sixcat

Just looking at Region 3D boys basketball. What a gauntlet of a region to have to come out of!!! Carroll County has had the best season in school history and might not be able to beat anyone left in the region. (8) Hidden Valley 72 (9) Pulaski 51 (10) Magna Vista 73 (7) William Byrd 66 (1) Tunstall (8) Hidden Valley (4) Cave Spring (5) Lord Botetourt (3) Carroll County (6) Abingdon (2) Northside (10) Magna Vista

Kaiden Swortzel is a TE at The Citadel. Rylan Swortzel (#24) is still there. They have a younger brother Gavin (#44) that is a freshman and talented as hell. The younger Swortzel is already bigger than his brothers. Floyd is a very young team but with a lot of players in that 6'-1" to 6'-5" size range. Rylan Swortzel is the only senior on the roster.

Floyd is probably playing the best basketball right now in 2C. They upset Carroll County in the Three River Championship game. All in all, 2C is way down this season from top to bottom and doesn't have that elite state level team at the top either. I wouldn't expect anyone in 2C to do any damage at the state level.

I think CC will struggle to get past Lord Botetourt. Abingdon could surprise someone but baring injury or illness, I think CC and LB are the class of Region 3D.

https://www.maxpreps.com/va/basketball/girls/playoffs/ https://www.maxpreps.com/va/basketball/playoffs/ Edit to add; I don't know why but they placed the 2024 bracket below the 2023 bracket for the boys. You have to scroll down the page to find it.

It’s a 50/50 split between the “give everybody a trophy” crowd and the VH$L wanted to profit from everyone making the playoffs.

Depends on which Grayson team shows up. They lost to GW 70-18 two weeks ago. Followed that up by getting boat raced by Bland a few nights later. I wouldn’t base anything on how anyone looks against Galax. They are terrible!!!

More evidence the state set-up with 6 classifications is watered down as hell. Region 1C is hot garbage outside of Auburn and GW. Parry McCluer and Narrows are decent and deserving of a playoff berth but Bath, Galax, Grayson and Eastern Montgomery are awful basketball teams and wholly undeserving of postseason play.

AJ Ashworth, Caden Carico and Edwin Espinoza have all advanced to the finals for Galax today.

If they are utilizing phosphorous credits, this would make sense. It would delay the start of construction but save some time on the back end along with a considerable amount of money. In a nutshell, the county would place a large tract of land in a conservation easement, meaning it could never be developed. In exchange, DEQ would significantly lighten the environmental requirements for the smaller tract of land at THS. Grayson County did this when they installed turf a couple of years ago.

I just checked the DEQ Peep Portal out of curiosity. The project at Graham High School and Richlands High School does not appear anywhere on the site. Is the Graham property in Virginia? Richlands is just a turf replacement. It could potentially be exempted by DEQ. Here is a timeline of the Tazewell High School project per the DEQ Peep Portal. Plans were submitted for review on September 26 for Tazewell High School. DEQ requested additional information on October 6. Engineer response to the request on October 31. DEQ issued Technical Information Request on December 15. Engineers response to the request on January 2. DEQ issued Technical Information Request on February 6. Permits have not been issued by DEQ for work to commence at Tazewell High School!!! https://portal.deq.virginia.gov/peep-search

Karst topography and/or underground caves would have been found during a geotechnical report and field survey. I doubt it's something like that unless someone didn't do their job. It's more likely, the owner or contractor requested changes to the design for whatever reason that necessitated another DEQ review before construction can continue.

It's always something with DEQ. Has to be the most inefficient, incompetent state agency in Virginia. I got an email from them last week about one of my projects that read "we're happy to report, you're review is scheduled to be completed by July 19." The project was submitted to them in October!!!

Alyssa Ervin and Davis Reitzel are both averaging over 30 PPG for Carroll County. Carroll boys are 21-1 and the girls are 19-3.

Those freshmen have a lot of potential.

Could have stayed in the MED and played the semifinal and final of the district tournament at Radford University. I kid, sort of. Narrows in the Pioneer will never not be strange to me.

It's far more common for kids in P5 or G5 schools to end up on a path similar to this when entering the Transfer Portal. Should be a cautionary tale but all we see from ESPN is Cody Shrader puff pieces. Young people that haven't developed critical thinking skills yet, see those pieces and think everyone is doing it. So they leap and end up falling out of sight.

I'm not a fan of turf at any level. We have well over 20 years of data that strongly suggests increased injury, especially in younger people who haven't fully developed. But it's the trend and I don't see it going away anytime soon.

Copied from NFHS............ Art. 7. It is traveling when a player falls to the playing court while holding the ball without maintaining a pivot foot. It's impossible to maintain a pivot foot while sliding down the floor.

I was told by some college coaches back during the fall golf season, local kids have a reputation of not staying in school. If they pick one up by default, great but they aren’t going to waste too many resources going after many of them. It is what it is.

I just found out, Tazewell already has stormwater in place below the existing grass. That makes the process much simpler. Still requires DEQ approval but from a design and construction perspective, much quicker turnaround. They should have no problem finishing construction by August.

I misunderstood you earlier. TCPS awarded contracts in the fall to contractors, not contracts to a design firm. If construction has begun at Graham and the project has a competent contractor, work should be completed by summer unless we experience something biblical weather wise. That doesn't mean Graham, Tazewell and Richlands were designed simultaneously and doesn't mean they will be constructed simultaneously either. Each school will be submitted to DEQ as a separate project for review. Each will have a different and unique timeline through that process. Graham is obviously past that process but the other two may very well not be. Especially if DEQ requested changes to the original design, which would begin the clock all over again for a second review. DEQ could grant TCPS permission to bid each of the three projects based on initial design with the caveat, no construction shall begin prior to certain changes being approved through DEQ for the other two schools. That could explain why Tazewell and Richlands have approved a contractor but work hasn't begun. If no public funds are being used for the projects, TCPS would be free to hire whomever they choose without having to go through competitive bids. Which could also explain why contractors have been hired but work hasn't commenced. Either way, it's a much more lengthy process than most people realize.

EPA is called DEQ in Virginia. Department of Environmental Quality. No project over 10,000 square feet involving disturbance of existing ground conditions in Virginia can go to construction without a permit from them. If school board just approved the contracts for design and construction last fall, design has barely even begun at this point. The engineers have barely had enough time to get survey data back to begin design. If this is indeed the case, construction will not begin before 2025. What was once a 6-month process to get from field survey to construction is now 18-months. Especially considering most state agencies in charge of review and issuance of necessary permits to go to construction are still working from home. I'm not involved in the Tazewell County projects but I've been directly involved in a number of turf installations over the years in other localities.

I applaud your enthusiasm but my 25+ years of experience in the engineering world tell me, everything reasonable goes out the window when design and construction involve state and federal agencies. Tree removal, sediment basins, and retaining walls all require DEQ permits before construction can begin. DEQ review of construction plans is a minimum, 9-month process. More often than not, it's longer. If they require changes to the plans, the calendar starts all over again.

Nevada has a "None Of These Candidates" option on primary ballots. Nikki Haley lost to "None Of These Candidates" making her the first candidate to lose to nobody since that option was added to the ballot in Nevada in 1975. It's getting harder and harder to tell actual politics from satire these days. https://www.13abc.com/2024/02/06/nevada-will-hold-presidential-primaries-caucuses-creating-voter-confusion-little-suspense/