Hokies 125 years of baseball
Virginia Tech baseball’s 2018 season will begin this weekend at the 19th Annual Brittain Resorts Baseball at the Beach tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This tournament opens the 125th season in the program’s history, prompting the Hokies to commemorate this great milestone with a celebration weekend later in April.
The Tech baseball program started in 1892, with its inaugural campaign finishing with a 2-0 record. More than a dozen decades later, the Hokies now compete in the nation’s top conference, has sent countless players to Major League Baseball and, this season, will open a new baseball complex at English Field at Union Park.
RU basketball weekend
Radford Athletics hosted its annual Women’s Basketball Alumnae Celebration Weekend February 9-10. The weekend featured 14 women’s basketball alumnae ranging from the years 1985-2015.
On Friday, alumnae were invited to attend an open practice. Saturday’s festivities included pregame hospitality prior to the Radford women’s game against Charleston Southern. The alumnae were recognized at halftime and following the 74-57 victory, they participated in the annual Alumnae Game held inside the Dedmon Center.
Notable alumnae that returned for the festivities were Radford Athletics Hall of Fame members Stephanie Howard (’89) and Karen Bowles Jordan (’90).
RU cross country honored
After excelling on the course and in the classroom this year, the Radford men’s and women’s cross country teams have been named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division I All-Academic teams.
The USTFCCCA annually celebrates the academic achievements of collegiate cross country programs whose student-athletes collectively demonstrate a commitment to excellence in their studies over the course of a full school year.
All-Academic award recipients must earn a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale across all members of the team.
Radford’s women posted a fantastic GPA of 3.60, the highest ranking in the Big South and the second highest among the 13 Division I women’s cross country programs in the state of Virginia. Their GPA also ranked 54th out of 348 teams in the nation, putting the Highlanders in the top 15% of all NCAA DI institutions.
With a 3.0 cumulative GPA, the men became one of 195 teams to make the list including six DI programs from Virginia.
Emery ACC player of week
Taylor Emery has been named the ACC Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
Emery, a junior from Tampa, Florida scored averaged 28.5 points in the Hokies’ two contests last week to earn her first award of the season.
The 5-10 guard led the way as the Hokies defeated North Carolina 90-74 in Chapel Hill on Wednesday night. Emery scored 25 points and dished out six assists, her best mark of the season.
On Sunday afternoon against rival Virginia, Emery scored 32 points, setting the new Virginia Tech record on Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum in ACC games. She went 13 of 20 from the field, knocking down three 3-pointers.
Tech women in polls
Coming off a weekend setting numerous marks and times that sit in the top 10 of the school’s record book, the Virginia Tech women’s track and field team moved up into the United States and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Indoor Computer Rankings on Monday afternoon, sitting at No. 22. The men are now ranked No. 24.
Ironically enough, both squads moved 15 spots. The women jumped from No. 37 and the men fell from No. 9. It marks the first time this season that both units are ranked in the Top 25.
On the men’s side, the run of being the top-ranked team in the ACC came to a close after five straight weeks, as Florida State came in at No. 7 and Syracuse moved up to No. 12. On the women’s side, the Hokies are the lone ranked team from the conference, marking Virginia Tech as the only program in the league to have both squads ranked in the Top 25.
