University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer Lake Johnson from Chattanooga Christian School is in the 2016 Tennessee Match Play Championship semifinals this morning at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, and Richard Keene of Chattanooga and Bob Rice of Pikeville have a chance to meet for the Senior Match Play title. Keene plays Steve Golliher of Knoxville while Rice takes on longtime amateur star Danny Green of Jackson. Green won 2 and 1 in the quarterfinals Saturday against another nationally known Tennessee amateur, defending champion Tim Jackson of Germantown, while Rice won 1 up over Mike Freels of Chuckey after edging Signal Mountain's Scott Patton by the same score. Golliher needed 20 holes to defeat Mel Mendenhall of Ooltewah, who earlier beat Chattanooga's Harry Hill 6 and 4, and Keene went 21 holes to get past Knoxville's Jeff Golliher after downing Tom Baird of Signal Mountain 3 and 2. In the regular division, Johnson edged Ole Miss golfer Ben Wolcott in 24 holes after beating Evan Ball of Benton 5 and 4 while Wolcott was topping Keoni Vidrine of Delano, Ball's former Tennessee Wesleyan teammate, 2 and 1. Johnson now faces Matt Cooper of Memphis, who won 2 and 1 over Johnson's UTC teammate Brooks Thomas in the round of 16. The other semifinal pits 2016 Tennessee Junior Amateur champion William Nottingham of Kingsport against Tyler Johnson of Knoxville, who beat 2015 Match Play champion Brandon Caballero of Brentwood in the round of 16.
- Lauren Coughlin of Charlottesville, Va., closed with a 6-under-par 66 Saturday and won the Golf Capital of Tennessee Women's Open at Stonehenge Golf Club near Crossville with a 54-hole total of 212, one better than Lindsey McPherson of Flushing, Mich. Two Chattanoogans were in a four-way tie for third at 214 - University of Tennessee golfer Blakesly Warren as the top amateur after a 69 and former UTC standout Jordan Britt - and Manchester's Jenna Burris tied for ninth at 220, the third best amateur score. The field began with players from 19 states and British Columbia. Playing her third event as a professional, Coughlin just completed her University of Virginia career and was the 2016 Atlantic Coast Conference champion; McPherson played for Michigan State, finishing in 2015. The Open's inaugural senior division ended Friday after 36 holes, and Maggie Scott of Charleston, Tenn., was the champion with her 158 with Jean Kraft of Crossville second at 163. Scott shot a 76 in the final round, the only sub-80 for anyone in the division either day, to add the Open senior title to her long list of state amateur championships.
Track & Field
- Randall Freeman from Ooltewah High School was one of three Carson-Newman men's athletes listed this past week by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as NCAA Division II all-academic honorees for 2015-16. They join Tiana Mills from Girls Preparatory School, already reported, and another woman from the university in Jefferson City, Tenn. The versatile Freeman competed in the indoor season and now is the program's graduate assistant and throwers coach, and he has a 3.95 grade point average on a 4.0 scale midway through CNU's MBA program. Lee University sophomore distance runner Seth Eagleson from New Palestine, Ind., was another Division II all-academic selection.
Softball
- Former Lee University softball second baseman NiaRaye Ceasar recently got to play a series of games and help in youth clinics in South Africa as part of a Beyond Sports tour. The trip served as Ceasar's required cross-culture experience at Lee, where she will graduate in December, but the players involved were all-conference selections or statistical leaders from colleges throughout the United States. They played three exhibition games against Cape Town's best teams and also visited sites important to South African history and culture. Ceasar batted .318 with six home runs, 10 doubles, 36 RBIs and 35 runs scoerd in the 2016 season for Lee.
Tennis
- Robert Wiley won the men's singles division and joined Nick Hobbs as doubles champions in the Heritage Open tennis tournament conducted by Heritage High School, and Caroline Horsley became the junior singles (coed) winner when the other finalist, Austin Long, had to leave for work and could not wait out a long rain delay. Wiley went 3-0 in the men's singles round robin, where Joseph Reed was 2-1 with a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Wiley. Wiley and Hobbs defeated Andy Besh and Mark Crane 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles championship match.