PREP NOTEBOOK: Friend inks with Radford

Whitney Friend, a senior at Albemarle High School, will continue her swimming career at the next level. Friend recently committed to Radford after considering other schools, including George Mason, James Madison, William and Mary and West Virginia.
Friend is interested in pursuing a masters and eventual doctorate in physical therapy, and said she will get the best of both worlds at Radford.
“It was the best choice for both professors and coaching,” Friend said. “I’m just so excited to go to college because I’ll finally get to go on my own. I’ll be able to work hard academically and in swimming at the same time.”
According to Deb Tyson, athletic director at Albemarle, Friend is the first AHS student to earn a college scholarship for swimming.
Friend was one of a number of local swimmers who were mentored under former CVA and Albemarle swim coach Kyle Wilson, who died in December of 2007.
“Kyle had pointed me to Radford, and I only wish he could have been here to celebrate with me,” Friend said.
Friend’s forte is the 200-meter backstroke and long-distance free. She has qualified for the district, region and state meets as a varsity swimmer at Albemarle. 
Other local college signing news
Blue Ridge School standout and Central Virginia’s all-time career passing leader Chad Byers is headed to James Madison to play football.
Byers, a 6-foot-2, 220-pounder, earned all- state honors after throwing for 2,505 yards and 22 TDs his senior year. He also racked up 404 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. Byers, a four-year starter at quarterback, finished with 65 passing touchdowns and 27 rushing touchdowns for his career. The two-way starter earned all-state honors on the defensive side as well, recording 66 tackles and leading the Barons with six interceptions.
Brannock, Craft shine for R-MC
Former area lacrosse standouts, Tom Brannock (St. Anne’s-Belfield) and Zach Craft (Western Albemarle) started for Randolph-Macon this past Saturday as the Yellow Jackets beat rival Hampden-Sydney 11-7. The win secured Randolph-Macon’s first-ever berth in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament.  The Yellow Jackets played at top seed Lynchburg on Tuesday in the semifinals.
Brannock, a senior defenseman, had two groundballs against H-SC, while Craft, a freshman attack, recorded two assists. Craft, who has played in all 13 games for Randolph-Macon, has tallied five goals and 11 assists this year.
Louisa still on a roll
After picking up an important Jefferson District win over Western Albemarle this past week, Louisa County’s baseball team is sitting where it wants to be as it nears the district tournament.
The Lions are unbeaten in district play and improved to 8-0 with a win over Monticello this week. Louisa plays host to Charlottesville Friday.
“We’re finally in a very good position — we’re in the driver’s seat now,” said Louisa senior Kenny Fleming after the Western win. “With the pitching we have in Tyler [Brookman] and Gunnar [Carroll] and some of the other guys too, everybody’s coming together as a team.”
If we play as a unit, we’ll be unstoppable.”