UTC women 2nd, men golfers lead

Friday, January 1, 1904

Led by a career-best 2-under-par 70 that put Marion Duvernay in the lead individually, the University of Tennesse at Chattanooga surged into second place Saturday in the 14-team Lady Paladin Invitational women's golf tournament hosted by Furman University. Mocs freshman Emily McLennan is tied for sixth at 149 and Jordan Britt is 10th at 150 for UTC, which had a second-round aggregate 297 for a 602, one shot behind the first-place hosts. Isabella Loza of UTC is tied for 17th at 154, but her score doesn't count in the team count, so Porsche Campbell's 159 is the fourth best. The UTC men lead the Bridgestone Collegiate by a shot over Mississippi State after rounds of 289 and 282 in Greensboro, N.C., and the Mocs' Chris Robb is second at 6-under 138 with Benni Weilguni, Michael Monroe and Steven Fox also in the top 20 at 143, 144 and 146.

RUNNING

• The UTC men's cross country team finished second in the Southern Conference meet Saturday at Mount Pleasant, S.C., led by Nathan Wanuch's third-place 24:35.64 and first-team all-conference honors in the 8k. Senior Lucas Cotter, who just started competing again two weeks ago after a spring injury, tied for 12th in 25:13.75. The Lady Mocs finished seventh with Amanda Sumner sixth and all-conference at 17:47.79, Teghan Henderson 22nd and all-freshman and Keeley Stewart crawling across the finish line after a fall in the woods. UTC's Trevor Janssen was the SoCon's men's freshman of the year with his 18th-place finish.

• Patrick Hall won the Signal Mountain 10k Pie Run with a 34:42 finish Saturday, and Rebecca Greenwall was the fastest female and ninth overall in 39:22. Thomas Barker was second overall in 35:15, while Ryan Shrum and Jan Gautier were masters pace-setters and Chad Varga and Mary Preisel were grand masters winners. Hall was third in the prediction prizes, behind Ray Kellum and Lisa Becht.

Wrestling

• The big news from the 18-18 score in UTC's annual Blue-Gold wrestling meet Saturday at the First Tennessee Pavilion was that the Mocs penciled in as likely starters won their matches. The outcome also proved that UTC can go at least two-deep with competitive wrestlers. The winners were Nick Soto (125), Marvin Lopez (133), Dean Pavlou (141), Luke Hudson (149), Trey Stavrum (157), John Lampe (165), Jake Young (174), Robert Prigmore (184), Niko Brown (197) and Kevin Malone (285). The closest match, as predicted by Mocs coach Heath Eslinger, came at 174 with Young's 2-0 decision of Levi Clemons.

Soccer

• Middle Tennessee State senior defender Charity Blair from Chattanooga and Girls Preparatory School scored the goal that created a 1-1 draw Friday night against Western Kentucky and gave the Blue Raiders a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular-season soccer championship with North Texas and Florida International. Blair's tying goal was unassisted from 20 yards out. She is a close second in minutes played for MTSU (13-4-1, 8-1-1) and has taken six shots on goal this season and scored on three of them, and she took and made the team's only penalty kick. She also has an assist. MTSU is seeded No. 2 for the conference tournament and plays seventh-seeded host South Alabama at 7 p.m. CDT Wednesday in Mobile.

Bowling

• The Special Olympics state bowling tournament will be held Monday in Chattanooga at Holiday Bowl Brainerd, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Spectators are welcome.

General

• Times Free Press sports editor Jay Greeson will be the guest 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.