Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Radford’s Enzo Pugliese was named to the Class 2 boys’ all-state soccer team for the fourth consecutive year.
Teammates Colin Vance and Robert Fuksz made the Class 2 second-team. Glenvar senior midfielder Kian Fisher is the Class 2 Player of the Year, and Glenvar head coach Josh Jones is the Class 2 Coach of the Year.
Christiansburg’s Tyleigh Dillard was named to the Class 3 second-team for softball.
Dragg honored at Concord
Concord baseball player Dawson Gragg is the 2024-25 Mountain East Conference Play of the Year recipient, the league announced Thursday.
Gragg, a junior from Christiansburg made the play in the Mountain Lions’ 11-8 win against Emory & Henry on Feb. 25. The outfielder tracked a ball hit by Caeden Howell and made the catch while colliding with the fence in centerfield. As Gragg stood up, he opened his glove to expose the baseball and revealed he had made the catch.
ESPN’s SportsCenter made Gragg’s catch the No. 5 on its Top Plays segment, tucked between highlights of the Los Angeles Lakers and Premier League. Concord’s athletic department nominated the play for MEC Play of the Year, which is decided by a combination of a Fan Vote and social media analytics.
Gragg’s award-winning play earned 51 percent of the Fan Vote, which generated 28,899 total votes. Nearly 13,000 people viewed the highlight on the MEC’s Facebook page over the past week, in addition to nearly 47,000 on Instagram. No other play generated more than 10,000 views on either social media platform.
Top player to Blacksburg
A top girls basketball recruit in the state of Washington, junior guard Kaleo Anderson, announced her commitment to Virginia Tech women’s basketball last Thursday on social media.
Anderson is currently No. 66 on ESPNW’s Top 100 national recruiting rankings and the third-highest recruit in the state for the Class of 2026.
Tech adds transfer
Virginia Tech softball coach Pete D’Amour has announced the addition of Haley Luginbill to next year’s roster.
Luginbill arrives in Blacksburg after two seasons at UMBC. Playing primarily first base as a sophomore, Luginbill finished second on the team with a .339 batting average and a 1.009 OPS and earned America East Second Team All-Conference honors.
The two-time America East Player of the Week also hit 10 home runs and led the Retrievers with 40 RBIs.
A native of Chesapeke, Luginbill garnered America East Player of the Week twice during the 2025 season. Starting 39 games, she was also crucial in UMBC’s America East Tournament run as she broke the school record with seven RBIs in the Retrievers’ 12-2 win over UAlbany.
In her two years at UMBC, Luginbill holds a .296 batting average with 53 hits, 11 home runs, 47 RBIs and a .514 slugging percentage. She has 57 starts in 63 appearances.
Tech’s Baker to US Amateur
Virginia Tech incoming freshman Benjamin Baker fired a 3-under 70 this past week to qualify for the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. The one-day, 18-hole qualifier was being held at Chambersburg Country Club in Chambersburg, Pa.
Baker, who was fresh off a Round of 16 run at the VSGA Amateur last week, will now head to Dallas, Texas for the championship event. Stroke play will be contested at Trinity Forest Golf Club and Brook Hollow Golf Club, with match play set for Trinity Forest. The championship will run July 21-26.
Ryan Xie of New Zealand and Australia’s Arrow Aarav Shah were co-medalists at the Chambersburg qualifier at 4-under 69, one stroke ahead of Baker.
Cormack promoted at RU
The Radford University men’s soccer program and Head Coach Christ Barrett announced Monday morning that Andy Cormack has been promoted from assistant coach to associate head coach.
Entering his third season with the men’s soccer program, Cormack moves into the associate head coach role after a pair of seasons in the New River Valley. Cormack holds a master’s degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State in Athletic Administration and a U.S. Soccer Federation National B coaching license.
Prior to his time at Radford, he was instrumental in leading St. Francis Brooklyn to three Northeast Conference (NEC) Championships, four NEC regular season titles, five NEC Tournament finalist honors, three NCAA Tournament appearances and one appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
