The top eight seeds won as projected Thursday in the round of 16 of Men's Open singles at the Tennessee Valley Open Championships at the Manker Patten Tennis Club. No. 1 seed Isaiah Strode from California won 6-0, 6-0 over Kevin Le; No. 2 Marek Michalicka from Michigan defeated Hixson's Luke Plaisted 6-3, 6-1; No. 3 Julian Bradley from Florida beat Federico Staksrud 6-2, 6-0; No. 4 Andres Martin from Flowery Branch won 6-2, 6-2 over Jake Briggs of Calhoun in a matchup of Georgians; and No. 7 Vincent Rettke from Madison, Alabama, topped Spencer Richey 7-6, 6-1. Nos. 5, 6 and 7 Harrison O'Keefe, Andrew Rogers and Paul Gota prevailed over injured opponents, Brentwood resident Rogers in a dogfight at 3-6, 7-5 when Vikram Hundal retired. In the Women's Open singles round of 32, Manker Patten's own Hayley Carter, the top seed, won 6-0, 6-0, while No. 2 Carly Briggs of Calhoun advanced in a walkover, No. 3 Alba Cortina Pou of Tuscaloosa won 6-2, 6-0 and No. 4 Alory Regina Elorriaga Pereira of Signal Mountain won 6-3, 7-5 over Knoxville's Lauren Yoon.
» Recent Washington and Lee graduate Michelle Fleenor from Chattanooga and Girls Preparatory School was chosen an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III All-American for 2018, along with Clementina Davila of Sewanee. Fleenor was the Old Dominion Athletic Conference women's player of the year after concluding her Generals career with a 24-0 singles record against league competition. She was 59-17 overall in singles and was ranked 18th nationally in the final Oracle/ITA poll. Davila was tied for 20th in singles and was 16th in doubles with Catherine Owen.
Baseball
» Cleveland State's Hunter Oliver was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 21st round of the Major League Baseball draft Wednesday. Oliver was an All-TCCAA first-team selection after batting .412 with 16 home runs, 14 doubles, 58 runs scored and 63 RBIs while also posting a .987 fielding percentage. The 6-foot-1, 226-pound catcher is a 2016 graduate of Cleveland High School.
Fishing
» Wesley Strader of Spring City was tied for 17th at 10 pounds, 2 ounces - just 7 ounces out of the top 10 - after the first round Thursday of the Bassmaster Elite tournament on the Sabine River in Texas. Jacob Wheeler of Harrison was tied for 41st at 8-3 in the tightly packed field. Greg Hackney of Gonzales, Louisiana, led at 16-3, but Matt Herren of Ashville, Alabama, had 12-4 and was second.
Golf
» For the second year in a row, Dalton State College's Ben Rickett was chosen the Golf Pride Grips NAIA South Region men's coach of the year, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced Wednesday. The former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga player and assistant coach guided the Roadrunners to a runaway fourth consecutive victory in the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament and a No. 2 national ranking and NAIA tournament runner-up finish.
» Maxwell Ford of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, capped a 12-under-par 201 with a 67 Thursday in winning the annual Evitt Foundation RTC Junior All-Star tournament at WindStone by three strokes over Cartersville's Buck Brumlow. It was Ford's first American Junior Golf Association victory but came in only his second try. Kaleiya Romero of San Jose, California, got her third AJGA girls' win with a 4-under 209 on the Ringgold course. She won by eight strokes over Cindy Song of China and Waxhaw, North Carolina. McCallie School sophomore Joe Carter of Chattanooga had the best finish for an area player, as he tied for ninth at 212 with a final-round 70. Wyatt Brackett of Dalton shared 16th place at 215, and Chattanooga's Sheldon McKnight was 22nd at 220. Hogan Ingram of Rome tied for sixth at 211. Third through fifth were Will Davis (206) of Jacksonville, Florida; Abhay Gupta (207) of Concord, North Carolina; and Andrew Garger (210) of Sharpsburg, Georgia. Cleveland resident Hannah Nall tied for 15th at 229 among the girls.