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By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
This year’s high school all-county, all-city athletes of the year have played a major role at each of their schools. The boys’ athlete of the year is MJ Hunter who played quarterback on the Christiansburg football team and then guard on the basketball team. After committing to play baseball at Radford University, the third baseman never got a chance to add to his stats after the spring was shut down because of the coronavirus.
In football, Hunter had 116 carries for 619 yards rushing with eight touchdowns. He also passed for 773 yards with 13 touchdowns. He was fifth in the River Ridge District in rushing. In basketball, he played for his father, Mike, averaging double figures for the season that saw the Blue Demons put together one of their best campaigns in almost 10 years.
Last spring, Hunter was named to the River Ridge District and Region 3D all-star teams.
Charli, Dietz, the girls’ athlete of the year has also been an important part of Radford High School’s two state titles in volleyball and played an instrumental role for the basketball team. She has announced plans to continue her career at Randolph Macon.
Dietz has had an amazing career for RHS volleyball and was honored earlier in the year for her 1000th career kill. This season, she had 262 kills and 234 digs and was named to the first-team all-state Class 2 team by the Virginia High School League.
Attending a small school has helped our team’s chemistry on and off the court and pushed us to play for our teammates and friends during the postseason,” she said.
