Riley Hickman nips Skip Arp in thrilling finish

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Riley Hickman from Ooltewah spent the whole Southern Regional Racing Series 40-lap race for Super Late Model cars Friday night chasing Georgetown's Skip Arp around Boyd's Speedway, and he finally nipped him at the end -- by a margin of .004 second that had to be determined by the track transponder. The veteran Arp repeatedly blocked Hickman's attempts to pass high and low and took a car-length lead into the final half-lap, but Hickman slipped past on the inside just as the checkered flag flew. Maryville's Jason Welshan was fifth in that race and was the Crate Late Model winner for the fourth time in four Boyd's tries this year, with Chris Wilson second and Jeff Smith third. Booger Brooks and Arva Brooks were first and second in A-Hobby, and Dallas Brooks and Scott Boyd were one-two in B-Hobby.

Fishing

  • GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. -- Marshall Deakins of Dunlap finished fourth among the pros with a three-day haul of 15 bass totaling 75 pounds, 5 ounces in the final 2012 Everstart Series Southeast Division tournament that ended Saturday on Lake Guntersville, and Derek Hicks of Rocky Face, Ga., was ninth with 60-9. Deakins won $8,940; Hicks, $3,973. Alex Davis of Albertville, Ala., won $34,767 for his first-place 81-12 total. Jason Atkins of Section, Ala., was the co-angler runner-up with 53-11, good for $4,470. Justin Sward of Birmingham won with 62-12. Billy Brindle of Calhoun, Ga., was 14th among the pros with 40-4, Wesley Strader of Spring City was 23rd with 35-6, Corey Bradley of McDonald was 36th with 31-0 and Tim Buckner of Scottsboro was 43rd with 29-14.

  • GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. -- Tennessee Tech's Matthew Clay from Madisonville, Tenn., and Joe Slagle from Bristol won handily in the National Guard FLW College Fishing Southeastern tournament Saturday on Lake Guntersville with five bass totaling 26 pounds, 15 ounces. They won $5,000 for Tech and their bass club and earned a spot in the conference championship tournament. An Auburn duo was second with 17-10. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Parker Bacon and Taylor Bolton finished 11th with 10-5. "Joe came up with a great plan for us today," said Clay, referencing their success in a down-lake area close to a bridge near Brown's Creek. "I had finals this entire week and couldn't afford to take the entire week off and come down here and practice. Fortunately, Joe made it down here for a few days last week, and it worked out great for us." The winners said in an FLW release that "15 to 16 pounds" was their hope, but they had "at least 20 keepers" to choose from. "We had no idea that we were going to catch 27 pounds," Clay said. "We figured that these Guntersville bass would be sick of the Alabama rig, so we broke it down and threw only one swimbait today. The fish were spawned out and we were able to catch them suspended near the bridge. It was an absolutely fantastic day."

Softball

  • MEMPHIS -- Memphis senior first baseman Jessica Phillips from Girls Preparatory School batted in a run in each of two one-run losses Saturday against East Carolina, 5-4 and 4-3 in eight innings, and that made her only the second player in program history with 100 RBIs for her career. Laura Curtis from Chattanooga Christian and Chattanooga State tripled in game one and was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run in game two.

Lacrosse

  • Sewanee seniors Meg Welton, Page Carpenter and Molly Farmer and junior Molly Arnold were voted to the All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference women's lacrosse team for 2012, and Tigers teammates Sarah Squire, Amy Nusbaum, Olivia Vietor and Sally Anne Greenwood were second-team choices. Welton led the SCAC with 64 goals and 85 points and was second in draw controls with 78, and she has Sewanee records for career and single-season goals (227 career), shots, shots on goal and draw controls. Carpenter led the league with 34 assists, breaking the school record, and was seventh with 60 points, while Arnold had 41 goals and 44 draw controls and defender Farmer was sixth in caused turnovers.

Tennis

  • Lee University tennis coach Tony Cavett officially signed Polk County High School basketball standout Maclain Yowarsky to a scholarship Friday. Yowarsky, a Polk student, plays No. 1 singles for Walker Valley High, and her planned signing with the Lady Flames was previously reported. "I have known Mac since she was in the sixth grade," Cavett said in a Lee release. "We have spent many hours on the tennis courts over the years, and I feel she will become a very good college player. A lot of the girls on our team already know her, so I feel she will have an easy transition in becoming a part of the team." Yowarsky had a 14-2 singles record in the 2012 regular season.

Golf

  • The inaugural Georgia Senior Match Play Championship golf tournament will run Tuesday through Friday at The Standard Club at Johns Creek. Summerville's Randy Bowman and Dalton's Donald Gray are among the 90 amateur players ages 55 and older entered for two days of stroke-play qualifying, after which the low 16 will go into match play. The round-of-16 and quarterfinal matches are set for Thursday, the semifinals and final for Friday.

Basketball

  • Georgia Northwestern Technical College has signed Sierra Smith from Armuchee High School for its women's basketball team, the reigning NJCAA Region XVII champion. The 5-foot-6 shooting guard plans to enroll in GNTC's culinary arts program. Also a softball player for Armuchee, she earned a spot with the Lady Bobcats in their open workout in April.

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