Lee recommended for full NCAA membership and more Chattanooga region sports news

Lee University cleared the final major hurdle for full NCAA and Gulf South Conference status with the Division II Membership Committee's vote Thursday to recommend approval for the former NAIA school in Cleveland, Tenn. Official approval by the Division II Management Council during its July 27-28 gathering is expected to be a formality. "What wonderful news, and what a terrific affirmation of our athletic program!" Lee president Dr. Paul Conn said in a school release Friday, after the NCAA news was received in writing. "We are eager to begin this new challenge, and our goal is to earn everyone's respect as leaders in NCAA DII." Six other schools were recommended to be full members of Division II, which will grow to 307 schools with their additions. Lee has been a transitional member of the GSC the past two years but could not compete for conference or NCAA postseason titles. "This is a historic event for Lee athletics," said athletic director Larry Carpenter, thanking Dr. Conn for leading the process, assistant vice president Cole Strong for "tireless work" in organizing and submitting the required materials along the way and Paul Cretton and Jessica McIntyre for establishing "a model Division II compliance office." Added Carpenter: "I am excited about the upcoming year and the opportunity to compete for GSC and NCAA championships."

Auto Racing

* The late Harold Fryar of Chattanooga and Tammy Jo Kirk of Dalton are among the "Fast 15" semifinalists for inclusion this year in the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. They were picked from a list of 50 nominees, and five of them will be inducted on Nov. 14 in Dawsonville. Fryar's brother Freddy was inducted in 2013. Harold raced all through the Southeast, beginning at Warner Park in Chattanooga in 1948 and ending with his death in a crash in Gadsden, Ala., in May 1971. Kirk was a motorcycle flat-track national finalist before moving to stock cars and the NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro division, where she was the "most popular driver" in 1994. The first woman to win the Snowball Derby, she moved to the NASCAR truck series in 1997, driving for Geoff Bodine Racing.

Shotgun Sports

* Soddy-Daisy finished third in sporting clays and seventh in American skeet in the high school division of the Scholastic Clay Target Program nationals this week in Sparta, Ill., and Sale Creek's Lauren Sanders was fifth individually in female skeet with a 191 score. Sale Creek was 15th as a team, with Tristan Clark and Gage Cordell joining her. Sanders, who's headed to Chattanooga State to be a dental hygienist, was a skeet regional champ and state runner-up. Soddy-Daisy's Erica Dunn was the seventh-place female in sporting clays, and Cody Hedgecoth shot 90 both days with Zac Read and Eli Christman adding 89s in the sporting clays team event, while Christman had a 98, Hedgecoth a 94 and Read a 93 in team skeet shooting. Hedgecoth led the Trojans boys with a 21st-place finish in sporting clays, and he and Christman got the treat of shooting a round of skeet Wednesday with two-time gold-medal Olympian Vincent Hancock. Tennessee was the most-represented state in the high school nationals with more than 25 percent of the competitors, five of the top 12 skeet teams and four of the top 12 sporting clays teams.

Running

* Dalton State College will host a cross country meet for the first time when it begins its 2015 season on Sept. 4 at Prater's Mill. The Dalton State Twilight Cross Country Classic will include a women's 5-kilometer race at 5 p.m. and a men's 8k at 6. "Thanks to the generosity of the Borings and Prater's Mill Foundation, we have developed a true European style course," co-coach Andy Meyer said in a DSC release. "The course is spectator friendly with a great finish view." All the teams taking part are from the Southern States Athletic Conference, and the runners will include reigning SSAC cross country champion and NAIA 10,000-meter champ Jeoffrey Kipchumba of Kenya and William Carey University. Dalton State won the SSAC women's title and was three points short of the men's championship last fall in its first year of eligibility. "We are looking forward to duplicating and surpassing our achievements from last year," Meyer said. The Roadrunners return their top five guys from last year, and the Lady Roadrunners have their top seven back plus newcomers Emily Poole from Heritage High and Ashleigh Parham from Dalton High.

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