CLARKE MILLER, FRANKLIN & MARSHALL Sport: Football Local connection: Senior from St. Christopher’s Notable: Miller, an offensive tackle, was named to the all-Centennial Conference first team after helping lead the Diplomats to an 8-2 regular season. In addition, he was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine academic all-District II second team (GPA of at least 3.3). MALLORY CARTER, RANDOLPH-MACON Sport: Volleyball Local connection: Freshman from Cosby Notable: Carter, an outside hitter, was named to the ODAC’s all-tournament team after getting 10 kills and 22 digs in the Yellow Jackets’ 3-1 win over Roanoke in the conference championship match. The league title was the first in the history of the R-MC program. JENNY WEIR, LYNCHBURG Sport: Field hockey Local connection: Junior from James River Notable: Weir, a midfielder, earned a berth on the all-ODAC first team after a season in which she scored 12 goals and handed out a league-best 14 assists. She helped the Hornets post an 18-5 record, go unbeaten in league play and win a fourth consecutive ODAC title. HANNAH HESSER, SWEET BRIAR Sport: Swimming Local connection: Senior from Trinity Episcopal/Poseidon Notable: Hesser won the 100-meter butterfly (1:10.40) and participated in a pair of relay victories in Sweet Briar’s dual-meet conquest of Guilford. She swam with the 400-meter relay team that set a pool record and broke a 26-year-old program record by winning in 4:15.42. MATTHEW RICHARDSON, ELON Sport: Cross country Local connection: Junior from Collegiate Notable: Richardson, a two-time All-Metro performer at Collegiate, earned a berth on the all-Southern Conference second team by placing 11th (25:45.65 for 8K) at the conference championship meet. He is the first Elon runner in 13 years to capture all-league honors. AMANDA HAYES, DICKINSON Sport: Volleyball Local connection: Senior from Midlothian Notable: Hayes completed her collegiate career by winning a spot on the all-Centennial Conference second team—her third all-league citation in as many years. The Red Devils’ libero produced 333 digs in 23 matches and departs as the program’s all-time digs leader (1,634).—Compiled by Vic Dorr Jr.

ALLIE WEIR, LYNCHBURG Sport: Field hockey Local connection: Senior from James River Notable: Weir, one of the most prolific scorers in NCAA Division III history, rang up seven goals in Lynchburg’s weekend victories over DePauw and Denison. She now has 108 for her career. She sits atop not only Lynchburg’s but also the ODAC’s career goal-scoring charts. PARKER WALTON, GEORGE MASON Sport: Soccer Local connection: Junior from Midlothian Notable: Walton scored in the 86th minute to lift George Mason to a 2-1 victory over Howard in the opening round of last week’s D.C. College Cup. The former All-Metro performer was named to the all-tournament team. CATHERINE HANNERS, UNC GREENSBORO Sport: Volleyball Local connection: Senior from Douglas Freeman Notable: UNCG’s decision to move Hanners from libero to outside hitter seems to have been a good one. Hanners was named to the Gamecock Invitational all-tournament team after piling up 52 kills in three matches, including 22 in a 3-1 triumph over Eastern Kentucky. ANNA DAVIS BARNES, WILLIAM AND MARY Sport: Field hockey Local connection: Graduate of James River Notable: The Colonial Athletic Association named Barnes to its Silver Anniversary field hockey team as a defender. And with good reason. Barnes was selected three times to the all-CAA team and was the league’s defensive player of the year in 2005. KELSEY BILLUPS, VIRGINIA TECH Sport: Soccer Local connection: Junior from Mills Godwin Notable: Billups, a former Colonial District and Central Region player of the year, scored the game-winning goal for Virginia Tech in last week’s 4-3 overtime victory over VCU in UNC Greensboro’s Spartan Classic. She scored off a teammate’s corner kick in the 97th minute. ANNE AILSTOCK, HOLLINS Sport: Tennis Local connection: Junior from Dinwiddie Notable: Ailstock was named to the ITA and VaSID all-academic teams at the conclusion of the 2008-09 school year. The ITA honor, which Ailstock captured for the second consecutive year, carries formidable requirements. Among them: a GPA of at least 3.50.—Compiled by Vic Dorr Jr.

Forty-two University of Richmond students have been treated for flulike illness since fall classes began, but new cases slowed as the week ended. The H1N1 swine flu has caused a surge in illnesses on college campuses. With K-12 schools starting in just a few days in many places, a similar upswing there is feared. “As health officials tell us, this is similar to seasonal flu, and the numbers go up and down,“ said UR spokesman Brian Eckert. “We expect to see more cases.“

Flulike illness is hitting Virginia’s colleges and universities unevenly, but schools are adopting similar strategies to keep the numbers of sick down. The flu-case count was still four at Virginia Commonwealth University yesterday, but numbers were swelling at the University of Virginia. Since the U.Va. fall term began with orientation 10 days ago, 23 students have come down with flulike symptoms, according to case counts posted on the health center’s Web site.

As predicted, college students returning for fall classes and crowding into dormitories, classrooms and cafeterias are driving up the number of suspected swine-flu cases. More than a dozen colleges across the country are reporting students sick with what is suspected to be the novel H1N1 influenza, also called swine flu. In the Richmond area, Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond each report students with flulike illness.

As predicted, college students returning for fall classes and crowding into dormitories, classrooms and cafeterias are driving up the number of suspected swine-flu cases. More than a dozen colleges across the country are reporting students sick with what is suspected to be the novel H1N1 influenza, also called swine flu. In the Richmond area, Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond each report students with flulike illness.

When the Virginia Business Higher Education Council recently unveiled its “Grow by Degrees” initiative, it was as if the Boston Red Sox had proclaimed they would strive to win as many pennants as possible over the next 10 seasons, but would attempt to do so with just eight players on the field. Without question, the program’s commitment to help 70,000 more Virginians earn associate, bachelor, and graduate degrees by 2020 is an important endeavor on behalf of the commonwealth. As Council Chairman Heywood Fralin said, “If you want to make Virginia the economic growth capital of the world, you must first make Virginia . . . the educational growth capital of the world.“

Some of the nation’s biggest for-profit colleges and vocational schools are boosting enrollment in tough times by making more loans directly to cash-strapped students, knowing full well that many of them probably won’t be able to repay what they borrowed. The schools still make money because the practice boosts their enrollment and brings in tuition dollars subsidized by the government.

Federal stimulus money allocated to Virginia’s public colleges and universities helped keep the average increase in tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates to about 5 percent for the upcoming school year. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia released a report yesterday showing that the average annual in-state tuition and all mandatory fees at Virginia’s 15 four-year schools is $7,984, up 5.3 percent from 2008-09.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. River views, granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances, 9-foot ceilings. This is student housing? When classes start this fall—if all goes as planned—about 300 students at Johnson & Wales University will be living in Capitol Cove, an upscale condominium project that had been languishing on the market. “It’s a great Band-Aid,“ said Irving Schneider, president of Johnson & Wales’s Providence campus, which just signed a three-year lease for the Capitol Cove development. “This arrangement was good for the developer as well as Johnson & Wales.“

Virginia Commonwealth University’s next president returned to campus yesterday for what he pledged would be “the beginning of a really good conversation” on the direction VCU will take under his leadership.

University of Richmond students will pay 3.1 percent more in tuition and room and board next school year, bringing their overall cost to $48,490. “It’s the smallest increase in 40 years,“ UR President Edward L. Ayers said yesterday. The increase will cover rising costs of expenses such as utilities and food, but UR will use its endowment to protect the university’s educational quality, Ayers said.

When her landscaping business withered with the economy around it, LeeAnne Brooks did what an increasing number of Virginians are doing. She went back to school. At 49, Brooks is acutely aware that she’s anything but a typical college student as she takes her seat beside 20-year-olds at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. But like the generation behind her, she is concerned about how proposed state budget reductions will affect the education she needs to become a teacher.

Legislation to increase the number of in-state students at some top-tier Virginia colleges and universities was sent yesterday to the House of Delegates’ budget committee. The move complicates the fate of the bills, which now are before a panel trying to balance a state budget amid a $3.2 billion deficit. News of the legislation is spreading on campuses and sparked the College of William and Mary’s Student Senate to pass a resolution in opposition of the effort. Four related bills, now all in the House Appropriations Committee, seek to require public colleges and universities to admit at least 70 percent of their undergraduates from within Virginia.

Some high school students graduating at the top of their class are not getting into the Virginia public college or university of their choice. For years, state lawmakers have served as sounding boards for frustrated parents. Now, several lawmakers are trying to make public colleges and universities accessible to more Virginia students by requiring them to admit at least 70 percent of their undergraduates from in-state.