Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 20, 1993 TAG: 9310200011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"The rankings are just kind of bogus," said Taylor, noting the voting panel consists of a handful of coaches across the country. "They scratch each other's back. I don't put a lot of stock in it. Nothing matters before the District [III] meet [Nov.13]." Tech's men's team has been ranked as high as 14th in Division I, although the Hokies were not ranked as of Monday. The most recent poll was due out late Tuesday. Senior Joe Edwards of Dumfries, junior Tom Lankowicz of Long Island, N.Y., and freshman Mike Cox of Princeton, W.Va., have excelled for Tech so far.
Tech jumped into the rankings at No. 14 on Sept. 28 after finishing second among 21 teams at the Mountain West Classic in Missoula, Mont. Taylor, in his third year after he and his wife, Lori, were hired to coach cross country and track, was reserved about that performance because it came against several Western schools.
"I feel like we ran well, yes, but not great," he said. "The competition in the East is a whole different level than what you see in the West."
On Oct. 2, Tech beat Navy and Duke but lost to host Tennessee. Tech fell to 21st in the rankings. After finishing ninth of 31 teams at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa., Oct. 9, Tech fell out of the rankings.
Third-ranked Villanova won the Short meet, and five other Top 25 teams finished ahead of Tech: Georgetown, Wake Forest, West Virginia, South Florida and Providence.
Tech won its own invitational Oct. 15, but because the competition was not stiff, Taylor thinks it's not likely the Hokies will be ranked again.
\ KICKS: Tech's Jason Entlich ranked 13th nationally in Division I soccer scoring through Oct. 12. Entlich had 26 points (10 goals and six assists) as of that date, and scored once in two games last week. Entlich's point total led the South Atlantic Region.
\ SWINGS: Tech's men's doubles tennis team of Scott Cuppett and Miki Pusztai has had a fall-season run that coach Larsen Bowker calls the "best beginning in doubles we've ever had."
Cuppett and Pusztai won the doubles bracket at the West Virginia Invitational Oct. 1-3 against notable competition. They beat Michigan's Dan Brakus and Joe Costanzo, 8-4; Brakus is the country's 37th-ranked singles player. And they beat WVU's Steve Flanigan and David Critchely, 8-3; Flanigan is ranked 59th in singles, and Flanigan and Critchely had just won the doubles tourney at an event hosted by Top 10-program Notre Dame.
The Hokie pair also won the Tar Heel Invitational, hosted by North Carolina, Oct. 7-10. Among the victims was the nation's 17th-ranked doubles team, Mississippi's Maheesh Bhuphati and Ivan Trevino, beaten 8-5.
\ PERFORMANCES: Sophomore Michelle Barrett won the Virginia Tech Invitational women's cross country meet Oct. 15 in 19 minutes, 3 seconds . . . Junior middle blocker Jenni McFadden had 22 kills, 27 digs and six blocks in two Tech volleyball games. One of those was a victory in Blacksburg over Virginia, which had beaten Tech Sept. 8 in Charlottesville . . . Brian Sharp's victory at the Kansas Invitational golf tournament last week came at Alvamar Golf Course, which Tech coach Jay Hardwick said was ranked among the top 50 courses in the country by Golf Digest.
\ UPCOMING IN BLACKSBURG: Volleyball - Louisville, 7 p.m. Oct. 29; Tennessee, 7 p.m. Nov. 2. Men's soccer - Marshall, 4 p.m. Oct. 20.
Scott Blanchard is a sportswriter for the Roanoke Times & World-News.
by CNB