Pats win Commonwealth crown

By Bart Isley and Liz Keller
Published: September 30, 2008

Last week at the Birdwood Golf course, Albemarle’s squad wrapped up its sixth consecutive district crown with a four-stroke victory over Colonial Forge.

The win secured a berth in the Northwest Region tournament for the Patriots and coach Greg Maynard. Lauren Eklund, Benjamin O’Grady, Sean Williams and Tony Lui secured the top four scores for the Patriots.

Albemarle also bested regular season champion Stafford, who tied for third at the event with Riverbend. The Patriots will compete at the region tournament on Oct. 14 at Forest Greens Golf Club in Triangle, near Dumfries.

Western developing mental toughness

Lance Rogers knew that going up to Northern Virginia to face Stone Bridge and defending state champion Loudoun County that he’d learn learn a lot about his Western Albemarle volleyball squad, and he learned quickly this is a tough young bunch.

Up 2-1 in game four, Western setter Megan Adams went down with an injury, leaving freshman Riley Martin on her own to handle the Warriors’ setting duties. Since Western runs a two-setter system, it’s rare that Martin has been on the court by herself, but the freshman buckled down and helped guide the Warriors to a 3-2 match win in a decisive game five.

“She showed a lot of poise and maturity in bringing the team to a win there,” Rogers said. “We just showed a lot of mental toughness to handle that adversity.”

Western (10-3, 6-0 Jefferson District) has dropped just two games over the last two weekend tournaments against tough competition.

“They showed why they’re the odds on favorite to win the state again,” Rogers said. “More than half of [Sarah Harper’s 42 digs on the weekend] were in that match. We really grew up a lot in those two tournaments.”

After a bye on Tuesday, Western will face Louisa County Thursday before entering a gauntlet of games next week. In three days, the Warriors will play William Monroe, Covenant and Fluvanna County. The Dragons and Flucos are battling for second place in the district, while Covenant has proven to be a strong squad already this season with Ellen Smethurst leading the way up front.

Odds are good Rogers will know a lot more about his squad after next week’s stretch of back-to-back-to-back contests.

Local teams compete in McDonalds Festival

Several area cross country squads participated in the McDonalds X-Country Festival at Maymont held in Richmond on Saturday.

In the boys Invitational race, Western Albemarle took 12th place, led by Kyle Satterwhite, who finished in a time of 15:59.

Luke Noble paced Albemarle to a 16th-place finish.

In the girls Invitational race, Albemarle and Western were 19th and 20th, respectively.

Other notable finishes included Louisa County’s boys, which were seventh in the Coastal race. Thomas Baker led the way for Louisa with a time of 16:41.

In the Coastal girls division, Louisa took 11th and Charlottesville was 12th.

In the private school girls race, St. Anne’s-Belfield was fifth. 

Shuman earns player of the week honors

Ryan Shuman, a redshirt senior at Virginia Tech, was named the ACC’s Offensive Lineman of the Week. Shuman, a graduate of Fork Union Military Academy, had a season-high seven knockdown blocks to help lead a line that paved the way for the Hokies’ offense in a road win over Nebraska this past Saturday. Virginia Tech gained 206 rushing yards and racked up a season-high 377 yards of total offense in the 35-30 victory.

Shuman, a 6-foot-3, 313-pound center, played for two years at Fork Union and earned all-Prep League and all-Central Virginia honors his junior and senior years. His father, John, is the postgraduate football coach at Fork Union.

Virginia Tech plays Western Kentucky this Saturday.