Dragway season begins today
Motor Mile Dragway’s action-packed 2019 season gets underway today with “Shakedown Saturday.”
The Radford dragway thunders back to life with a special afternoon installment of the popular “Friday Night Fury” program. Saturday’s inaugural event will showcase the King of the Streets in heavyweight heads-up drag racing duels; competing alongside the headliners are Motor Mile Dragway’s Friday Night Street and Jr. Dragster divisions.
Admission is $10.00. Children twelve and under, and college students with a valid identification card, receive free admission.
The “Shakedown Saturday” format provides anyone with a valid driver’s license the opportunity to turn their car or truck into a racing machine. For $15, attendees can drive their vehicle down the dragway, participate in grudge matches, or enter the “Friday Night Street” class contest— an organized race with cash awards.
“Shakedown Saturday” returns on April 13 as Motor Mile transitions to its traditional “Friday Night Fury” program on April 26. For information on the upcoming season, visit www.motormiledragway.com.
WSLS to air Sox games
The Salem Red Sox announced today that they have reached an agreement with WSLS to broadcast their Saturday home games locally on MeTV. The Saturday broadcast schedule will consist of ten home games aired live at 6:05PM with the exception of July 6, which will air at 3:05PM.
The Red Sox began streaming their games live on the MiLB.tv platform in 2017 when the new video board in right field was installed. The infrastructure that we built and the new technology that was installed two years ago allowed the club to take the first step of streaming games online. With two seasons of experience and a newly installed HD encoder, the Red Sox were ready to pursue a local broadcast partner.
ACC honors Hokies
Virginia Tech swept the Atlantic Coast Conference’s season awards for the 2019 wrestling season, as national champion Mekhi Lewis earned ACC Wrestler of the Year honors, Mitch Moore was tabbed as the ACC Freshman of the Year and Tony Robie picked up ACC Coach of the Year accolades.
The annual awards are determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches.
Lewis, a redshirt freshman from Bound Brook, N.J., became the first ACC student-athlete in a decade to be named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA Championships after his remarkable run to the 165-pound national title March 21-23 in Pittsburgh.
Moore finished his true freshman campaign at 18-9 overall and earned All-ACC honors with a silver medal showing in the 141-pound weight class at the ACC Championship. The St. Paris, Ohio native won three of his five conference dual matches before his strong showing at the ACC finals.
Bennett player of week
Following her batting .600 last week, Kelsey Bennett of Virginia Tech has been named ACC Co-Player of the Week, as announced by the league office on Tuesday.
It marks her second time this season earning the award, winning it previously on March 5 after her big weekend at then-No. 8 Georgia (28-10, 3-6 SEC). Tech (30-5, 10-2 ACC) has now had a player win either ACC Player of Pitcher of the Week a combined five times this year.
Bennett had a big week at the plate last week, racking up six hits, eight RBIs, four runs, two home runs, a walk and a hit by pitch, while making seven assists and no errors at the hot corner.
Former coach passes away
Charles Foster, a former Virginia Tech track and field assistant coach from 2009 until his retirement in 2015 passed away Sunday morning.
“Our Hokie track and field family was saddened to hear of Coach Charles Foster’s passing this past Sunday,” Director of track and field and cross country Dave Cianelli said. “Coach Foster reached the highest levels as an athlete in our sport, and then went on to become one of the most successful coaches in track and field.”
Foster had more than 30 years of coaching experience at the collegiate and international level by the time he retired with the Hokies in 2015. With his knowledge, he brought a new success to the Hokies sprints, hurdlers and jumps group.
Big South honors Rogers
Thanks to her tremendous performance in the Radford University women’s lacrosse team’s victory over Gardner-Webb on Saturday, senior midfielder Emma Rogers has been named Big South Offensive Player of the Week.
Rogers paced the Highlanders with four goals and two assists while putting all six of her shot attempts on goal. She became the hero of the game by tying things at 15 with 2:14 left to play before scoring the game-winner at the 1:26 mark. It wasn’t just her offense that shined though; the senior captain added four ground balls and a caused turnover as well.
Rogers now has 19 goals and 11 assists for 30 points on the year, ranking in the top-10 in the Big South for all three categories. She has surpassed 100 career goals, 100 career ground balls and 150 career points with the bulk of conference play still to come.
Changes at E&H
You can take the interim tag from Anne Crutchfield’s title, and cross it out with a blue and gold marker. Emory & Henry College made it official on Wednesday, naming Crutchfield director of athletics.
Crutchfield just completed her fifth year as the head women’s basketball coach, while serving the past two seasons as the interim director of athletics. A 1989 graduate of E&H, Crutchfield returned to her alma mater in 2014 after spending the previous eight years as the head girls’ basketball coach at Franklin County High School.
In 2017-18, Crutchfield led E&H to a program-record 23 wins and its first-ever berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament, advancing to the second round. Crutchfield was recognized as the ODAC Coach of the Year that same year. The Wasps were consistently ranked nationally this past season.
Replacing Crutchfield on the bench will be Jaclyn Dickens who completed her fourth year on the women’s basketball staff, and her first year as the associate head coach. A 1999 graduate of the College, Dickens returned to E&H with nearly 15 years of coaching experience at both the college and high school levels including eight years as the head women’s basketball coach at Virginia Intermont College.