After winning the 2017 Tennessee Girls' Junior Amateur golf tournament with a 25-foot putt in a playoff, Manchester resident Ashley Gilliam allowed no such drama in adding the 2018 title by 14 strokes Thursday at Old Fort Golf Club in Murfreesboro. Gilliam, who will be a senior at Tullahoma High School and has committed to Mississippi State University, closed the three-round event with a 6-under-par 66 for a record-shattering 201. Kingsport's Kara Carter was second at 215 after a 72 Thursday; Clarksville's McKinley Cunningham was third at 216. Charleston's Rheagan Hall was fifth at 225 with a closing 73, Cleveland's Hannah Nall was ninth at 230 and Signal Mountain's Lindsey Hollis tied for 13th at 236. Hall, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga recruit, and Nall both represent Cleveland Country Club. Gilliam one-upped her mother (then Jennifer Haley), the 1989 State Girls' Junior winner, with her repeat championship. "I grew up knowing that (my mom) had won it. Having my name on the trophy close to hers is really special," Gilliam said in a Tennessee Golf Association release. "Even though I won last year, I definitely learned a lot from the final round. Just to keep pushing and don't just settle for where you are at. I just tried to think that this was not the final round and just keep trying to go low." She plays next week in the U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur at Pebble Beach in California.
* The 97th Georgia Amateur golf tournament began Friday at the Athens Country Club with Macon's Luke Dasher taking the lead with a 5-under-par 65. Brady Keran of Cumming shot 66 and Ryan Stachler of Alpharetta, Preston Topper of Duluth and 2018 Georgia Mid-Amateur champion Taylor Smith of Covington carded 67s. Dalton's David Noll Jr., who won the Georgia Am in 2003 and 2011, Mike Nance of Calhoun and Lee University player Scott Odell of Claxton were in a huge group tied for 37th at 72. Dalton's Vance Embry and Blairsville teenager Beck Burnette shot 73.
* Led by May graduate Megan Woods and rising senior Monica San Juan as Women's Golf Coaches Association 2018 All-American Scholars, UTC had the 18th highest aggregate grade point average among all NCAA Division I women's golf teams for 2017-18, and the 3.707 on a 4.0 scale was the 29th highest in all of NCAA women's golf. Woods earned All-American Scholar status for the fourth time and San Juan for the third time and registered 4.0s in the spring semester, joined by teammate Holly Morgan. That gave Woods and rising junior Morgan 4.0s for the entire school year with San Juan and Kirsty Beckwith at 3.90. Cristina Perez was at 3.50 for the year.
Baseball
* Shortstop Trey Vanderpool from Cleveland State Community College, soon to begin his Trevecca Nazarene University career, has been selected to represent the Atlanta-based Sunbelt League in the 2018 Southeast College Prospect Showcase set for Monday and Tuesday in Wingate, North Carolina. Vanderpool plays for the Patriots in the Sunbelt, whose all-stars will compete against representatives of the Florida Collegiate Summer, Valley, Cal Ripken and Southern Collegiate Baseball leagues. Vanderpool batted .370 with 13 extra-base hits, 40 runs scored and 17 stolen bases in 17 tries this past season as a Cleveland State sophomore.
* Outfielder Chad Marsh of McCallie should have been included with Chattanooga Christian's John Rhodes in the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Division II high school baseball all-state list that appeared in Thursday's sports section. A 2017 McCallie graduate mistakenly was listed instead of Marsh. The only other area TSWA all-stater was South Pittsburg's Cade Kennemore in Class A.
Fishing
* Chickamauga Lake has been selected as one of the seven sites for FLW Tour bass tournaments in 2019, Fishing League Worldwide announced Thursday. The Chickamauga Lake event is sixth for the series, set for May 2-5 out of Dayton Boat Dock. That follows the April 11-14 tournament on Cherokee Lake at Jefferson City, Tennessee. "We've had a great history on Lake Chickamauga and always draw fantastic crowds to our Outdoor Expos and weigh-ins," Kathy Fennel, president of FLW operations, said in the release. "We are extremely excited to showcase some of the giant largemouth that Lake Chickamauga is known for during our 2019 season." The other FLW Tour sites are in Texas, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and New York.