Five to be inducted into Tech Sports Hall of Fame
Former Tech receiver André Davis and former women’s basketball great Amy Wetzel Doolan are two of five individuals to be inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.
The five will be inducted at the Hall of Fame dinner held Sept. 7 at The Inn and Skelton Conference Center at Virginia Tech. The university also plans on introducing the group to Tech fans at halftime of the Hokies’ football game versus Austin Peay the following day.
The five include:
• Davis, who set a Tech single-season record with 962 receiving yards during the Hokies’ 1999 season and was a two-time winner of the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
• Wetzel Doolan, who finished her career fifth at Tech in career scoring (1,444 points), first in games played (129), first in free throws made (489), second in steals (235) and third in assists (399). She currently ranks sixth in scoring and holds the same spot in the other categories.
• Dave Braine, a former AD at Tech who was instrumental in getting the Hokies into the BIG EAST Football Conference, which later proved to be a steppingstone to national prominence and full membership into the league.
• Sharon McCloskey, the current senior associate AD and senior woman administrator and a woman who has served as a pioneer for women in administration by rising through the ranks. She was the first female recruiting coordinator at the Division I level, and today, still serves as the administrator of the football program.
• Mike Sergent, a former thrower on the track and field team who was a four-time All-Metro selection and set the school record for the hammer throw. He finished seventh at the NCAA Championships his senior season to earn All-America honors.
The class of 2012 will bring the total number enshrined to 163.
Hokies add Liberty to football schedule
Virginia Tech and Liberty will be meeting in football for the very first time, as the two schools agreed to play a game in Blacksburg during the 2016 season. Liberty replaces a game previously scheduled with Western Kentucky.
Tech AD Jim Weaver also shuffled other parts of Tech’s football schedule. With the additions of Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the league, ACC officials agreed to move to a nine-game conference schedule in 2013, thus forcing league members to shed some nonconference games. The Hokies postponed a 2014 date at East Carolina and a 2015 home game against Akron.
Here is Tech’s nonconference schedule for the next four years:
2013 – Alabama (in Atlanta), Western Carolina, Marshall
2014 – William & Mary, Western Michigan, at Ohio State
2015 – Furman, Ohio State, East Carolina
2016 – Liberty, Wisconsin, at East Carolina
The Hokies are also slotted to play at Wisconsin in 2017.
Five delay enrollment
Five members of Virginia Tech’s 2012 28-member recruiting class did not enroll for the second summer session or for fall classes, but all plan on enrolling at Tech at a later date. The five members include receiver Thomas Smith, defensive lineman Woody Baron, running back Jerome Wright, defensive end Seth Dooley and tailback Drew Harris.
Harris, from Downingtown, Pa., and Smith, from Williamsburg, Va., and Wright, from Richmond, will spend the fall playing at Fork Union. Harris, a SuperPrep and PrepStar All-American, rushed for 617 yards and scored nine touchdowns for Downingtown East High before missing the rest of the season with a knee injury. Smith, a first-team All-Group AA selection, caught 36 passes for 843 yards and 13 touchdowns his senior season for Lafayette High School. Wright ran for 607 yards and 15 touchdowns last season for Highland Springs High, and he also had 37 tackles and two sacks on defense. Baron and Dooley will concentrate on getting bigger, stronger and faster in preparation for spring practice next March and April.
Tidbits from other sports
In news from other sports, Tech basketball player Robert Brown fractured a bone in his left foot during a workout in mid-July. He underwent surgery and did not participate in late summer workouts, but is not expected to miss any time for the upcoming season.
Also, the baseball program got some good news when Joe Mantiply decided to return to school. Mantiply, a left-handed pitcher, was drafted in the 28th round by the Philadelphia Phillies in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, but decided to return for his senior year after a junior season in which he went 5-6 with a 3.53 ERA, striking out 52 in 81.2 innings.
