Concord pitching coach McGinnis to Florida Atlantic
Concord University baseball pitching coach Tristan McGinnis has accepted a position at Division I Florida Atlantic, the school announced at the end of January.
McGinnis will work with the pitching staff at FAU, near where he grew up in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Before accepting the Florida Atlantic position, McGinnis was getting ready to start his third season at Concord, and second as the pitching coach. In his three seasons working with the CU pitching staff, the Mountain Lions progressed from a 6.34 ERA to 5.66 to 4.86 last spring.
Concord’s ERA in 2019 was the lowest for the program since 2014, and the staff’s 369 strikeouts was a single-season program record.
VT’s Keene to NFL Combine
Virginia Tech tight end Dalton Keene will be among the 337 players invited to the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine the National Football League announced on Friday.
The combine runs from Feb. 23 until March 2 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The bench press for tight ends is scheduled for Feb. 26 with on-field workouts taking place on Feb. 27.
Keene played in 36 games for Tech, hauling in 59 passes for 748 yards (12.7 avg.) with eight touchdowns. The versatile Colorado native tied for fourth on the team in 2019 with 21 receptions and was second on the squad with five receiving touchdowns. In addition to 240 receiving yards, he carried the ball 11 times for 33 yards. He was named to the 2019 ACC All-Academic Team.
Concord men’s track stands out at relays
The Concord University men’s track and field team put together several strong performances Friday and Saturday at the VMI Winter Relays.
Sophomore Isaac Prather and freshman Nate Leichner from Christiansburg were the top finishers for the Mountain Lions as the duo ran the 5,000-meter run. Prather was fourth in the event with a time of 15:23. Leichner was 10 seconds back as he placed seventh.
Freshman Alex Watty, also from Christiansburg, was ninth in the 800-meter run as he crossed in 1:59.77 while junior Brett Strickland was ninth in the 1,000-meter run (3:00.47). The 4×400-meter relay team of junior Trevor Armes, freshman Channing Carr, Watty and junior Marcus Wilson placed ninth with a time of 3:35.79.
Hokie wrestlers roll past Duke
Virginia Tech wrestling defeated the Duke Blue Devils 46-3 on Senior Night Saturday at the Moss Arts Center.
With the win, No.-7 Tech improved to 11-1 on the season and 2-1 in ACC play. The Hokies have now won three straight duals, rebounding well after their loss to North Carolina on Jan. 24.
Six Hokies picked up bonus points against Duke. Tech had two pins, three technical falls and one major decision.
Saturday wrapped up the home dual schedule for the season. Virginia Tech will travel to NC State and Pitt to finish the regular season before the ACC Championships on March 8.
Hokies in the water
The Virginia Tech men’s and women’s swim teams had another strong day at the pool with several top-10 Tech times set on Saturday at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
Blake Manoff continued his strong performance during the second day of competition. He finished first in the 100-fly with a 46.18 for an NCAA B cut. In addition, the time placed him second on the Virginia Tech top-times list in the event. Later in the meet, Manoff swam a time trial of the 100 back with a time of 46.89, giving him a B cut in the event and placing him eighth on the Hokies list.
Manoff was not the only Hokie to move into the top-10 list in the 100 back. Forest Webb
finished the prelims with a 47.95 to move into ninth in the Tech record book before coming back in the evening session to improve to a 47.76 (remaining in ninth). His teammate Alex McMurry had a 47.94 in the finals to take the No. 10 spot on the list. Both Hokies were bumped down the list following Manoff’s time trial later in the meet.
On the women’s side, Loulou Vos moved into the record book with a 1:47.57 in the 200 free, giving her the sixth fastest time in program history.