Former Middle State University golfer Joey Savoie from Quebec doubled his lead to a six-stroke victory at 203 with a 68 in the third round Thursday of the Franklin American Mortgage State Open golf tournament at College Grove, Tennessee. Eric Ansett, who just completed his college career at Lipscomb, was second at 209 with former MTSU standout Chas Narramore and former Tennessee Volunteer Michael Nagy tied for third at 211. Former McCallie School and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga player Bryce Ledford, the 2009 State Open winner, was ninth at 213 after a 74, and fellow ex-Moc Steven Fox was in a four-way tie for 10th at 214. Ooltewah resident Gibby Gilbert III and another former UTC player, Stuart Thomas, were tied for 14th at 215. Fox won the 2012 U.S. Amateur, the 2013 Tennessee Amateur and the 2014 State Open.
» No. 2-ranked Dalton State College rose to fourth place Thursday in the NAIA national women's tournament at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, two days after being 19th. The Lady Roadrunners shot a 301 and go into the final round today at 940, four shots behind 12th-ranked Keiser and 12 behind No. 5 William Woods. No. 1 SCAD Savannah leads at 909. DSC's Isabel Rijos shot an even-par 72 and moved up 45 spots into a tie for 31st at 237, and Tia Teiniketo rose to fourth at 229 with a 75. Katie Dalton and Caroline Griffin shot 77s and are tied for 22nd at 235 and 40th at 239.
Softball
» Lee University sophomore Taylor Moran from Silverdale Baptist Academy combined her already reported third-team All-America selection from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association with first-team status from the Division II Collegiate Commissioners Association (D2CCA) on Wednesday. She led the Gulf South Conference with 62 RBIs in 2018, and she was second with 73 hits, 13 home runs, 128 total bases and a .785 slugging percentage, and she batted .448 and walked 34 times. "She had a spectacular sophomore year, and we are looking forward to two more great seasons for Taylor," coach Emily Russell said in a Lee release, noting that Moran "worked extremely hard and stayed focused to improve with every at-bat."
Basketball
» Tennessee Tech sophomore point guard Akia Harris from Chattanooga made up for lost time due to blood-clot surgery by averaging 34.1 minutes per game in the 2017-18 basketball season, and she was honored this spring as the Cookeville school's comeback athlete of the year. As noted in an extensive story about her on the TTU athletics website, Harris scored 22 points with 5-of-5 3-point shooting against Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 30, nine months after two surgeries to drain a blood clot that extended from her left thigh to her ankle. She had to do much of her 2017 spring-semester schoolwork from home and couldn't do any basketball activities until Sept. 25 but averaged 8.6 points a game. "We talk all the time in our program about life not being about the uncontrollable events that happen to you but about your response to those events," Tech coach Kim Rosamond said in the website story. "Akia inspired me with her positive response to a very scary situation." Harris played for Girls Preparatory School and Hamilton Heights.
» Gracen Hobbs is going from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School to playing basketball at Georgia Northwestern Technical College in 2018-19. After missing most of her junior season with an injury, she helped LFO win its subregion and reach the Class AAA state playoffs this past winter. She also played volleyball. "I think she's really going to be able to help them," LFO coach Dewayne Watkins said in a GNTC release. "She has an ability to score, and she shoots the ball pretty well. She'll able to add some scoring to the team, as well as just be a solid defensive player." Lady Bobcats coach David Stephenson praised Watkins and his program and said of Hobbs, "She can take the ball to the rack, and she gives us another scorer from the wing position that we need, since we're losing one of our wings. ... I think we're getting another steal."
Tennis
» Sewanee junior Jack Gray from Chattanooga and Baylor School lost 7-6 (2), 6-2 to 12th-ranked Erik Kerrigan of the University of Chicago in the first round Thursday of the NCAA Division III individual tennis tournament at Claremont, California, and Sewanee senior Clementina Davila lost 6-4, 6-1 to four-time women's singles All-American Juli Raventos of Williams College. Gray led 4-2 in the first set and then rallied from a 5-4 deficit to lead 6-5 before falling.
Baseball
» East Tennessee State sophomore third baseman Cade Gilbert from Ringgold had a two-run double and another hit in a 5-2 win over Furman in the Southern Conference baseball tournament Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina. Late Wednesday night, Gilbert's second RBI hit of the game was part of a five-run rally that forced extra innings against No. 3 seed Wofford, but the sixth-seeded Bucs fell 8-7 in the 10th. Two wild pitches got senior Caleb Longley from Walker Valley and Cleveland State home with the tying run.
General
» Eight of UTC's 14 intercollegiate sports beat the national averages for Academic Progress Rates for the four-year cycle from 2013 to 2017, as released this week by the NCAA, and the other six cleared the 930 minimum to avoid penalties. As reported previously, the UTC women's sports of basketball, tennis and cross country compiled perfect 1000s for the four years, and soccer, volleyball and men's tennis and cross country matched them in 2016-17. It was the third 1000 in the cycle for each of those four except soccer.