ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300104
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: IN THE REGION
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS
Virginia Tech senior guard Damon Watlington was named the team's most valuable player at the annual men's basketball awards dinner Monday.
Watlington, a 6-2 native of Reidsville, N.C., also won the best defensive player award. He averaged 12.8 points a game.
Other winners included: Travis Jackson and Troy Manns, most improved players; Ace Custis, most inspirational and merit award; David and Jim Jackson, academic pride.
In other sports in the region:
* Oliver Purnell, former head basketball coach at Radford University, has been chosen as a coach for the 1996 USA men's 22-under basketball team.
Purnell currently is the head coach at Dayton University.
* A club from Northside High School placed second at the U.S. National Powerlifting Championships in Parkersburg, W.Va.
Finishing first for Northside in their respective age and weight divisions were: Andy Sink (181 pounds) and Jason Daniels (220) in the ninth grade division; Travis Snider (181), Adam Cook (198), Xavier Cargile (220) and William Lewis (275) in the 10th grade division; Mike Light (220) in the 11th grade division; and Brad Harper (198) in the 12th grade division.
* The Virginia Jockey Club has thrown in the towel on a 16-month-old legal battle that has delayed the opening of Virginia's first parimutuel racetrack by almost two years.
Attorneys for the group said Monday they will not appeal an April 16 ruling by the state's appeals court that upheld awarding the track license to Stansley Racing Corp. of Toledo, Ohio.
The decision means the Colonial Downs racetrack in New Kent County should open in the summer of 1997, or 14 months after the lawsuit is resolved. The track originally was to open last fall.
The Virginia Jockey Club, which wanted to build a racetrack in Prince William County, sued the racing commission 30 days after the commission awarded the license to Stansley in October 1994.
A major argument in the lawsuit was that the commission ignored a state law requiring it to promote Virginia's horse industry.
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines KEYWORDS: HORSE RACINGby CNB