Teams representing Bryan College and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have a lot of ground to make up on the water at the FLW college fishing national championship, which started Wednesday out of Shreveport, Louisiana. The pressure will grow as the bass tournament continues today on the Red River, because only the top 10 teams of 168 in the field advance to Friday's final round of competition after this afternoon's weigh-in. Bryan's Chandler Fogg and Conner Fogg were 58th after their daily limit of five fish weighed in at 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and that was the best start for local colleges. On a day when the temperatures soared into the mid-90s, many teams struggled to get their limit and at least 18 posted no catches. The University of Louisiana at Monroe's Hunter Freeman and Thomas Soileau were first at 14-7, and just less than four pounds separated them from 10th place. Bryan's Nathan Bell and Cole Sands were 85th at 4-9 with three fish, while the Lions' D.J. Barber, fishing alone, had one fish at 1-5 and was 141st. UTC's Dylan Anderson and Gavyn Bridges were 109th at 3-0 with two fish, and the Mocs' Dillon Falardeau and Patrick Hoskins were 129th at 1-13 with two fish. Bryan's Bell and Sands are coming off a runner-up finish last week at the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama. The winning team this week will earn a Ranger Z175 bass boat and the right to a fish-off Saturday for the individual title.
Track & Field
» Based on their performances at the national meet last week in Charlotte, North Carolina, Lee University track and field athletes Justin and Josiah Brooks, Audrey Smith and Emily Buwalda received three NCAA Division II All-America first-team honors and four second-team designations from the national coaches association. Justin Brooks was a first-team All-American for his top-five finishes in the 200- and 400-meter dashes, and his brother joined him on the first team with a sixth place in the 200 and was a second-team triple jumper. Smith was a second-team All-American with top-12 finishes in the women's 3000 steeplechase and the 5000, and Buwalda had a second-team run in the 800.
» Tennessee Wesleyan University's 15th-place men's finish in the NAIA outdoor nationals last weekend in Gulf Shores, Alabama, was the best ever for the Athens school, and it included two individual and one relay All-American finish for Dillan Elkins. Josh Parson had the best individual finish for TWU with his third place to go with Elkins' sixth in the 200, and Cadarius Harris in the 100 and Kenny Benton, John Gould and Devonte Fletcher with Elkins in the 4x400 joined them as All-Americans. Bryan College also had its first All-American sprinter with James Eliezer joining Elkins in the 400 top eight.
General
» UTC finished eighth out of 10 schools in the Southern Conference Commissioner's Cup all-sports men's standings for 2017-18 and sixth in the Germann Cup women's standings. The East Tennessee State University men's and Furman women's programs won for the third time in a row, and the ETSU women and Furman win both were third behind Samford this year. The top seven sports for each school count toward its points total.
Basketball
» The NCAA recently finalized its men's basketball statistics for the 2017-18 season, and Covenant sophomore James Mitchell's 121 3-pointers made tied for the lead in Division III. Mitchell, who is from Macon, Georgia, shared the title with Aston Francis of Wheaton (Illinois) College. They were among only 11 D-III players who made at least 100 3-pointers this season, and Mitchell was the first Scot since Josh Suddath in 2005-06 to make at least 100. In other D-III national stats, Covenant's Caleb Haynes was second in field-goal percentage (71.2) and Bailey Spragg fourth in steals (87) and steals per game (3.22).