
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 1, 1994                   TAG: 9407010081
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BROGAN LEADS STATE AMATEUR

Lexington contractor David Brogan shot a 4-under-par 68 Thursday for a two-shot lead in the rain-plagued first day of qualifying for the Virginia State Golf Association Amateur in Gainesville at the 7,238-yard Robert Trent Jones Golf Club course.

Roanoke insurance broker Mike Smith had a 70. Three-time former champion Tom McKnight of Galax shot a 71. Former champion Keith Decker of Martinsville is at 74.

In other sports in the region:

Virginia Tech and Virginia had graduation rates for student-athletes that were higher than the national average, according to figures released Thursday by the NCAA. The study covered those student-athletes who enrolled in school for the 1987-88 academic year and received undergraduate degrees in six years. Virginia graduated 80 percent, Tech 70 percent, VMI 55 percent and Radford 51 percent. The NCAA average was 57 percent. Graduation rates for the student body as a whole were 92 percent at Virginia, 73 percent at Tech, 65 percent at VMI and 52 percent at Radford.

Paul Beckwith, who has coached gymnastics at Radford University since the school added the sport in 1984, is leaving Radford to coach the women's gymnastics team at Cornell. A former Virginia Tech gymnast, Beckwith coached the Radford men's team for three years before taking over the women's program in 1987.

by CNB