Hixson resident Selena Popp from Baylor School repeated as the heptathlon champion and also won the women's high jump Friday in the Southern Conference track and field meet at Cullowhee, N.C., but her Samford team finished second to host Western Carolina with East Tennessee State third and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga ninth. WCU, Samford and ETSU also were first through third in the men's standings. Popp, a junior who was second in the long jump Thursday, was the women's most outstanding athlete of the meet. UTC's Abby Bateman was seventh Friday in the 800-meter run, Emily Poole finished eighth in the 5000 and the Mocs' 4x100 relay team also was eighth.
Softball
' UTC was eliminated late Thursday night from the SoCon softball tournament with a five-inning 9-1 loss to No. 3 seed Furman at Greensboro, N.C. The fourth-seeded Mocs (26-30) trailed 7-0 in the fourth inning when they got two of their three hits - from Katie Corum and Emma Sturdivant, the latter singling in pinch runner J.J. Hamill with two outs. Amanda Beltran had UTC's other single. Defending champion but sixth-seeded ETSU (19-26) lost 6-3 to top seed UNC Greensboro on Friday but earned a rematch for the title today with a 4-1 win over No. 3 seed Furman. Kelsey Chernak from Ooltewah had the tying sacrifice fly against the Paladins (41-15).
' Lee University sophomore Taylor Moran from Silverdale Baptist Academy was chosen this week to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-South Region first team for 2018. She had a .448 batting average, a .571 on-base percentage, 73 hits, 13 home runs, 34 walks, 128 total bases and 62 RBIs. North Georgia catcher Shelby Hammontree from Heritage made the All-Southeast Region second team.
' Freshman Morgan Crawford from Ridgeland High School had the tying sixth-inning pinch-hit single Thursday night in sixth-seeded Carson-Newman's 2-1 defeat of No. 3 seed Georgia College in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional at Hickory, N.C. The game was interrupted by rain for more than five hours. Friday, Carson-Newman lost 7-1 to Young Harris and 17-0 to host Lenoir-Rhyne. Crawford was 2-for-3 in that first loss.
Baseball
' While ninth-ranked Bryan College will be the top seed in the NAIA baseball five-team Williamsburg (Ky.) opening round bracket Monday through Wednesday, Tennessee Wesleyan is in the national field for the 10th year in a row. The 19th-ranked Bulldogs (37-19) are the No. 2 seed at Kingsport, Tenn., where they lost to Point University in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament final after sharing the regular-season title with Bryan's Lions (40-15). Point (34-23) is the fifth seed in the Lawrenceville (Ga.) Bracket headed by Georgia Gwinnett, and Reinhardt (38-17) joined TWU and Bryan as at-large picks and will be in the Bowling Green Bracket. Bryan plays Monday at 7 p.m. against the winner between Marian and Northwestern Ohio; TWU faces Madonna at 2:30 p.m. The nine bracket winners will go to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, with host Lewis and Clark State.
' The ETSU baseball team hit six home runs Friday night in a 15-2 SoCon home win over Furman, and senior Caleb Longley from Walker Valley High School and Cleveland State hit two of them - including a grand slam. Longley was 4-for-5 with the two homers, two ground-rule doubles and five RBIs. He has 13 homers this season. Also for the Buccaneers (26-19, 10-9), Cade Gilbert from Ringgold was 2-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and three runs scored, and center fielder Hunter Parker from East Hamilton and Chattanooga State was 1-for-2 with two runs and a sacrifice fly.
Fishing
' Bryan's Cole Sands and Nathan Bell, who won an FLW college bass tournament last weekend on Chickamauga Lake, were in fifth place going into today's final round in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Eastern Tour event on Cherokee Lake. A Bethel College duo leads with 29 pounds, 12 ounces, but the other 31 boats going out today (from 263 to start) are within six pounds. Bell and Sands had 27-14 after Friday's 14-5, and Bryan's Johnathan Peck with Griffin Heffington and Thad Simerly with Ethan Shaw were 10th and 14th at 26-6 and 25-14.
Golf
' Sewanee junior Meghan Symonds finished her third appearance in the NCAA Division III women's golf tournament Friday in 24th place, her best yet. She was 29th last year but with a better score than this week's 322 at the Mission Inn Resort and Club at Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
Funerals
' The funeral service for Marvin "Stump" Martin is set for 11 a.m. Monday at Heritage Funeral Home in Fort Oglethorpe, where visitation is scheduled for 2-8 p.m. today and 1-7 p.m. Sunday. Martin, who died Thursday morning at age 64, was the parks and recreation director for the city of East Ridge and a longtime coach and media personality in the area.
' A memorial service for longtime local high school coach Ken Akin is set for 11 a.m. today at First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, with a visitation reception to follow in the fellowship hall. Akin died at age 79 on May 3 after a battle with cancer. A scholarship football player at South Carolina, he taught and coached at McCallie, Ooltewah, East Ridge, GPS and David Brainerd and was most known for track and field as well as football. He was very active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.