COLUMBUS, Ohio - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's golf team needs to climb the leaderboard up north to play for the national championship back in the South. UTC shot a 20-over-par 304 in the first round of the NCAA Columbus Regional at the Ohio State Scarlet Course on Thursday. The Mocs are in 12th place out of 13 teams and need to move up to fifth to advance to the Division I title tournament near Atlanta. Senior Steven Fox led the Mocs with a 2-over 73 that him tied for 16th individually. Liam Johnston shot 74, Davis Bunn 78 and Chris Robb 79. They and Benni Weilguni combined for a season-low four birdies. The second of three rounds begins this morning with UTC paired with players from Virginia and Texas Tech.
• Sewanee freshman Emily Javadi from Chattanooga was named the Women's Golf Coaches Association NCAA Division III freshman of the year and a first-team All-American for the season she's had with the Tigers, including winning the Southern Athletic Association individual title. She shot a third-round 80 Thursday in the national tournament at Destin, Fla., and is tied for 30th at 242. Fellow Baylor alumni Alyssa Brown of Centre and Kaleigh Toole of Birmingham-Southern are tied for 36th and 74th at 244 and 258, and Signal Mountain's Sarah Dolmovich of BSC is tied for 58th at 251 after an 80 Thursday.
• Lee University moved up to 10th place in the NAIA men's national golf tournament at Salem, Ore., with a collective 292 on Thursday, led by Matt Emery's 2-under-par 70 and a 72 by freshman Peyton Sliger. Emory is 12th individually at 218. Lee's JB Eksteen and Hunter Vest are tied for 41st after their 74 and 76 in the third round, and Sliger is 52nd at 228. "We've moved up each day, and hopefully we are not finished," Flames coach John Maupin said in a school release. "We are going to need everyone tomorrow, though, and we are looking forward to the final round."
General
• Sewanee senior athletes Phillip Link from swimming and Jenny Liles from tennis were the first Man and Woman of the Year award winners for the SAA. Link was a first-team All-SAA swimmer and helped lead the Tigers to a second-place finish in the league meet, and he was a four-time NCAA qualifier who holds three school and SAA records. A two-time Academic All-American, he recently was announced as a winner of a prestigious NCAA postgraduate scholarship, and he was president of the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society on campus and vice president of the Alpha Epsilon Delta National Medical Society, which Liles served as president. She also was a first-team All-SAA selection and helped her team win the league championship and reach the third round of the NCAA Division III tournament, and she was a combined 30-9 this season in singles and doubles and will play both in the national individual tournament. An ITA Scholar-Athlete and 2013 Sewanee valedictorian, she also was vice president of Sewanee's Phi Beta Kappa chapter and a member of Omicron Delta Kappa.
Baseball
• Covenant College will close out its baseball season today against Olivet Nazarene in the National Christian College national tournament in Mason, Ohio, after losing 5-3 to Campbellsville and 8-0 to Emmanuel in pool games Thursday. The Scots (28-18) had only four hits against Emmanuel, Will Cleland going 2-for-3, but Paul Phillips was 2-for-2 with a triple and two RBIs and Perry Rigby was 2-for-3 and scored a run against Campbellsville.
Softball
• Longtime fastpitch softball standout and Amateur Softball Association local and state official Fred Richardson died Thursday afternoon in a local hospital. He was 71. Richardson, a former mainstay in the Dixie Major Fastpitch League, chiefly with the DuPont Nylons, served as the ASA state youth commissioner for many years before relinquishing that role last November. Funeral arrangements were incomplete as of Thursday night, but the family plans to hold visitation Sunday from 1 to 8 p.m. at the Advantage Funeral Home on McCallie Avenue.