Friday, January 1, 1904
Former McCallie School standout Sean Ryan from Hixson followed up his second-place 10-kilometer finish Friday at the USA Swimming Open Water National Championships in California with a close third-place 5k finish Sunday. His Friday performance qualified him for the national team and the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, in July, and he may do the 5k there also. Ryan's time Sunday was 57 minutes, 22.75 seconds, behind the 57:22.07 of Andrew Gemmell of Wilmington, Del., and the 57:22.68 of Joey Pedraza of Broward, Fla.
• Led by Diann Uustal with six first-place finishes and four national records in the 65-69 age group, five area residents delivered impressive results at the recent United States Masters Swimming national meet in Indianapolis. The event included 1,633 competitors. Uustal set USMS records with a 28.94-second 50-yard freestyle, a 33.16 finish in the 50 backstroke, a 1:11.27 in the 100 back and a 2:41.18 in the 200 back and missed a record by 0.2 second with the 200 free victory. She also won the 50 butterfly. Judd Jones, who swims with her for the Georgia Masters, was seventh in the men's 55-59 200 back and 400 individual medley, 10th in the 100 back, 11th in the 50 back and 13th in the 200 IM. From the Chattanooga River Rats, Thomas Hancock was second in the men's 45-49 200 breaststroke, seventh in the 100 breast, eighth in the 400 IM and 12th in the 200 IM; Paul Passow was second in the men's 50-54 50 back, fourth in the 100 IM, sixth in the 50 fly, seventh in the 50 free and eighth in the 50 breast; and triathlete Cecilia Wigal was 10th in the women's 50-54 200 breast in her first nationals.
• Steve Casebolt of Richmond, Ind., won the 36th annual Johnston Coca-Cola Tennessee Memorial Southern All-Star race and $4,000 Saturday night at Cleveland Speedway. Longtime track participant Ray Cook was second, and William Thomas, reigning SAS champion Randy Weaver and Billy Ogle Jr. completed the top five. Rick Hixson won the Steel-Head Limited Late Model race after Aaron Wilson refused to allow a post-race inspection of his engine. Brett Wyatt won in Crate Late Model, Glen Seaton III won in A-Hobby, Johnny Hughes won in B-Hobby, Michael Courtney won handily in Pony and Daniel Burnette won in FWD.
• Defending champion David Noll Jr. of Dalton fell from first place to a tie for seventh Sunday with an 80 in the final round of the 32nd annual Georgia Amateur Championship at the Savannah Golf Club. Noll's 218 for 54 holes was 10 strokes behind the total for Atlanta's Cameron Hooper, who closed with a 30-foot birdie putt for a 68 and a one-stroke win over Savannah's Danny Nelson. Nelson shot 67. Calhoun's Cres Dodd and Greg Brock tied for 26th at 223 and 36th at 226, respectively.
• Among the quarterfinal matchups Monday in the Georgia Senior Women's Match Play Championship at Sunset Hills Country Club in Carrollton, Chatsworth's Sue King takes on Resaca's Rochelle Weaver and Cohutta's Ysleta Morgan plays Calhoun's Margaret Padgett. There are five flights with eight golfers each.
• The team of Bill Norton, Travis Allmon, Brian Allmon and Terry Pope won the championship flight of the Bethel Classic golf tournament Friday and Saturday at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay with a 111 score. Charlie Poe, Bobby Majors, Jason Reynolds and Jeff Collier were second at 112.
• Hitters Casey Chapman and Hannah Jones from the North Murray High School volleyball team that reached the Georgia state quarterfinals last fall recently signed enrollment papers to continue their careers at NJCAA member Georgia Northwestern Technical College. "Signing Casey and Hannah is a huge step toward making 2013 an amazing year for us," Lady Bobcats coach Carrie Powell said in a GNTC release. "We've got some great power and size coming into the ranks." North Murray coach Connie Hudgins said Chapman "did whatever was needed to take care of business. ... She's 5-foot-10, but she played like a solid 6-foot-2 hitter. Hannah has killer serves with serious placement ability, Plus, she is incredibly strong on the right side. That's rare."