LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- After his second consecutive 4-under-par 68, Keith Mitchell from Chattanooga leads by two strokes with the second round of the 106th Southern Amateur golf tournament almost completed at Chenal Country Club. Former Baylor teammate Jay Vandeventer from Bristol, Tenn., also shot a 68 and moved up to a tie for fifth at 140, and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Steven Fox is just ahead of the projected cut at 149 after shooting a 69. UTC's Davis Bunn finished at 153 and Baylor alumnus Ryan Thornton is 9 over par for 30 holes. Second-round play was suspended at 7:50 p.m. CDT and will resume at 7 this morning.
• CROSSVILLE, Tenn. -- Reigning State Amateur champion Lauren Stratton from Spring Hill shot a 69 for the first-round lead Thursday in the Golf Capital of Tennessee Women's Open, and Vanderbilt teammate Kendall Martindale from Jefferson City is tied with Amanda Steinhagen of Oak Hill, Va., and Christina Lecuyer Salter of Conway, Ark., at 70. Benton's Rachel Ingram at 77 is the closest Chattanooga-area contender, one stroke better than Mary Alice Murphy of Lookout Mountain. Avery George and Haley Cothran opened with 80s.
• Georgia Northwestern Technical College announced this week that it is adding men's golf and cheerleading as NJCAA-recognized sports to go with its two established basketball programs and volleyball. The school officially has opened applications for golf and cheerleading coaches. "The addition of [these sports] are two logical next steps in building the program," athletic director David Stephenson said in a GNTC release. "If we continue to do this right and keep these programs growing, we hope to announce the addition of more intercollegiate offerings in the near future." There will be two cheer squads starting this fall, since Stephenson's men's basketball team plays most of its home games in Rossville while the women's team is based in Rome. Varsity men's golf will begin next spring. Volleyball tryouts are set for Aug. 1, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16 at the Rossville Athletic Complex. The first match will be Aug. 28 at Bryan College.
Tennis
• The Intercollegiate Tennis Association recently designated the UTC women's program as an All-Academic Team, and five Lady Mocs individually were honored as ITA Scholar-Athletes for grade point averages of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. The team award requires a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2, and the Lady Mocs collectively compiled a 3.52 for the 2011-12 school year -- 3.66 for the spring semester, when they went 16-6 for the program's most wins since 1999. Jenna Nurik, a first-team All-Southern Conference player, had a 4.0 GPA for the year, while Kaylene Chadwell and Brianna Wishing had 3.90s, Shaina Singh had a 3.58 and Alexa Flynn posted a 3.54 for the year. "We have a motivated, hard-working and intelligent group of young women who have learned to excel both in the classroom and on the tennis court," coach Jeff Clark said in a UTC release.
Football
• UTC junior linebacker Wes Dothard was among the 20 players named Friday to the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List for 2012. The Buck goes to the best defensive player on an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision team. The 6-foot-1, 235-pounder from Carrollton, Ga., already was listed as a preseason All-American by The Sports Network. He had 98 tackles, five forced fumbles and two defensive scores as a sophomore and was first-team All-Southern Conference.
• Former Tennessee football All-American Eric Berry, now of the Kansas City Chiefs, is back in town today for another set of clinics for D1 Chattanooga Sports Training. An "elite defensive skills" clinic is set for ages 15-18 from 8 to 10:30 a.m., and Berry's "Iron Sharpens Iron" camp will run 10 a.m.-2 p.m. for ages 7-14 at the D1 facility near Hamilton Place mall. Anyone interested can register at D1Chattanooga.com. The Eric Berry Foundation is working to restore community parks for safe use by children.
Baseball
• Three Chattanooga Cyclones were named all-tournament for the massive 17-under World Wood Bat Association National Championships: Jackson McClain and Gabe Rich as pitchers and Brody Binder as a position player. Previously, the Cyclones' Hunter Hudson as a position player and Bobby Towne and Jordan Whitmire as pitchers made the WWBA 18U all-tournament team and Cory Edgemon, Brandon Dendy, Kaleb Hill and Justin Kennedy as position players and Justin Glover, Tyler Reed and Chance Plazcek as pitchers were WWBA 15U all-tournament.
Volleyball
• Girls Preparatory School senior Sadie Lett received the "outstanding hitter" award at the specialty camp for volleyball held this week at the University of Tampa. The July 16-18 event included about 200 players.