Although redshirting decisions may have been made with an eye to the future, that was not evident from Virginia Tech's showing in the NCAA wrestling championships.

No ACC team scored as many points in wrestling as the Hokies, one reason Tech was able to move up to 22nd place in the most recent Directors' Cup standings for all-around athletic achievement.

The Hokies weren't in the top 100 at this point last year.

"I didn't know that," Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said Wednesday. "Wow, that's good stuff."

More than half of the Hokies' points have come from four winter sports -- men's track and field, women's track and field, wrestling and women's swimming.

That does not include women's basketball, in which Tech will receive 50 points as a second-round loser. That would leave the Hokies with 356¹₂ points, compared to 331¹₂ last year, when Tech finished 58th.

A 29th-place finish in the wrestling championships was somewhat surprising, given the Hokies' 1-16 record in the dual-meet season, but heavyweight Mike Faust finished fifth in the NCAA championships and fellow senior David Hoffman was eighth at 141 pounds.

The Hokies trail Virginia 12-6 in the first year of the Adelphia Commonwealth Challenge, an all-sports competition between the schools, but the Cavaliers stand 29th in the Directors' Cup rankings.

That doesn't count men's swimming, in which UVa's 18th-place finish rivalled Tech's tie for 17th in women's basketball. Tech will also pick up points from a 27th place in men's swimming, the first top-30 finish in program history.

UVa generally scores well during the spring and fields teams currently ranked in the top 15 in the country in men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, women's rowing, men's tennis and baseball.

"Eventually, our goal is to be among the top 25 institutions athletically and the Director's Cup is one way of keeping score," Weaver said. "But, we want it that way at the end of the year and not just the middle."

ODAC-bound

Bridgewater football coach Mike Clark confirmed Wednesday that he has gotten oral commitments from All-Group AAA tight end Wynn Sigmon from Franklin County and from running back Will Osborne, a 1,000-yard rusher from Cave Spring. Sigmon, a first-team All-Timesland selection, was rated the No. 58 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times.

"A lot of offenses don't have a tight end nowadays, which eliminates about 50 percent of the market for a player like Wynn," Clark said. "He gives us a physical presence. At Cave Spring, Will's first move [in the double wing] was often to the side, but we like his speed and his ability to run downhill."

n Emory and Henry has gotten an oral commitment from Rural Retreat wide receiver Jonathan Hawkins, named first-team All-Group A and first-team All-Timesland after catching 44 passes for 662 yards and nine touchdowns. Hawkins (6-foot-3, 175 pounds) also intercepted nine passes, one of which he returned for a touchdown. He also was rated among the state's top 100 prospects.

Brooks and Co.

Liberty University head coach Danny Rocco said he has requested permission to speak to three football players who have been dropped from Virginia's roster -- Ahmad Brooks, Vince Redd and Tony Franklin -- and that release forms were on his desk by Wednesday morning.

Rocco, previously the assistant head coach at Virginia, was the Cavaliers' lead recruiter on Redd and Franklin. If they were to transfer to a Division I-AA program, they would have instant eligibility, and Redd could play for two more seasons.

n Before Rocco took the Liberty job, the Flames were scheduled to face three Division I-A teams this coming season -- Rutgers, South Florida and Wake Forest. Rocco has revamped the schedule, leaving Liberty with one I-A opponent, Wake. Rocco played for the Deacons after transferring from Penn State.

GMU attracts swimmer

Salem High School swimmer Kristina Stone, a first-team All-Timesland selection in 2003 and 2005, has made an oral commitment to George Mason. Stone, who swims for the Roanoke Valley Gators year-around program, was sixth in the 200-yard individual medley and seventh in the 100 breaststroke last month at the Group AA championship. She also swam a leg on a pair of seventh-place relay teams.

Local update

Rockbridge County graduate William Copeland, the Timesland boys' swimmer of the year in 2004, finished 10th in the 100 freestyle in a personal best (42.97) at the Division I men's swimming championships and was on the University of California relay team that finished third in the 200 freestyle.

n William Byrd graduate Chad Myers finished his career at Division II Shepherd University with school records for 3-point field goals in a game (nine), consecutive made free throws (37) and career free-throw percentage (88.0). Myers was third on the team in scoring (11.0) and had a team-high 68 3-point field goals as a senior