Rick Murray wins $5,000 at Optimist strip - and more Chattanooga region sports news

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Rick Murray from Cleveland won the Pro Modified class and $5,000 Saturday night at the Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip. Murray was the low qualifier in the 14-car field with a 4.16-second run hitting 163.55 mph in his 1953 Chevrolet Corvette powered by a modified 632-cubic-inch engine with injected alcohol and nitrous assist. Keith Baker from Dothan, Ala., was second in a 1963 Corvette at 4.40 seconds and 155 mph. Matt Grayson from Whitwell won the Super Pro bracket with a 4.73-second burst on a 4.73 dial in his supercharged Chevy dragster, and Bobby Lloyd and Cynthia Warnock were second and third. Warnock hit 149.50 mph, the fastest in the class. Charles McRae was the Foot Brake victor with an 8.50 run on an 8.50 dial in his Mustang with Steve Roberts second in a 1982 Pontiac, and Kaleb Winters won the Junior Dragster competition.

• Jamie Perry outdueled Mike Tinker for the Steel-Headed Late Model victory at Boyd's Speedway on Saturday, and Rick Hixson, Brannon Armatige and Rex Richey completed the top five. Jeff Smith won again in the Crate Late Model feature, with Craig Burrow, Kenny Kizzar and David Tinker second through fourth. Booger Brooks and Dallas Brooks were the A-Hobby and B-Hobby winners with B.J. Wilson and Jimmy Smith their runners-up. Bruce Kimber edged Michael Courtney for the FWD/Pony victory.

Tennis

• After winning all his doubles matches in the United States' silver-medal run in the men's 55 division of the International Tennis Federation Seniors World Championships last week in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Chattanooga's Wesley Cash began the individual tournament with a 6-2, 6-4 singles win Sunday against Eduardo Tello of Argentina. Then he lost 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Monday to sixth-seeded Amadeu Facanha of Brazil. Cash and Mark Vines of Lynchburg, Va., are seeded second in 55s doubles and had a first-round bye.

• Savannah College of Arts & Design Atlanta, which is 11-4 and headed to the NAIA national men's tennis tournament, edged Dalton State 5-4 on Sunday. DSC (13-6) had won 5-4 in a February meeting.

General

• Volleyball standout Chelsea Breaden and soccer star Rasheed Malcolm received Bryan College's Lion of Valor Award last week as the top 2013-14 senior female and male athletes for the Dayton school. The award honors significant team contributions as well as Christlike character qualities, including "an unwavering commitment to 'fight the good fight' of faith with the tenacity, might and valor of the Lion of Judah," according to the announcement release. Malcolm and Breaden were all-conference players for Appalachian Athletic Conference champions; Malcolm was the soccer tournament MVP.

Baseball/Softball

• Bryan College had the AAC baseball and softball players of the week, Grant Zawadzki and Becca Zimmerman. Zawadzki, a senior, batted .692 as the Lions won three of their four games, with nine hits, eight runs scored and seven batted in. Zimmerman, a freshman, hit .400 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in six games as the Lady Lions finished second in the AAC tournament and earned a place in the NAIA national tournament opening round May 12-14.

• Covenant College outfielder Will Carlton was the baseball player of the week in the USA South conference, and teammate Garrett Kriston was the pitcher of the week for the third time this season after the Scots clinched the regular-season league title. Both are sophomores. Kriston allowed three hits and struck out seven batters in seven shutout innings in his start against Averett, and Carlton was 6-for-12 with three doubles, nine RBIs and five runs scored in the Scots' four wins.

• Senior first baseman Heath Comerford from McMinn County was one of two Tusculum College baseball players who made the South Atlantic Conference all-tournament team for their play last week. The Pioneers went 2-2, finishing third. Comerford was 5-for-14 with tourney highs of three doubles and four walks, and he drove in five runs in the four games. He has 46 hits and 47 walks this season, with 16 doubles, a triple, four homers and 37 RBIs.