Swimmer Sean RyanCHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Hixson resident Sean Ryan from the Scenic City Aquatic Club and McCallie School finished third in the 800-meter long-course freestyle race Thursday at the Charlotte Ultraswim, a USA Swimming Grand Prix event. Chad Le Tourette won in 7 minutes, 58.91 seconds, and Ryan's University of Michigan teammate Connor Jaeger was second in 8:00.81. Ryan's 8:07.43 was way ahead of the fourth-place 8:20.84. Ryan also is entered in the 200, the 400 and the mile freestyles this weekend.
Baseball
• CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Mike Moore and Roberto Reyes each homered, driving in four and two runs and scoring two and three, as second-ranked Lee University beat Bacone 12-1 Thursday night in the NAIA Opening Round baseball series Lee is hosting. Kris Hall raised his pitching record to 11-0 by allowing three hits and striking out nine batters in six innings. Blake Barber and Corey Davis also scored two runs each for the Flames (51-8-1), who face Missouri Baptist at 3:30 today. Missouri Baptist beat Freed-Hardeman 9-6 in a matchup of NAIA Top 25 teams after Bacone beat Avila 5-1. In another opening round series at Kingsport, top-seeded and sixth-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan blanked the University of St. Francis 3-0 Friday night. That made the Bulldogs 47-11.
• MAYFIELD, Ky. -- Top-seeded host Mid-Continent University edged Covenant 3-2 in the National Christian College Athletic Association Mid-East Region baseball tournament Thursday, eliminating the Scots and leaving them with a 24-20 record. Richard Arias' two-run homer was the difference for the hosts. James Rollins, the region player of the year, was 2-for-3 and scored a run for Covenant. Jonathan Carter was 1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly.
Softball
• TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Sophomore center fielder Tory Lewis from Girls Preparatory School scored one of the runs in Tennessee's 2-1 victory Thursday against Auburn in the Southeastern Conference softball tournament Thursday. Holly Baker homered and Ellen Renfroe pitched a three-hitter for the Lady Vols (27-3).
• BOTETOURT, Va. -- Covenant College got an at-large berth in the NCCAA national softball tournament and lost 4-0 to top-seeded California Baptist (46-6) in the eight-team event. The Lady Scots (21-22) played a losers-bracket game later against Trevecca Nazarene and lost 1-0.
• Tennessee Temple University freshman Raven Pope from Sparta, Tenn., was an NCCAA All-Mid-East Region softball player along with three previously named Covenant players. Even on a first-year team that won just one game, Pope was second in the NCCAA with a .551 batting average and was No. 1 in slugging percentage at 1.034 and triples with 11. She stole 16 bases. Signed as a center fielder, she played catcher and shortstop for the Lady Crusaders.