Samford University junior Selena Popp from Hixson and Baylor School repeated as the Southern Conference women's field athlete of the month, earning the February honor by being the most outstanding athlete at the conference indoor track and field meet and subsequently being named the SoCon's outstanding female field performer for the season. Popp won the high jump, long jump and pentathlon at the SoCon meet, the pentathlon with four first places and a second and a record points total.
Golf
» Gibby Gilbert III of Ooltewah shot a final-round 66 and finished second Thursday at 208, two strokes behind Robin Byrd of Satellite Beach, Fla., in the first Sunbelt Senior Tour event of 2018. It was at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta, Ga., and Byrd won $3,500 with Gilbert receiving $2,500. A five-time winner on the tour for players 47 and older, Gilbert had 17 birdies with five bogeys and two second-day double bogeys in his 54 holes.
Baseball
» The Bryan College baseball team soared to the program's highest ranking ever, No. 11, when the NAIA released its first in-season poll of 2018 this week. Then the Lions (18-3, 4-0) blasted Bluefield 10-0 in the first game of their Appalachian Athletic Conference series Thursday. Bryan, which has been as high as 14th in the past, received votes for the Top 25 in the preseason poll. Reinhardt (15-4) at No. 23 is the only other AAC team in the Top 25. Going into Thursday's game, Bryan's Fernando Garcia was batting .514 with a .598 on-base percentage, an .843 slugging percentage, five home runs, eight doubles, 28 runs scored, 22 batted in and 10 stolen bases in 10 tries. He went 2-for-3 with another homer, a double, three RBIs and two runs against Bluefield, and Cody Young and Lake Burris each homered among three hits. Young was 3-for-3 with three RBIs, Burris 3-for-5 with two RBIs, and Jacob Justice, Trevor Behrent and Rodney Tennie each had two hits. Pitcher Stephen Chamblee (5-0) allowed four hits and one walk and struck out 13 in seven innings.
» On a chilly, windy afternoon on Lookout Mountain, Piedmont hit five home runs in a 13-2 USA South baseball win Thursday at Covenant. Tyler Burdette homered twice and Andrew Burden and Jabin Smith matched him with two hits and four RBIs apiece for Piedmont (9-6, 6-1). Caleb Bloye was 1-for-2 with three walks and a two-run homer for the Scots (7-9, 5-2), and Devin Cerrato was 3-for-4 and scored a run.
Basketball
» Dalton State is a No. 4 seed in the NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament in Kansas City, Mo., and will open second-day play Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT against Cumberlands from Kentucky, a No. 5 seed. DSC, the Southern States Athletic Conference runner-up, is 24-8; the Patriots are 21-9.
Tennis
» The Sewanee women's team jumped up five places to No. 12 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings for NCAA Division III, and the only team that has defeated the 8-1 Tigers is Emory, which rose from No. 2 to No. 1. Sewanee lost its opening match to Emory in the ITA indoor team nationals last weekend in Chattanooga but then beat teams ranked 11th and 12th at the time and finished fifth.
Lacrosse
» Kaylyn Dillon and Emma Hill each had four goals and an assist and Becca Broadwick and Brianne Schapira scored three goals each as Lee University beat visiting Nyack 18-8 in women's lacrosse Thursday. Madeline Perrigo had two goals and an assist and Abby Sanders made 11 saves for Lee (5-2).
» Marian edged the Tennessee Wesleyan women 10-9 in Athens. Mikayla Virden scored four goals and Brittany Turner had two for TWU (3-3), which got three assists from Florence Andrieu. Julia Robson had five goals and five draw controls for Marian (4-1).
Boxing
» The Red Bank Boxing Club is hosting pre-Golden Gloves warmup bouts Saturday, beginning at 4 p.m., at the Henry Luken Sports Facility behind Red Bank High School. As of Thursday night there were 24 bouts scheduled with fighters from Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina as well as several Tennessee clubs. Admission costs $7 for adults, $3 for students and nothing for ages 12 and under.