Dalton State College All-American P.J. Shields won the championship flight of the 2018 North Georgia Invitational golf tournament at Dalton Golf & Country Club with a 9-under-par 135 (68-67) for 36 holes Saturday and Sunday. David Noll Jr. was second at 137 with David Watts third at 142, Evan Spence next at 143 and Dalton Johnson and Sport Allmond tied for fifth at 144. Mike Nance parlayed his first-round 63 into a five-stroke win at 140 in the senior division, where Tim Crawford was second at 145, Tom Baird and Scott Patton shared third at 146 and Chris Hall was fifth at 147. Dick Donegan and Larry McGill tied for first among the super seniors with 145s, Brad Virgil finishing third at 148, and Vance Embry, Will Morrow and Davis Smith tied for first in the A flight with 144s. Cody Godfrey's 142 (68-74) won the B, two shots better than Conner Pollman and Matt Oxford, and Tyler Mitchell (143), Matt Hadden (146), Clay Stevenson (145) and Terry Mitchell (157) won the C, D, E and F titles.
Tennis
» A historic Tennessee Junior Qualifying tennis tournament wraps up today at the Champions Club. Courts at Baylor School, Girls Preparatory School and Brainerd also were used in the event that began Friday with 415 boys and girls from throughout the state in a first for all five age groups: 10-, 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-under. Top finishers in each division - 17 boys and 17 girls each in 14s through 18s singles, for example - advance to nine-state USTA Southern Sectionals this weekend. The 10s sectionals will be in Chattanooga while the 12s are set for Cary, North Carolina; the 14s for Macon, Georgia; the 16s for Little Rock, Arkansas; and the 18s for Mobile, Alabama. "This is something I've wanted to do for a long time - have all the state age groups together in Chattanooga," tournament director Andrew Rogers said Sunday, adding praise for the Chattanooga Sports Committee. "USTA Tennessee the last few years has really looked at improving the player experience, and having them all at the same place certainly helps families who have kids in multiple age groups - and coaches who have multiple kids participating." Rogers also noted the tournament's partnership the last two years with the Sean Karl Foundation, honoring the late Brentwood resident and University of Tennessee tennis player, and said having all the ages together raises the foundation's profile and fundraising potential to fight Ewing sarcoma bone cancer. Most doubles titles were determined Sunday. In older-age singles finals this morning, top-seeded Sean Presson of Knoxville faces 5 seed Jeffrey Dewald of Franklin in Boys' 18s, No. 1 Julia Adams of Knoxville meets No. 3 Winslow Huth of Brentwood - a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) semifinal winner over No. 2 Monique Woog of Lakeland - in Girls' 18s, No. 1 Baylor Sai of Nashville takes on No. 2 Luke Amet of Sevierville in Boys' 16s, No. 1 Reagan Welch of Greenbrier faces No. 2 Eesha Gudiseva of Germantown in Girls' 16s, No. 1 Jose Garcia of Knoxville and No. 2 Jaxon Lamb of Greeneville meet in Boys' 14s and No. 1 Conley Raidt of Brentwood and No. 2 Margaux Guibal Britt of Collierville square off in Girls' 14s.
Swimming
» The Florida team cruised to a decisive victory Sunday as the Southern Zone Open Water Championships wrapped up at Chester Frost Park, finishing with 603 points to runner-up North Carolina's 416; no other squad in the nine-team scored more than 280. Florida was helped by two wins in the day's 3000-yard pursuit relay competition, with its female "A" lineups winning both the 14-and-younger and 15-and-older divisions. In the male races, Georgia's "A" team won the 14-and-younger title and North Carolina's "A" team the 15-and-older title. In three of four races Sunday, the margin of victory was less than a minute, but the 14-and-younger Florida "A" team of Blair Stoneburg, McKenna Fiore, Kelsey Swartout and Alexandra Breuer finished in 41 minutes, 56.2 seconds, easily ahead of the Florida Golf Coast "A" team's 43:45.1.