By Sports editor, Brian Hoffman
The cold weather has arrived and that means William Byrd sports fans are moving inside as the
Virginia High School League winter sports season begins this week. Terrier teams all have games scheduled
for this week, with the exception of boys’ basketball as the William Byrd football season continues into
December.
BOYS BASKETBALL
The Terriers had three games scheduled for this week, but none will be played with several key
players still participating in football. Byrd had a Tuesday game with Cave Spring postponed, although the
jayvees were scheduled to play. Tonight’s home game with Christiansburg has been postponed until
December 14 and Friday’s game at Glenvar has been rescheduled for February 7.
“We don’t have(uniform) numbers yet, and I’m not totally sure who will come out when football is
over,” said Byrd coach Brad Greenway, who hasn’t been in this situation before in Vinton.
Senior Ty Blalock and junior Isaiah Board have been practicing and senior Israel Hairston, Byrd’s
quarterback on the football team, will be a key player once the football season is over. Other seniors include
Brayden King and Drew Lindsay and juniors are Hayden Eads, Jahdai English, Dylan McSherry, Jon Rosser
and Maurice Burnette. It should be a solid team once Greenway has all the pieces in place.
“We don’t know exactly what this thing will looking like until football season is over, but we are
excited about the amount of experience we bring back,” he said. “We’ve got a team that we believe will
shoot it pretty well, we can attack the basket well and our success will likely come down to how well we can
defend as a smaller size team. Looking forward to getting our guys in the gym and figuring it out.”
The Terriers were 12-14 last year with four of the losses coming to Blue Ridge District power
Northside.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Byrd girls open the season with three games this week, Tuesday at Cave Spring, tonight at E.C.
Glass and Friday at home with the Glenvar. The girls are coming off a 4-20 season but the jayvees were 20-
3 and coach Randy Bush is looking forward to great improvement in the next couple years.
“All the sophomores, all the juniors and the one senior are key returners,” said Byrd coach Randy
Bush. “They all have some valuable varsity experience and know what the expectations are. They are
competing in practice and getting after it.
“We have a very exciting group of freshmen coming in on the varsity, swing and jayvee levels. They
are working very hard at learning the speed of the game and getting to know what our expectations are. They
also are competing in practice very well.”
Makayla Price is the only senior on the team. Junior team captains are Samantha Martin, Kaylee
Makuch and Hannah Janney and other juniors include Jada Johnson, Taelor McPherson, Ryan Markham and
Barb Hernandez. Logan Andrews is the lone sophomore on the team but Byrd has four freshmen, Heidi
Dixon, Elena Mullen, Maggie Zimmerman and Mia Martin.
“We will be young, but we also have experienced upper classmen that are taking the younger players
under their wings,” said Bush. “We will be growing throughout the season and are looking forward to seeing
the lightbulbs go off as they get more court time.”
WRESTLING
The Big Orange will be big in numbers this year as coach Thomas Kessler had his best turnout since
he took over as coach. The Terriers will have five seniors, five juniors, seven sophomores and welcome 16
freshmen to the orange and maroon mats.
“We have about 22 kids who have never stepped foot on a high school mat, so the beginning of the
year will be a growing experience for us,” said Kessler.
Returning from last year is state runner up Darin Witcher, who made it to the Saturday evening show
at the Salem Civic Center as a freshman. He’ll be looking to make another run this year as a 106 pound
sophomore.
Senior Gage Cockran will be looking to get back to the state podium this year at 138 or 144, while
Aidan Lucas and Bricen Lancaster will be looking to get to the state podium as well. Both have qualified for
the state tournament twice and have come up just short of placing.
Seniors Brycen Nielson and Curtis Dillon and juniors Stephen Underwood and Graylen Castleberry
are all primed for big years as they have all been putting a lot of work in this off season. Freshmen Lane
Brunk, Noah Spradlin, Jonah Schofield, Zane Taylor, Bruce Robinson, Brandon Hurley and Nelson Escobar
were all scheduled to wrestle in Byrd’s season opening dual at Salem Wednesday. Michael Byrant and
Ronnie Wood are back again this year as assistant coaches.
“We are excited to get the guys out there and let them get some experience under their belts,” said
Kessler. “I expect our team to grow up a lot as the season goes along and I am looking forward to the
progress we make.”
The Terriers will be Heritage High in Lynchburg for a quad match this Saturday and their first
tournament will be the Titan Toughman at Hidden Valley on December 8 & 9.
SWIMMING
The William Byrd swimmers will take to the water in competition for the first time this Saturday
when the Terriers compete in a big season opening meet at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. Byrd will also
be at the Salem YMCA next Tuesday for a meet involving multiple schools.
Team captains this year are Maddy Davis, Cole Kovacevic and Michael Hoyos. All three have been
on the team for a number of years.
“I’m excited to see them in a leadership role this season,” said Byrd coach Krista Martin. “We have
most of last year’s state team returning. Look for big things from Evan Copening, Blake Richardson, Cole
Kovacevic, Jay Rozenboom, Gabby Romeo, Lindsay Murtaugh, Michael Hoyos, and Bruno De Melo.”
Byrd also has six eighth graders on the team this year. They won’t count for varsity matches but will
practice with the team and get great experience for the coming seasons. The eighth graders are Kayleigh
Barber, Hadyn Terrell, Ben Gardner, Ben Hoyos, Luka Minekic and KoLee Walter.
“A large number of eighth graders is great news for the future of our program,” said Martin. “Hadyn
Terrell is one of the top breaststrokers in the state of Virginia. She will be one to keep an eye on for her
high school career for sure.”
Martin has close to 30 swimmers on this year’s team.
“It has been a long time since we have carried almost 30 on the team,” said Martin. “I am so excited
to have the big group. Coach James(Martin) and I can’t wait to get the team in the water for our first meet.”
INDOOR Track
The William Byrd indoor track team will be at Liberty University this weekend for their first meet.
The Terriers have three meets in December, all at Liberty University.
