UTC golfer Gosselin leads State Amateur and more regional sports news

Assorted Sports Equipment on Black
Assorted Sports Equipment on Black

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior golfer Wes Gosselin from Knoxville took the first-day lead in the 101st Tennessee State Amateur tournament with a 5-under-par 67 at Blackthorn Club in Jonesborough. He's two shots ahead of Jack Rhea of Jonesborough and Connor McKay of Knoxville. Lee University's Taylor Davis from Franklin is in a three-way tie for fourth at 70, and Flames teammates Peyton Sliger of Maryville and Matt Johnson of Manchester are tied for 11th at 72. UTC teammates Brooks Thomas, Stuart Thomas and Andrew Weathers are in a group sharing 21st place at 73, and Sewanee resident Tommy Oliver is at 74. Mikey Feher of Signal Mountain, Lake Johnson of Chattanooga and UTC and Mike Poe of Athens shot 75s. Feher plays for Lipscomb University, and Poe is the men's basketball and golf coach at Tennessee Wesleyan.

* University of South Carolina golfer Scott Stevens from Chattanooga shot even-par 70 Tuesday on the Royal Ottawa course and is tied for 14th at 142 in the 112th Canadian Men's Amateur Championship in Gatineau, Quebec. Leader Blair Bursey is at 133. UTC's Etienne Brault was two shots better on the par-72 Eagles Creek layout than he was at Royal Ottawa on Monday but missed the cut by three shots with his 150.

Track & Field

* Led by Danielle Dunning with a silver medal and a bronze in the 10-year-old girls' age group, the Chattanooga Jets Track Club had four All-American (top-eight) finishes, two other top-11s and 20 top-25 finishes overall in the AAU Junior Olympic Games national track and field meet last week at Houston. Dunning finished second in the 100-meter dash in 13.26 seconds and third in the 200 in 27:18, and the Jets' Kedrick Wilbanks was seventh in the 17-18 boys' 100 in 10.85, after a 10.69 semifinal time. Nicole Johnson, Lennex Walker, Elexis Foster and McKenzie Ethridge were eighth in the 17-18 girls' 4x100 relay with a final time of 46.97. They ran a 46.70 semifinal heat. Walker was 10th in the 100 hurdles and 15th in the triple jump, and Johnson and Ethridge were 17th and 20th in the 100 dash. The Jets' Lamiah Walker was 11th in the 13-year-old girls' triple jump, and Chelsea Chavis was 16th in the 12-year-old girls' pentathlon. Kimbra Dunning was 17th in the 15-16 girls' triple jump and 20th in the long jump, and Brevin Sims was 20th in the 15-16 boys' 110 hurdles and 25th in the 400 hurdles. Alayah Dozier was 25th in the 14-year-old girls' 400 and part of a 25th-place 4x400 with Kennedy Ethridge, Morgan Buxton and Jamiah Flanagan. Jeremiah Chopane was 21st in the 12-year-old boys' long jump, Princess Simmons was 22nd in the 12-year-old girls' 100 and Jada Cooper was 18th in the 10-year-olds' 400 and 21st in the 800.

Soccer

* The Dalton State men's soccer team was picked to finish fifth in the eight-team Southern States Athletic Conference this season, according to a vote of the league's coaches. It was released Tuesday. The second-year Roadrunners program coached by Kerem Deser got 35 points in the voting, trailing Bethel (59) with six first-place votes, Mobile (57) with two firsts, Martin Methodist (50) and William Carey (39). Faulkner got 24 points as the sixth-place finisher, followed by Middle Georgia State and Brewton-Parker. Dalton State was 11-7-1 with a 4-4 SSAC record in its debut season, and Deser was voted coach of the year. "Our men's soccer team is playing in one of the top soccer conferences in the country. Every SSAC game is a battle," he said in a DSC release. The Roadrunners lost two All-SSAC players who were seniors in 2015 but have nine starters returning. "We were very young last year with nine freshmen starting," Deser said. "Our team is hard-working, and we will do our best to improve during our second year in the conference. It should be an exciting year."

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