The Byrd girls scored 182 points to easily outdistance second place Rockbridge, who was 101 points beind with 81. Lord Botetourt was third with 77, followed by Alleghany with 62 and Northside with 26.

The William Byrd girls won the Blue Ridge District swim championship at the Gator Center last week. Top row, left to right: Coach Martin, Paige Crocker, Courtney Heck, Annie Lane, Emily Heck, Mackenzie Lingle, Kali Edsall, Coach Terrell. Middle row, left to right: Brittany Ritter, Jess McGuire, Sarah Vipperman, Kacy Edsall. Bottom row, left to right: Amee Creamer, Hailey Mills. Girls not pictured are: Spencer Biggs, Lauren James, Megan Liptak, Morgan Liptak, Briea Miller and Taylor Zimmerman.

“It was such a great night… the culmination of lots of hard work and dedication for these athletes,” said Martin.  “We had tons of best times.  It’s really rewarding to look back at where some of these swimmers started this year and then see where they end up.  I was also really proud of their team spirit on deck. The girls’ win was a real team effort and Coach (assistant Kyndal) Terrell and I are so proud of them.”

Girls champions included Kacy Edsall in the 200 Free and 100 Free and Kali Edsall in the 500 and 50 Free, breaking Erin Tudor’s school record. Kali swam a time of 25.05 to beat Tudor’s mark by .07 seconds.

Annie Lane won the 200 IM and 100 Breast while Mackenzie Lingle won the 100 Fly and 100 Back. The girls also won three relays with Lane, Lingle and the two Edsall girls sweeping to wins in the 200 Medley Relay and 200 Free Relay. In the 400 Free Relay the foursome of Courtney Heck, Paige Crocker, Emily Heck, and Brittany Ritter was first.

In the boys meet Lord Botetourt was the team winner for the ninth straight year and coach Ashley Stoneham was the district boy’s Coach of the Year. Zac Dehli from Staunton River was the boys’ Swimmer of the Year.

This one was closer, as LB had 108 points to 84 for Staunton River and 76 for Byrd. Rockbridge was next with 65, followed by Alleghany with 54 and Northside with 40 points.

Byrd had two boys’ champions over three events. Drew Vipperman won the 200 IM and 500 Free and Luke Gerig was 100 Breast champ.

This weekend the Region III tournament will be hosted by James Madison University. Competition begins at 3 pm Saturday, February 4. Byrd swimmers in the regional include Sarah Vipperman, Shane McGuire, Kacy Edsall, Drew Vipperman, Annie Lane, Paige Crocker, Corben West, Kali Edsall, Courtney Heck, Emily Heck, Luke Gerig, Mackenzie Lingle, Brittany Ritter, Andrew Crocker, Cole Inman, and Michael Reid.

This is such an exciting time of year with all the championship meets,” said Martin.  “Districts was a great kick off for Regionals and States.”

Botetourt scored 108 points to win the boys’ championship, outdistancing second place Staunton River by 24 points. William Byrd was third with 76, followed by Rockbridge with 65, Alleghany with 54, and Northside with 40.

Tyler Bailey and the LB boys won the Blue Ridge District swim championship last week.

Tyler Bailey won a district championship for the boys with a first place finish in the 100 Fly, finishing with a time of 1:00.92. He also swam on the first place 400 Free Relay team. The boys 200 Medley Relay team also finished first with a time of 1:57.85.

Other events where LB boys qualified for regionals included the following: Boys 200 Free-6th Brandon Pierson 2:29.69; Boys 200 IM–2nd Ben Brinkley 2:35.35, 5th Ben Miller 2:54.24; Boys 100 Free-5th Robert Switzer 1:03.39, 6th Austin Smith 1:03.86; Boys 100 Back-2nd Devon Jackson 1:09.08, 6th Hal Bailey 1:28.67; Boys 100 Breast-3rd Matt Simpson 1:19.37; Boys 500 Free-5th Brandon Pierson 6:54.39; and the Boys 200 Free Relay took second.

William Byrd cruised to the girls’ title with 182 points, and LB edged Rockbridge, 80-78, to grab second. Alleghany was fourth with 62 and Northside had 26 points.

The 200 Medley and 400 Free Relay teams were both second and other events where LB girls made the regionals were as follows: Girls 200 IM-2nd Cassidy Jackson 2:29.07, 4th Anne Chappell Barkett 2:49.49; Girls 100 Breast-2nd Cassidy Jackson 1:17.81, 3rd Kristen Blanchard 1:22.46; Girls 100 Back-3rd Rachel Wrotniewski 1:10.36; Girls 100 Fly-4th Rachel Wrotniewski 1:11.79, 6th Anne Chappell Barkett 1:20.72; Girls 500 Free-5th Marissa Schade 7:11.76; Girls 50 Free-6th Kristen Blanchard 28.41; and the Girls 200 Free-6th Julia Bailey 2:36.93.

The Region III meet is at James Madison University this Saturday.

After starting the season 4-3 the Cavaliers have caught fire. They haven’t lost since falling to Floyd County, the top ranked team in Group A, nearly a month ago. LB won three straight in the Cave Spring Christmas round robin and was 5-0 in 2012 prior to Tuesday’s game.

Emily Wampler has been one of the top scorers for the LB girls.

Botetourt is getting balanced scoring in this run of success. Any of a number of girls are capable of leading the team in scoring, and opposing defense don’t know who to focus on.

“That’s when we’re at our best, when three or four of our girls are scoring,” said LB coach Chuck Pound. “We usually have four girls in double figures, and sometimes five.”

Last Tuesday at Rockbridge the girls took a 64-48 win over the Wildcats as Emily Wampler scored 18 points. Jade Lewis had 16, Meaghan Catron had 11, and Kendra Wood pulled down 13 rebounds.

On Wednesday LB beat a strong Brookville team, 53-48, as Lewis had 19 points and nine boards. Wampler had 18 points and Wood had a dozen as LB beat the Bees for the second time this year. Botetourt won a double overtime game against Brookville over Christmas.

On Friday the Cavs seized control of first place in the Blue Ridge District with a 61-56 overtime win at Staunton River. River led 26-14 at the half but the Eagles rallied down the stretch to tie it. The Cavs then hit nine of 11 free throws in the overtime period with Lewis and Wood both on the bench with five fouls. Ally Duvall and Miriah Martin picked up the slack underneath after LB’s best two post players fouled out.

“It was a strange game,” said Pound. “We probably should have won that game by 12 or 15 points.”

Catron had 19 points in this one, the third different leading scorer of the week. Wampler finished strong with 17 points, scoring 15 in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Lewis had 16 points and nine rebounds.

LB improved to 12-3 overall and 3-0 in the district with the win. Alleghany came into the week at 4-10 and Northside was 5-7 as the Cavs complete their first trip through the BRD.

Next Wednesday Botetourt will open the second half of the district season when they play William Byrd in Vinton.

William Byrd wrapped up the regular season this week with a home meet on Wednesday. Last week the Terriers lost to a strong Cave Spring team, as the Knights edged the Byrd girls, 92-78, and the Cave Spring boys beat Byrd 103-57.

Byrd's Kali Edsall catches her breath after a race for the Terrier swim team. The Blue Ridge District meet is next Wed.

First place finishes included the girls’ 200 Medley Relay team of Kali Edsall, Annie Lane, Kacy Edsall and Mackenzie Lingle. Drew Vipperman won the 200 IM and the 100 Fly, Mackenzie Lingle won the 50 Free, Kali Edsall won the 100 Free, and Annie Lane won the 100 Breast.

“It was a tough loss,” said Byrd coach Krista Martin.  “There were several really close races where first and second were separated by tenths of a second.  I was proud of our swimmers for really trying to get in there and race.”

Wildcats guard Andrew Rowsey is averaging almost 29 points per game and leading his team to the top of the BRD at the midway point of the district season. On Tuesday Rowsey had 26 points as Rockbridge defeated Northside, 63-50, to gain sole possession of first place in the Blue Ridge District.

Byrd's Joe Barton goes to the basket with authority in last Friday's home game against Northside.

Rockbridge is now 4-0 in the BRD and Friday’s game with Byrd will be their last in the first half of the season. Byrd coach Kevin Tuck scouted Tuesday’s game and came away impressed.

“He’s the real deal,” said Tuck. “He’s not physically impressive, he’s probably only 5’10” or 5’11”, but he’s quick, he’s a great ballhandler with both hands, and he’s a great shooter.”

The good news is, Byrd has a lot of players about the same size as Rowsey. How does Tuck plan to stop the district’s leading score.

“You really don’t stop him, you just try to contain him,” said Tuck. “You just try to keep in check. You don’t want him to go out and get 30 against you.”

Rowsey isn’t the only good player on the Wildcats, who are 12-1 overall. Rowsey’s backcourt mate, Javon Cress, had 19 points on Tuesday and is averaging 15 points a game.

“And they have a big kid inside who’s a pretty good player,” said Tuck. “It’s going to be a challenge for us.”

Byrd was scheduled to play at Staunton River on Wednesday night, but results were too late for publication. The Terriers took a 3-12 record into that game and were hoping to pick up their first district win. Byrd and River were both 0-3 in the district going in.

Last Friday in Vinton the Terriers gave Northside a scare before bowing, 59-55. As has been the case often this year, the Terriers fell behind, battled like mad to catch up, then lost a close one at the end of the game.

“That seems to be the recurring theme for this team,” said Tuck. “The kids never give up, but it’s hard when you have to come from behind all the time. You use up a lot of energy getting there, and then you have nothing left.”

Byrd trailed just 25-23 at the half but the Vikings came out smoking in the third period and opened an 18 point lead. The Terriers battled back and cut the lead to two points in the fourth but Northside held on to win. Byrd outscored Northside, 21-9, in the fourth quarter.

Joe Barton and Jaylen Board led Byrd with 13 points each, Zac Hill had 11 and Tyler Goodman had nine points. Barton also had six rebounds and six steals.

A night later the Terriers played in Martinsville and dropped a 66-55 game to the Bulldogs in a dogfight. This time Byrd took the early lead but Martinsville finished strong, outscoring Byrd 26-8 in the fourth quarter. Koty Collier led Byrd with a dozen points and Board, Hill, and Brandon Byrd had 10 points each. Collier also had 12 rebounds.

“We had the lead and then we just went cold,” said Tuck.

Despite the 3-12 record Tuck can see the team steadily improving. He feels playing in all these close games will pay off at the end of the season.

“It’s tough when you lose tight games, but we have a young team and they’re gaining valuable experience,” he said. “Luckily basketball is a tournament sport.”

Despite 14 days off over the holidays the Cavs didn’t look at all rusty last Wednesday as they took a 52-46 win over visiting Jefferson Forest. LB trailed 24-17 at the half but rallied in the third period, outscoring Forest 16-7 to take a 33-31 lead.

LB's Lucas Smith (42) goes to the hoop against Byrd. Photo by Reginna Devinney.

“We came out strong in the third quarter,” said LB coach Chad Conner. “I think that shows character, when you get behind and come back. One thing about our boys, they’ll never quit.”

Justin Goode had 19 points to lead the Cavaliers and Dustin Hassell had 16. Both are sophomores.

“I think they’ve adjusted to the speed of the varsity game,” said Conner. “We’re real fortunate to have them both for two more years.”

On Friday Botetourt got out of the gates quickly at William Byrd. The host Terriers didn’t have an answer for LB center Lucas Smith, who had 11 points in the first quarter as Botetourt raced to a 20-10 lead. Botetourt led 33-19 by intermission.

 “We’ve had trouble starting games, but on Friday we got off to a great start,” said Conner. “We didn’t do anything differently, but Byrd always has a great crowd and I think our kids fed off the crowd.”

Smith finished with 17 points and four blocks. Goode had a dozen points and nine assists and Ross Wimmer had nine points and eight rebounds.

The two wins lifted LB to 4-6 on the year and the Cavs put their 1-0 Blue Ridge District mark on the line Tuesday at home against Rockbridge, but results were too late for publication. On Friday Staunton River is here and next Tuesday, January 17, the Cavaliers are at Alleghany.

“As a team we played well,” said Botetourt coach Todd Smith. “Our strength all year has been our depth and that’s what came through for us.”

Justin Nichols had the low score for LB as the Cavaliers won the Region III golf tournament Monday. Photo by Ed Sweeney

Justin Nichols shot a two-over-par 74 to lead the Cavaliers. Ben Matthias was next with a 75, followed by Andrew Long at 78 and Kris Hoffman at 79. Playing, but not scoring, were Lyndsey Hunnell, who was one of the top players in the Blue Ridge District during the regular season, and Austin Broyles, who was the medalist in the BRD tournament. Hunnell shot an 83 and Broyles shot an 84.

Jefferson Forest finished second to the Cavaliers with a score of 311. Both LB and JF will advance to the state tournament in Blacksburg next Monday and Tuesday. Host Blacksburg High School will be the big favorite.

“Blacksburg will be playing on their home course and they have a really good team,” said Smith. “I know Jamestown and Western Albemarle have also been putting up some good scores. There won’t be a lot of pressure on us so we can just relax and maybe that will help us have a couple good rounds.”

Botetourt will go as the Blue Ridge District champ as well as the Region III champ. After winning the regular season the Cavs won the district tournament at Hanging Rock last Tuesday. Broyles was low for the day at 71 and also scoring for LB were Matthias at 75, Hunnell at 79, and Nichols at 80 for a team score of 305.

Botetourt will take a 72-stroke lead to Ole Monterey next Monday for the fifth and final round of the BRD regular season tournament. Northside is the closest team to LB, and the Vikings would have to beat the Cavaliers by an average of 18 strokes per man to catch them. For example, if all four LB scorers shot 90, then all four Northside golfers would have to shoot 72 just to tie, and that’s not going to happen on either count.

The Cavaliers put it away with a round of 296 at Mariners’ Landing last week, and that was the completion of an earlier outing that was delayed by bad weather. Northside was second with 325, William Byrd shot 328, Alleghany had 339 and Staunton River shot a 363.

With that result Botetourt was at 1,123 for the season, followed by Northside at 1,195. Byrd was next at 1,221 with Alleghany at 1,241 and Staunton River at 1,283.

Individually, Lyndsey Hunnell and Justin Nichols both shot 71 to tie for medalist honors at Mariners’ Landing. That moved them both within five shots of William Byrd’s Brandon Bailey for overall individual champion in the BRD. Bailey leads with 276 and Hunnell and Nichols both have 281. Ben Matthias and Austin Broyles are tied for sixth place at 287 and Andrew Long is ninth in the district at 293. Broyles shot 76 at Mariners’ Landing and Kris Hoffman also scored for LB with a 78.

If Botetourt can hold off the district, as expected, the Cavaliers will have a berth in the Region III tournament. The Blue Ridge District tournament is also at Ole Monterey on Wednesday, Sept. 22.

Blues take PD golf title away from River

The Parry McCluer golfers won the Pioneer District regular season when they outshot James River by five strokes in Covington last week.

Korey Watts tees off for James River. Photo by Brian Hoffman

The Blues had a nine-hole total of 158 while River had 163 at the Cliff View course, site of the final district match of the season. Bath County also beat the Knights with a 159, so the final district records are 17-2 for Parry McCluer and 15-4 for River.

“Now we have to make the regional by winning the tournament, or at least finishing second to Parry McCluer,” said River coach John Shotwell. “I think we should be able to do that.”

Korey Watts had an even par 36 to lead River at Cliff View. Irina Boothe had a 37 while Jaret White and Tyler Duke both shot 45.

“We had one bad hole, a par three where three of our kids had double-bogeys,” said Shotwell. “Irina was one under and that was the last hole she played so she finished one over.”

On Thursday, River will have a non-district match against Glenvar and Alleghany at the Botetourt Country Club.

The BRD was scheduled to play at Mariners’ Landing and Ole Monterey last week. After a rain delay that forced a late tee-off in Moneta Tuesday, the Blue Ridge golfers played a little more than half a match before the skies opened up and washed out play for the day.

“Everyone got in between nine and 12 holes,” said LB coach Todd Smith. “They saw lightning on the radar and cleared the course, but it didn’t rain all that much. I think we could have gotten it in.”

On Thursday there was no debate, as heavy rain for most of the day made it impossible to start. That match was scheduled for Ole Monterey with Northside as host.

On Tuesday of this week the BRD was scheduled to play Blue Hills, with Byrd hosting. At that time the coaches were to decide when to finish the match at Mariners’ Landing, and reschedule the match from Ole Monterey.

The Pioneer District had a little more luck. On Tuesday of last week the district had a match in Buena Vista at the Vista Links, hosted by Parry McCluer. It was a big match for James River, as the Knights are getting a challenge from the Blues this season for district supremacy.

The Pioneer golfers played nine holes Tuesday and tied Parry McCluer, as both teams shot a 159. That necessitated a one-hole playoff, with the top four from each team playing one hole. Parry McCluer won that playoff and took the head-to-head result.

Irina Boothe led River with a 36. She was two-under after eight holes but double-bogeyed the ninth to keep her from having an even better round.

Korey Watts was ill and not expected to play, but he gutted it out and shot a 40. Colin Guilliams had 41 and Tyler Duke had a 42.

On Thursday at the Botetourt Country Club, the Knights shot a 313 to win their head-to-head with Parry McCluer, who shot 326. Watts had 71, Duke had his best ever score of 77, Boothe had an 80 and Guilliams shot 85.

River is now 10-2 against Pioneer teams and Parry McCluer is 11-1. There was some confusion over how the standings would be kept, as in past matches only the home team played all the others. This year, it’s head-to-head with everyone at every match.

“They need to get this cleared up, because I wasn’t sure what we were doing and neither were the other coaches,” said River coach John Shotwell. “I wish they’d just do like the other districts and keep a total score.”

River had a chance to tie Parry McCluer for the Pioneer lead on Tuesday as the district took a turn at Needle’s Eye, with Highland County hosting. Next Tuesday, Aug. 31, the Knights are at Ashley Plantation for a non-district match with Glenvar.

Botetourt beat Northside, 2-1, on the Vikings’ home pitch last Friday to complete an 8-0 district regular season. The Vikings had lost just one district game prior to Friday, so it was a big win for the Cavaliers. Electricity was in the air, literally, as the Cavaliers clinched the crown.

The Vikings and Cavs battled to a scoreless tie in the first half, and Northside broke on top off a free kick with about 20 minutes left. At that point LB coach Jamie Bednarek spotted lightning far beyond the Northside scoreboard, so he knew it was getting serious.

LB tied it up with 16 minutes on the clock. Jade Lewis threw the ball in and Macey Tyree flicked it to Cassie Garland, who hit the net for a 1-1 tie. Then, two minutes later, Kennedi VanRavestein found Holly Martin open and she scored to put LB on top, 2-1.

After four more minutes the lightning got too close for comfort and the players were pulled off the field. After a brief delay the game was called and LB was declared the winner, clinching the BRD title in the process.

“That was the craziest 10 minutes I’ve experienced since I’ve been coach,” Bednarek said. “I saw that lightning coming and I knew we better get going.”

The championship was the third straight for LB, and the girls have won 20 consecutive regular season games covering three years. They finished with an overall record of 15-1, losing only to Hidden Valley. Botetourt will get a home game June 1 when the Region III tournament begins.

The Blue Ridge District tournament will be held at William Byrd next week after a Tuesday “play in” game between fourth seeded Byrd and fifth seeded Alleghany. LB will get the winner of that game on Wednesday, and the championship game is Friday, May 28.