Former Dale Standouts Take Show on Road
By FROM STAFF REPORTS
Dec 17, 2012, 16:57
Virginia Commonwealth University junior Bill Cullen, a Thomas Dale graduate, was named to the Preseason All-America Second Team by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (photo courtesy of VCU Athletics).
RICHMOND – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its 2013 Preseason All-America teams on Thursday and Colonial Heights native Bill Cullen garnered second-team honors.
The Virginia Commonwealth University junior finished 2012 with a .347 batting average, 90 hits, 25 doubles, nine triples (second in the country) and five home runs.
He was named to the All-Colonial Athletic Association Third Team following the season.
Cullen, a 2010 graduate of Thomas Dale High School, was one of two players from the Atlantic 10 Conference to be named to the All-America squad.
Cullen joins Rhode Island outfielder Jeff Roy, who was a third-team inclusion. The NCBWA is made up of writers, broadcasters and publicists of college baseball and was founded in 1962. This is the 13th annual Preseason All-America Team that the publication has released.
VCU, which won 34 games last season, opens its 2013 schedule on Feb. 15 against Boston College in the Country Inn and Suites Elon Invitational.
WHITE-HOT SHOOTER
University of Kansas freshman Andrew White III scored a career-high 15 points in an 89-60 victory over visiting Belmont on Saturday.
White, a 6-6 shooting guard from Chester, knocked down six of eight shots and a trio of 3-pointers in just 10 minutes of action.
The breakout performance came seven days after he scored eight points in a home rout of Colorado.
Through seven games, White has averaged 5.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and seven minutes per outing. Widely regarded as an elite shooter, he has connected on seven of his 15 3-pointers for a team-best percentage of 46.7 this season.
White attended Thomas Dale before transferring to the Miller School, a private school in Charlottesville. His younger brother, Andrien, currently suits up for Thomas Dale and is the Knights’ second-leading scorer as a sophomore.
Kansas will entertain the University of Richmond on Tuesday in a rematch of a 2011 meeting in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
JOHNSON MAKES NET GAINS
No sophomore slump here.
Former Thomas Dale standout Ka’lia Johnson has seen healthy increases in nearly every vital statistic to date in her sophomore season on the Duke University women’s basketball team.
Johnson – a four-time First Team All-Central District selection and three-time district player of the year – has posted averages of 5.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 19.5 minutes in the first eight games of the Blue Devils’ young campaign.
As a true freshman, Johnson averaged 1.6 points, 1.5 boards and 7.7 minutes per game last season.
