Down the Line: 2018 Cox graduate, just out of Penn State, again will represent U.S. in men’s volleyball
Cox High 2018 graduate Brett Wildman, a four-time All-American outside hitter for Penn State, will return to the Volleyball Nations League to represent the United States from July 4-9 in matches in Anaheim, California.
Last year, he helped the Americans take second place in his VNL debut. The league includes 16 national teams in three weeks of preliminary rounds across seven countries. The teams will play four matches a week, with the top seven advancing to the finals.
Area fans might first remember Wildman from 2014, when he helped the Falcons take a state title. He was the 2017 All-Tidewater Player of the Year.
This season, he and the Nittany Lions were 27-4. They beat Ohio State 3-1 in an NCAA quarterfinal before losing 3-2 on May 4 to Hawaii in a semifinal in Fairfax.
In that loss to Hawaii, Wildman set an all-time semifinal record with seven aces, adding 15 kills with a .353 hitting percentage. Coping with injuries all season, he gained All-America honorable mention.
Nittany Lions starting setter Cole Bogner, a Hickory High alum who also was a grad student, had his finest college season, making the All-America first team.
New coach at VPCC: Virginia Peninsula Community College recently named Alonzo Moore, a former star athlete for Phoebus High and the Wisconsin Badgers in the early 2000s, as the Gators’ track and field/cross country coach. VPCC, formerly known as Thomas Nelson CC, is adding those sports for the 2023-24 academic year, with cross country starting in the fall.
Though he has been involved in the sport on every level, “I’ve never been a part of a program where I run the show,” he said in a release.
Moore, a three-time All-American in the triple jump for Wisconsin, has been Phoebus’ boys track coach since March 2019. He also was an assistant track coach at Hampton University in 2021-22, helping with the jumps and pole vault.
Nomination: Norfolk Admirals president Billy Johnson was nominated for the ECHL Executive of the Year.
Johnson came to the Admirals in November 2021 after leading an ECHL expansion team, the Las Vegas Wranglers, from 2003-14. His efforts likely helped Las Vegas gain an NHL Golden Knights team that was in the Stanley Cup Final in 2018, its first season, and is on the verge of returning.
The Admirals said their paid attendance rose by 34% and their ticket revenue rose by 41% for the 2022-23 season, though they had the worst record in the 30-team ECHL. According to the team, the attendance of Admirals games brought a 37% increase in foot traffic downtown.
The award will be presented in June’s ECHL meetings in, fittingly, Las Vegas.
Media hall: The Hampton Roads Sports Media Hall of Fame will induct its seventh class in January. In addition to the the five new recipients who will be added, three honorary people will also be included.
‘Sports Scene’ on Audacy: “Sports Scene with Greg Bicouvaris,” a periodic interview show that has been heard on terrestrial radio in Hampton Roads and multiple online outlets for several years, has been added to the Audacy app and website. Audacy owns radio stations such as WFAN in New York and WJFK in Washington, D.C., both of which are well-known for sports talk and play-by-play.
What’s coming up
Tuesday: VHSL region playoffs will return to high gear in spring sports.
Thursday: The Peninsula Pilots play their wood-bat Coastal Plain League season opener at War Memorial Stadium, facing the Tri-City Chili Peppers at 7:05 p.m.
Saturday: The first Tidewater Summer League baseball team to take the field will be the Greenbrier Knights, facing the Chili Peppers at Shepherd Stadium in Colonial Heights at 7 p.m. ... Also at 7 p.m., Virginia Beach United faces Lionsbridge FC at TowneBank Stadium in Newport News as part of USL League Two’s Coastal Virginia Challenge Cup.
