Jake Lewis of Wytheville won a gold medal last Saturday in the annual Coventry Commonwealth Games.

Kenny Peeples Jr. and Brandon Umberger, both of Rural Retreat, have spent the last several weeks splitting wins, and along with Phil Gann of Mayodan, N.C., are the only repeat winners this season at Wythe Raceway.

Elizabethton stayed in solid control of the West Division of the Appalachian League on Monday, July 9 with an 18-0 thumping of Greeneville. The win put the Twins, with just two losses on the season, 7 1/2 games ahead of Kingsport in the division. In other Appy League baseball games Monday, Bluefield out-slugged Johnson City 11-9, Burlington bullied Kingsport 18-3 and Bristol bumped off Princeton 5-3.

The fourth annual Big Walker Century Ride was held on July 7 with bike riders traveling five different courses over Wythe and Bland counties.
Riders had a choice of traveling 25, 40, 50, 62 or 100 miles.

Kwik Kix Martial Arts & Fitness (KKMA), L.L.C. held its best testing and graduation for the “Little Kickers” (pre-school ages 4-6) and for children and youth (age 7-13) on June 2 and June 16.
All students were required to demonstrate stances, kicks, punches, strikes, and kata (forms) based on the student’s knowledge of content (training “time in”) and age appropriate developmental motor skills. Running, push-ups and sit-ups were also all a part of the student’s skills test.

Matthew Heldreth will be suiting up one more time tomorrow night.
After leading the Rural Retreat High School football team to a thrilling ’07 season back in December, Heldreth graduated this spring.

Shane Peery of Shanaki Martial Arts Studios recently won his debut in full contact, mixed martial arts cage fight at “Ruckus in the Cage.”

Brandon Umberger and Kenny Peeples Jr., both of Rural Retreat, have been dominant this season in the Exit 54 Exxon Late Models Division at Wythe Raceway.
But as of late Umberger has been getting the advantage on the track and now in the points standings and Saturday night was no different on the high banked half mile dirt super speedway, as he took the win and Peeples finished second.

Black bear sightings have flooded Southwest Virginia lately.
But few have noticed that the area can claim the world’s only Maroon Bear.
Like any good wrestler, Alex Church has the cool nickname. Church just graduated from Rocky Gap High School this spring. Although he wore the uniform of the Bland County Bears for his football, baseball and basketball exploits, his sport of choice is wrestling. And with no school wrestling team offered in the county, this Bear had to take on some color.

More than 100 bike riders took part in the fourth annual Big Walker Century Ride held Saturday in Wythe and Bland counties.
Riders had a choice of five different routes: 25 miles, 40 miles, 50 miles, 62 miles or 100 miles. The ride helps raise money to support the HOPE Ministry Center, which is a project to help overcome poverty.