Virginias team includes local trio

Three Richmond area schoolboys have state team duties to fulfill this weekend.

An eight-member Virginias team will meet counterparts from the Carolinas on Saturday and Sunday at The Club at Irish Creek in Kannapolis, N.C.

Nicholas Austin of James River, Bryce Chalkley of St. Christopher's and Matt Ball Jr. of Grove Avenue Christian are the local players on the team.

The team headliner is reigning State Amateur and State Junior champion Brinson Paolini of Virginia Beach. Rounding out the squad are U.S. Junior Amateur finalist Evan Beck of Virginia Beach; two-time State Junior Match Play winner Michael Moyers of Stanardsville; State Junior Match Play finalist Jack Wilkes of Roanoke and State Junior runner-up Matt Harman of Roanoke.

Chalkley, the youngest player on the team at 15, was a semifinalist in the Junior Match Play and was the 14-15 age group winner at last week's State Junior. Austin has finished runner-up to Paolini in the past two state high school tournaments and last year's State Junior and made the cut at the State Open. Ball was a quarterfinalist in the Junior Match Play and also made the State Open cut.

Paolini, Moyers, Chalkley, Beck and Austin are holdovers from last year's winning team. Paolini and Moyers are on the team for the third time.

Chalkley, Ball and Wilkes were members of the winning Virginias team against West Virginia earlier in the summer.

The formats are alternate shot and best-ball Saturday followed by singles matches Sunday. The Carolinas lead the series 14-10-1.

TDIT field set

The 14th edition of the Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament will be played Dec. 19, 20 and 22.

The eight boys basketball teams are defending champion Highland Springs, Chesterfield Community, Collegiate, Cosby, Deep Run, Hanover, Hopewell and John Marshall.

The girls field consists of defending champion Atlee, Clover Hill, Cosby, Deep Run Highland Springs, L.C. Bird, Meadowbrook and Thomas Dale.

The first round (a boys and girls game at each site) will be played at Atlee, Cosby, Deep Run and Hanover. Action moves to the Siegel Center for the semifinals, finals and consolation bracket games.

Swope and Perez headed to Pebble Beach

The high school golf season will be well under way when the Thomas Dale and Dinwiddie teams will lose a key player for a short time.

Michael Swope of Thomas Dale and Viviana Perez of Dinwiddie, both juniors, qualified for the Champions Tour's Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach on Aug. 25-31 in Pebble Beach, Calif. Each earned a spot for the second consecutive year.

The tournament pairs a First Tee junior player with two amateurs and a Champions Tour player.

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