Dayton's Neal third in regional

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Dayton's Michael Neal wound up third in the Walmart Bass Fishing League regional tournament Saturday on Lake Chickamauga with a third-day total of 14 pounds. That gave him 39-13 for the tournament and $1,100. Richard Szczerbala of Apex, N.C., hauled in 15-5 Saturday and won the boaters title at 43-15, getting a Ranger boat with a 200-horsepower outboard motor and a Chevrolet 1500 Silverado truck. Terry Steele of Sparta, Tenn., was second with 41-4 and got $1,500. Scott Curvin of Jacksonville, Ala., won the co-angler category with 28-0 and got a Ranger boat with outboard. Michael Smith of Piemont, S.C., was second at 25-3.

• GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. - Dunlap's Marshall Deakins dropped from fourth to 14th among the pros Saturday in the semifinal around of the Walmart FLW Tour Open bass tournament on Lake Guntersville, and Wesley Helton of Calhoun, Tenn., finished 18th. Paul Elias of Laurel, Miss., leads the 10 finalists today with a three-day haul of 79 pounds, 8 ounces, with Robert Behrle of Hoover, Ala., second at 64-15. The winner will get $125,000. Deakins wound up with 41-9 and got $12,121, and Helton received $11,634 for his 36-4. Casey Martin of New Market, Ala., won the co-angler division with 47-6, earning $20,000.

COLLEGE SPORTS

• Berry College is coming into the NCAA Division III league that includes Sewanee with the decision to add football and men's and women's track and field to its varsity sports. The school just outside Rome, Ga., announced Saturday that it plans to begin varsity football competition in 2013 and will add the track teams soon after. The Southern Athletic Association, which consists of Sewanee and six other current members of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference plus former NAIA member Berry, will begin competition in the 2012-13 school year. Sewanee, Birmingham-Southern, Centre, Millsaps and Rhodes already have football and Hendrix is adding it for next year, leaving only Oglethorpe as an SAA member without it. Football will give Berry 20 NCAA sports plus equestrian. Saturday's announcement from Berry said the school's board of trustees unanimously voted to add the sports after "a multiyear evaluation process which included analyses by outside consultants, wide-ranging discussions on campus involving students, faculty, staff and alumni along with extensive research as the benefits these sports will bring." Said Berry athletic director Todd Brooks: "We are truly excited to be adding football at this time in our history. We have added a number of athletic opportunities for our student-athletes in the past couple of years, and this is by far one of the most exciting." Rome neighbor Shorter University, an NAIA institution, has had football for several years.

• University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic director Rick Hart will be the special speaker for the Chattanooga Quarterback Club's noon luncheon meeting Monday at Finley Stadium, and the public is invited. Attendance costs $10 with a meal, $4 without. Hart will give a "state of the athletic department" update for the fall semester.

BASKETBALL

• The Chattanooga State women's basketball team is ranked No. 8 in NJCAA Division I in the preseason poll - the first top-10 ranking ever for one of the school's basketball teams. Coach Jay Price is returning three starters and three other returners this season, which begins in two weekends, and has a solid group of new recruits.

RUNNING

• MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - The Bryan College men's cross country team won the Southeast Classic meet Saturday morning at Berry College, and the Lions' Bryson Harper and Jason McLeod were fourth and sixth individually with times of 25:26 and 25:36 for the 8-kilometer course. There were 34 teams and 309 runners. Bryan's Anthony Simpson, Connor Hatfield and Alex Stephens were 14th, 20th and 21st. The Lady Lions were 14th out of 35 teams in the women's 5k, led by Alyssia Lindsay's 19:51 time.

• Danielle Alfano from Notre Dame High School set a personal record of 19:24 for a 5k and finished 13th for the King College women's cross country team in the Conference Carolinas meet Friday in Charlotte. She was one spot behind the Lady Tornado's top finisher as they finished third behind nationally ranked Queens and Mount Olive. King's men finished second behind Queens in the 8k.

SOCCER

• BRISTOL, Tenn. - Morgan Shelton had two goals and an assist and fellow Ooltewah High School graduate Heidi Steger also scored for King College in a 4-1 women's soccer win Saturday over Barton. Shelton now has 11 goals this season; it was the first for Steger, a defensive player.