Sportswriters Robert Anderson and Aaron McFarling have lots to say about Hidden Valley’s new boys’ basketball coach — Troy Wells, hired away from Martinsville High School. On this week’s Varsity Cast, our weekly high school sports webcast, they talk about the “perfect storm” of events that led to Wells surprising jump to the Titans.

But wait, that’s not all — Robert and Aaron also talk about Hidden Valley baseball slugger Zack Helgeson. You’ll recall that last week we posted video of Helgeson, whom Aaron called “the most feared slugger in the Roanoke Valley.”

We’ve just updated our Roanoke Valley crime map with Roanoke County offenses through Saturday, April 26. This represents two weeks worth of new data from the Roanoke County Police Department. During that time, Southwest Roanoke County had five larcenies, one burglary and one aggravated assault.

The map sits over a searchable database that has data for Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem, so you can search it however you like — by date, by locality, by offense. Our data delivery editor, Matt Chittum, has a guide to all the ways you can use the data — which is part of our Datasphere of other data sites. Among the more popular search functions there now: A database of trophy fish in Virginia. We even have a do-it-yourself map to track bear sightings in unusual places.

The Hidden Valley softball team has a new addition to its family: Brady Kish, the newborn son of Coaches Katrina and Christian Kish. This photo was taken when Hidden Valley beat Pulaski Friday night at Pulaski.

Photos courtesy of Jim Elliott.

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Lydia Higgs has received not one, but two PRAY awards for completing the “God and Life” segment of the “God and Country” program. She also received special recognition as a Four-Star Recipient for earning all four levels of the God and Country series.

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Three Roanoke County school nutrition managers have earned state school nutrition awards, which were given during the recent School Nutrition Association of Virginia annual conference in Virginia Beach. Additionally, a nutrition associate earned the highest credential offered in the profession.
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All four have ties to Southwest Roanoke County. They are:

* Kathy Stackpole at Arnold R. Burton Technical Center.
* Virginia Heffley at Clearbrook Elementary School.
* Kimberly E. Stevens at Hidden Valley High School.
* Walter D. Reed at Cave Spring High School.

For details, see this story on our companion news site.

The Roanoke Civitan Club selected Hidden Valley High School Girls’ Basketball team as recipient of the Good Sportsmanship Award for 2008 yesterday.

The girl’s team not only won this award but also won the 2008 Group AA state championship and players Abby Oliver and Kylee Beecher made The Roanoke Times’ Timesland Region IV Girls First Team. Abby Oliver was also name Region IV Player of the Year and coach Mick McGuire was name Region IV Coach of the Year.

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Quigg Lawrence has sent us two photos from Saturday’s opening day of the Cave Spring Little League. Here’s one that shows Garret Durham giving the invocation. And click below for another nice shot. Do you have photos you’d like to share with us — from youth league sports or other events? Just email us at news@swo-co.com. Be sure to include your contact info, plus a full description of who or what we’re seeing in the photo. By the way, we’ll have more photos from opening day in Friday’s print editions of SWoCo.

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Features writer Erinn Hutkin had a story today in the Extra section about this year’s prom fashions. Here’s an interesting paragraph about what girls are picking for the Cave Spring and Hidden Valley proms this year:

No matter what the color or pattern, the majority of teens chose long dresses — and many of those floor-length gowns were covered by beads or sequins. However, some schools set their own trends. Dorothy Osborne, owner of Panache dress shop, said teens from Hidden Valley and Cave Spring high schools seemed to favor short gowns.

By the way, Cave Spring’s prom is May 10. Hidden Valley’s prom was this past Saturday. Look for photos in this Friday’s print edition of SWoCo.

Penn Forest Elementary School‘s first, groundbreaking live and silent auction was held Friday, April 25 and deemed a success by Laurie Bowling, Vice President of Programs and next year’s President of Programs.

“It went very well,” she said. “Being out first auction, I thought it went great. There are definitely things we can tweak.”

The private pre-event from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. did not bring in much money, Bowling said but it brought it a little bit. Dinner was served to 122 people by Foodies.

The menu included:
-pork tenderloin
-greek pita wraps
-shrimp scampi

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If anyone was out on Electric Road Saturday, they might have seen the wreck at the U.S. 220 south exit that jammed up traffic. Here’s a video from the scene. Anyone have thoughts on that intersection they’d like to share? Just click “comments” below.