Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The Radford High School Lady Cats wrestling team hosted its first all-girl quad meet this past week, taking all three matches.
Radford downed Carroll County 30-12, Giles 30-18 and Patrick County 30-18.
Bobcat Brawl at RHS
Radford High School hosted the third annual Bobcat Brawl on Jan. 3. This round-robin wrestling tournament featured 79 competitors from seven local high schools. Teams were encouraged to bring their entire teams, meaning many “B-team” wrestlers were able to get some of their only matches of the season.
Radford Wrestling’s Kaitlyn McMurray (120), Elijah Furey (126), Jude Edwards (138), and Cole Martin (190) each brought home gold medals, with the Bobcats also earning two second-place and two third-place finishes.
Radford will host George Wythe, Chilhowie, and Appomattox on Wednesday, Jan. 28 for Senior Night. The Bobcats will then head to Liberty HS for the Region 2C tournament on Feb. 7, with the state tournament slated for Feb. 20 and 21 at the Salem Civic Center, where 190-lb senior Cole Martin will look to defend his state title.
Tour of Destruction coming to local track
The Tour of Destruction, which features school bus, Enduro, Trailer and Flag Pole racing is coming to Pulaski County Motorsports Park on Saturday, Sept. 5. Gates will open at 3 p.m. with racing at 6 p.m. The tour is where racing meets demolition derby.
The first 1,000 tickets will sell for $20. VIP viewing areas will be available.
ESPN2 to broadcast Big South championships
The Big South Conference announced today that the 2026 Air Force Reserve Big South Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championship Games on Sunday, March 8 will be broadcast live on ESPN2. The men’s final will air at 12:00pm, with the women’s contest scheduled for 6:00pm. It will be the third-straight year that both title games will be televised on ESPN2.
The women’s final will be carried live on a national linear network for the fifth consecutive season in 2026, and the third-straight year on ESPN2. The women’s 2022 and 2023 championship games aired on ESPNU before the move to ESPN2 in 2024. Each of the preliminary rounds on March 4-7 will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Tickets for the 2026 Air Force Reserve Big South Basketball Championships at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn., are on sale online at www.BigSouthSports.com/Tickets. Full ticket booklets covering all 16 games over nine sessions feature courtside seating ($625 through Feb. 1; $650 beginning Feb. 2) and general seating ($250) for the March 4-8 tournament. Separate men’s and women’s booklets for the respective eight games and five sessions cost $325 through Feb. 1 (courtside) and $150 (general).
Roth honored for 13th time
Longtime Virginia Tech radio play-by-play voice, Bill Roth, has been named the Virginia Sportscaster of the Year a record 13th time by the National Sports Media Association.
The 2026 season will mark Roth’s 32nd season as Virginia Tech’s football play-by-play broadcaster after his return to the Tech broadcast booth in 2022.
Besides serving in the play-by-play chair for Virginia Tech football games, Roth hosts podcasts within the Virginia Tech athletics department and writes a regular column, The Roth Report, on hokiesports.com.
Roth also serves as a professor of practice in Virginia Tech’s School of Communication where he helped launch Tech’s popular sports media and analytics (SMA) program in 2016.
He was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
Ventresca, Mullen bookend Southern Scuffle
Virginia Tech wrestling opened the new year with two champions at the 2026 Southern Scuffle with lineup bookends No. 4 Eddie Ventresca and No. 14 Jimmy Mullen securing titles at 125-pounds and 285-pounds, respectively. The Hokies placed a total of six wrestlers on the podium enroute to a sixth-place finish in Chattanooga to start 2026.
Four other Hokies navigated their way onto the podium in Chattanooga with No. 22 Tom Crook, No. 10 Dillon Campbell, No. 17 Sonny Sasso, and No. 22 Jaden Bullock to wrap up Tech’s Southern Scuffle.
Redshirt junior Crook led the remaining placers with a third-place finish at 141-pounds, going 6-1 with two bonus point victories.
Ranked No. 10 at 133-pounds, Campbell registered three bonus point victories in his four wins on his way to a sixth-place finish.
At 197-pounds, Sonny Sasso was impressive in his three matches he wrestled with two bonus point victories via tech fall and pin before securing sixth place for his second career Southern Scuffle podium finish.
Capping off the placers for the Hokies was graduate transfer No. 22 Bullock, finishing seventh at 184-pounds. Bullock registered four wins with one bonus point to end his weekend.
