised nationally on ESPNHD with Eric Collins and Michele Smith on the call. This is the same crew that called Tech’s win over the U.S. National Team in Oklahoma City earlier this year.
Tech will have a quick turnaround for the WCWS, leaving Tuesday for OKC. The Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, as well as the USA Softball National Player of the Year Award will be announced at the Party in the Park Tuesday night as part of the opening ceremonies.
On Wednesday, the team will take part in an hour’s worth of interviews with ESPN, and then have a two-hour practice before a half-hour press conference.
The other two teams in Tech’s half of the bracket are No. 1 Florida and Louisiana-Lafayette.
The men finished the year at No. 28, moving up 11 spots from last year's end of the season poll. The team tied a career-best finish that was set in 1997. The Hokies posted a 16-9 (6-5 ACC) record and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The women landed at No. 60 for the second straight season after finishing the year with a 14-13 (2-9 ACC) record. The ranking marks the first time since 2000 that the women earned a spot in the final poll two years in a row.
The entire list of the polls can be found here.
The senior from Alemlo, the Netherlands will play practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday. His Monday time is 1 p.m., teeing off from the 10th hole and his Tuesday time is 9:10 a.m., from the first tee.
He will begin play on Wednesday, May 28th at 8:55 a.m. from the 10th tee, grouped with the other two second-place regional qualifiers, James Sacheck of TCU and Dan Woltman of Wisconsin. The trio will tee off in the second round on Thursday at 2:05 p.m. from the first tee. Third round groupings will be decided on 36-hole scores. There will be a 54-hole cut following the third round, with the top 15 teams and top six individuals from non-advancing teams playing Saturday’s final round.
In all, 30 teams and six individuals will compete in the championship, hosted by Purdue. The Kampen Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex was designed by famed golf designer Pete Dye, who also redesigned the Hokies’ home course, the Pete Dye River Course at Virginia Tech.
There will be a link to live scoring on hokiesports.com.
The tournament, which annually draws the top field in a non-major event, traditionally invites the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur champions to compete. Weaver earned his berth with his victory in the 2007 British Amateur Championship last June at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in Lancashire, England.
Live scoring on the tournament is available at PGATour.com and more information about the Memorial is at: http://www.thememorialtournament.com/site.htm
Virginia Tech Face of the Program
Schaeffer was the lone Hokie taken in the 2007 Major League Baseball draft, as he was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 38th round. He is currently playing infield for the Asheville Tourists of the Class A South Atlantic League, and has batted .256 with one home run, 15 RBI and two stolen bases in 27 games.
Also, as was mentioned in Torye Hurst’s Italy/Greece blog recently, another former Hokie is succeeding professionally as well. Former women’s basketball player Kerri Gardin, who graduated in 2006, has made the roster of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun and started the first two games, averaging seven points and six rebounds in 22.5 minutes per contest.
Click below to visit the player pages of these two Hokies to keep up with their progress.
Warren Schaeffer
Kerri Gardin
The Hokies completed play at the NCAA East Regional with a three-day total of six-over-par 858. As of 5 p.m., the Hokies were in 16th place and will not advance to the NCAA Championship at Purdue. Tech shot two-over-par 286 on Saturday.
The team will stay in Chattanooga for a few more hours, as Jurrian van der Vaart is currently the low individual not on an advancing team. If he remains one of the two low non-advancers, he will qualify for the championship as an individual.
The afternoon round, which was delayed for more than 2 and one half hours along with the morning round, is only about half completed as of 5 p.m. We will update the results as soon as it has been decided.
The Hokies were scheduled to tee off at 8:35 a.m. in the
final round of the East Regional, but fog in the
Play is still delayed, but a tentative start time of 9:30 a.m. has been given. With that, the Hokies are expected to begin play at 11:05 a.m. this morning.
Tech will be grouped with
We hope to post again after the Hokies tee off. As always, live stats are available at golfstat.com.
Hurd, who was the holder for Shayne Graham on the Tech team that played for the national championship in 2000, teamed with Frady to fill an 18-gallon tank in 10.031 seconds – a competition record. As a result, he and Frady won $10,000 each.
Virginia Tech completed the second round with a 291, seven over par and in the middle of the pack. Now, the Hokies must play the waiting game.
The top 15 teams play the morning round on the final day and most observers believe that teams not in the top 15 are in trouble of advancing to the nationals. The Hokies must wait out the final wave of teams before knowing whether they will be having an early wake-up call or if they can sleep in in the morning.
As of 3 p.m., Jurrian van der Vaart was tied for fourth place, individually, but he was only a witness to the talk of the day. Zach Sucher of UAB, who played in van der Vaart’s group each of the first two days, shot a 28 on the back nine and finished with a round of 62. He vaulted into the lead with a two day total of 131. Van der Vaart is four strokes back at 135.
A complete wrap-up of the second round will be posted on hokiesports.com following completion of play this evening.
Updating the Hokies as they make the turn in the second round of the East Regional. The major change is that the rain never came, but the winds did. It’s not too bad now, but they are calling for increased winds in the afternoon.
Tech is right around par for the day. The story of Friday at
the East Regional is the same as the story of the day on Thursday. Top-seeded
Jurrian van der Vaart is currently listed in a tie for fourth place. Click the link to the live scoring on Golfstat.com for up-to-the-minute scoring from all three regional sites.
We hope to have photos on hokiesports.com tonight from
today’s second round. If we do, credit the hustle of David Knachel, the photo
coordinator for the Office of Athletics Communications. Last night, Dave
photographed an event in
Check back to hokiesports.com – the notebook in the early afternoon. We will post a short wrap-up of the team’s round on Friday and will then post the final release in the evening as a soon as all the play of the second round has been completed.
The Hokies began play in their second round of the East Regional a little drier than they did in round one. Overcast skies and a temperature of 61 degrees greeted the Hokies this morning at Council Fire. There is no wind to speak of, so conditions are not bad as the morning wave of teams begin. There is a slight chance of rain, but nothing long-lasting or severe is being predicted.
It was a quick turnaround for the Hokies, as they returned to the hotel to dry off around 8 p.m. and had dinner. Wake-up call was early this morning to prepare for the 8:05 a.m. tee time.
Check out Golfweek.com for more information on all the
regionals. Senior writer Ron Balicki, another denizen of the media room here at
Council Fire, is filing stories and notes from
We will try and post again after the Hokies make the turn.
Time for the 2:30 p.m. update on hokiesports – the notebook.
The Hokies hit the course for the first round of the East
Regional just about the same time the steady rain began. Teams playing in the
morning dealt with mist and light fog, but no real rain to speak of.
The forecast for the greater
There was an outstanding column on Hokie golfer Drew Weaver in the Chattanooga Times Free Press this morning.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/may/15/wiedmer-vts-weaver-will-always-remember/?sports
Check back with hokiesports – the notebook later in the day for an update from the East Regional.
Virginia Tech began its practice round at Council Fire Golf
Club on Wednesday morning in final preparations for the first round of the 2008
NCAA East Regional in
The Hokies finished their round at 1:30 p.m. EDT and following some media obligations and a quick lunch, returned to the practice range for a couple of hours of work. The team will attend the tournament dinner tonight at the official hotel at 7:30 p.m.
Betts, from Newnan, Ga., is rated as a five-star recruit by www.tennisrecruiting.net. Betts is ranked No. 59 nationally among seniors and was a member of the 2007 Southern team that won the World Team Tennis Supernationals.
Blakely, from Reading, Pa., is a three-time Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) AA state champion and is the top-ranked player in Pennsylvania. She has a No. 31 national ranking among seniors and is a five-star recruit according to www.tennisrecruiting.net.
Rauscher, from Evans, Ga., is another five-star recruit by www.tennisrecruiting.net. She is ranked No. 43 nationally among seniors and was the winner of the 2007 Dansani Mayor’s Cup.
Blow, a walk-on from Richmond, Va., is a senior at Mills Godwin High School where she plays both No. 1 singles and doubles. She is a four-star recruit according to tennisrecruiting.net and ranked No. 3 in Virginia. She is the sister of Virginia Tech redshirt freshman baseball player Matt Blow.
The Football Writers Association of America has announced the Watch List for the 2008 Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which is awarded to the best defensive player in college football and sponsored by the Charlotte Touchdown Club. Among the many nominees is Hokie senior cornerback Victor "Macho" Harris.
The FWAA All-America Committee selects the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner from the association's 11-man All-America defensive team in November. The watch list was developed by the FWAA All-America committee with the help of the schools and conferences.
The Charlotte Touchdown Club will hold the 2008 banquet on Sunday, Dec. 7, at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte. For the eighth straight season, the FWAA will also pick a Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week beginning with games on Aug. 30 and running through he middle of November. And a Bronko Nagurski Legends Award winner will also be selected from the FWAA's 1967 All-America team.
Sunday's game will be broadcast live on the ACC's Regional Sports Network, which includes FSN South, SunSports, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and NESN.
First pitch is scheduled to 12:07 p.m.
The brackets for the 2008 NCAA Softball Tournament will be announced Sunday night between 10 and 10:30 p.m., on both ESPNEWS and ESPNU.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - After more rain moved through College Park Friday night, the 2008 ACC Softball Championship has been made a single-elimination event. Maryland and Virginia were already eliminated and now Georgia Tech and Boston College will be done.
Tech and Florida State will play one semifinal at 2 p.m., followed by North Carolina and NC State.
The championship game will be Sunday at noon.
Colleges, universities, high schools, and parks and recreation departments from all over the U.S. submitted photos, letters of recommendation, and application forms describing their institution’s detailed athletics field maintenance programs. A judging process yielded 22 winners, and Worsham Field in Lane Stadium was one of those 22.
The Tech athletics department will receive a certificate of recognition and a Field of Excellence banner that can be displayed at Lane Stadium. Pioneer may also use the picture of Tech’s field in its upcoming publications and annual calendar.
The event will be played at the Council Fire Golf Club May 15-17 and is hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Council Fire Golf Club is a par-71 and will play 6,961 yards for the 54-holes of competition. Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com and will be linked from hokiesports.com.
Twenty-seven teams will compete in each of the three regional sites, along with six individuals at each site. The top 10 teams and top two players not on advancing teams will qualify for the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex- Kampen Course at Purdue in West Lafayette, IN, on May 28-31.
The game was played on March 26 at Oklahoma City’s Hall of Fame Stadium and is being shown for the first time Tuesday night.
The 1-0 win by the Hokies snapped a 185-game pre-Olympic exhibition tour winning streak by the three-time defending gold medalists. Since that loss, the Red, White & Blue has reeled off 11 straight wins, including wins of 21-0, 13-0, 24-0 and 16-0 and still stands as the favorites to take home the gold in Beijing.
Eric Collins and Michele Collins will have the call of the game.
After gathering as a team to watch the game, the Hokies will head to College Park, Md., Wednesday morning in preparation for the 2008 ACC Softball Championship. The Hokies, seeded second, will open with host and seventh-seeded Maryland Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
Additionally, the Virginia Tech Web site, www.vt.edu, has produced a full section on Angela Tincher and her career accomplishments in its “Spotlight” segment. There’s a full-length story, an audio interview, pictures, a list of her accomplishments, national stories on her and a link to download a sports card. Go to this link for the section.
Recently, theACC.com sat down with Hokie pitcher Angela Tincher to talk to her about the upcoming ACC Tournament, her senior season winding down and her thoughts on no-hitting the U.S. National Team [NOTE: that game is being broadcast this coming Tuesday, May 6 at 7 p.m., Eastern on ESPN2].
Here's an excerpt from the Q&A:
When did you start playing softball?
I started in the Little League system when I was nine. No one specific (got me into it). I think they were talking about sign-ups for it at school so I bugged my parents until they let me sign up.
What other teams have you competed on leading up to your college career?
I played Little League for a couple of years and then with the Roanoke Scrappers, a 14-and-under travel team, before a few years with their 18-and-under squad. Then I played with the Shamrocks out of northern Virginia for a year before I came to college.
For the full Q&A, go to theACC.com.
‘Hokie Dodgeball’ took place last Saturday in the back gym of Cassell Coliseum, and in all, $360.33 was raised for Relay for Life by 72 particpants.
The winning team had a little karma on its side, as it paid homage to the winning team from the Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn comedy ‘Dodgeball’ by naming themselves ‘Average Joes.’
Each team consisted of a mixture of male and female student athletes. Team ‘Average Joes’ knocked off Team ‘Oreos’ in the finals, while Team ‘Make it Rain’ took third place.
Average Joes roster (men pictured below):
Jessica Botzum (women’s swimming)
Paul Debnam (men’s basketball)
Erin Moore (women’s soccer)
Gina Om (women’s soccer)
Ashley Owens (women’s soccer)
Marcus Travis (men’s basketball)
A.D. Vassallo (men’s basketball)
Terrance Vinson (men’s basketball)
Deron Washington (men’s basketball)
Oreos roster:
Jeff Allen (men’s basketball)
Jerran Anderson (men’s basketball GA)
Lindsay Biggs (women’s basketball)
Bryan Collier (men’s soccer)
Jonathan Collier (men’s soccer)
Brittany Cook (women’s basketball)
Rachel Dulla (volleyball)
Marcus Reed (men’s soccer)

“Drew demonstrated great skill and poise when he competed against the world’s best golfers last month at the Master’s and at the 2007 British Open,” said Greg McLaughlin, president of the Tiger Woods Foundation. “We’re very pleased he’s accepted our invitation to compete at the AT&T National and fans can look forward to seeing this up-and-coming talent showcase and test his skills against an outstanding field.”
The AT&T National benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and pays tribute to the men and women in our Armed Forces. In addition to serving as the tournament organizer, the Tiger Woods Foundation has also announced plans to expand its programs to the East Coast by bringing the Tiger Woods Learning Center to Washington, D.C. To purchase tickets, visit www.attnational.org.





