July 16 golf tournament
The 15th annual Special Olympics golf tournament will be held July 16 at the River Course in Radford. The event, which is captain’s choice and includes green fees, range balls and dinner, is presented by the Christiansburg Police Department. Price is $280 per team and starts at 1 p.m. For more information or to register, call 998-8089, or go to: bit.ly/15thGolfTournament2018.
Downtown Sundown 5K
Run the streets and trails of Blacksburg as part of Summer Solstice Fest on Saturday, June 16. The event starts and finishes on Draper Road in the heart of the festival. Race day registration and check-in will take place on the lawn of the Alexander Black House from 3-8 p.m. with the race starting at 8:30 p.m.
All runners must wear reflective clothing and carry a glow stick (free to the first 300 runners), or a LED light.
Awards will be given to the top three overall male and female finishers, top masters and grand masters male and female racers and the top three in 10 different age groups.
Regular entry is $20, $22 after June 4 and $25 on the day of race. Race shirts are guaranteed to everyone that registers before June 4.
For more information, call 552-9339.
RU basketball camp
Radford University women’s basketball coach Mike McGuire will host a Junior Highlander Day Camp June 11-14 for ages 6-13 (all skills level). Campers will receive a free t-shirt and include instruction on fundamentals and team skills.
The price is $175 for a full day or $100 for half. All campers will receive instruction from RU coaches and players. Online registration is available at www.Mikemcguirebasketballcamps.com.
CHS cheerleading squad car wash June 23
The Christiansburg High School cheerleaders will hold a benefit car wash on June 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Wade’s Grocery Store. Donations will be accepted.
Chung on watch list
Redshirt senior OL Kyle Chung has been tabbed to the Rimington Trophy Spring Watch List, the award’s committee announced Wednesday.
Chung started in all 13 games last season for the Hokies at right tackle. He moved over to center this spring after seeing some time at the position over the course of his career.
One of three returning starters on the offensive line this season for the Hokies along with seniors Braxton Pfaff and Yosuah Nijman, Chung received a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA after battling injuries earlier in his career. His 16 career starts ranks second on the line behind Nijman’s 22.
The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I College Football. Since its inception, the seventeen-year old award has raised over $3.6 million for the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis. Dave Rimington, the award’s namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the John Outland Trophy’s only two-time winner as the nation’s finest college interior lineman.
Hokies T&F moves up in the polls
Following the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Tampa, Florida, the Virginia Tech track and field women’s team moved up one spot to No. 16 in Week 9 of the United States Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Top 25 Outdoor Rankings, announced on Tuesday.
The ranking is the highest the women have been this outdoor season and the Hokies remain the lone team from the ACC inside the Top 25.
Eight women punched their ticket to NCAAs in the Sunshine State last weekend on the campus of USF. Of the eight, three are distance runners, two are pole vaulters, two are throwers and one is a triple jumper.
Track participants honored
Vincent Ciattei, Torben Laidig and Emma Thor on Virginia Tech’s track and field teams have been named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District Track and Field and Cross-Country Team in District 3 on Tuesday, as voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The All-District Team recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
Ciattei took home the silver medal in the men’s mile with a school-record and personal-best time of 3 minutes, 58.36 seconds, and then won gold as a part of the distance medley relay team that finished with a time of 9:30.76 at the NCAA Track and Field Indoor Championships.
A five-time All-American and seven-time All-ACC selection, Laidig has earned a gold medal twice and silver five times in the pole vault at the ACC Indoor and Outdoor Championships combined.
The Germany native graduated this spring semester with over 150 hours, double majoring in biochemistry and biology. He has been a member of Virginia Tech’s Dean List eight times, including six of those eight semesters with a 4.0 GPA, and a member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll for four straight years.
Thor took eighth place in the hammer throw at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships her freshman year, earning first-team All-America honors. She earned silver at the 2017 ACC Outdoor Championships in the hammer throw, earning first-team All-ACC and owns the second-best mark in school history, tossing a throw of 64.85 meters (212 feet, 9 inches).
The industrial and systems engineering major has been a member of Virginia Tech’s Dean List three times, including a 4.0 GPA one semester, and a member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll once.
