Wrestling heavyweight Jared Johnson is the third University of Tennessee at Chattanooga representative in four weeks to be the overall Southern Conference student-athlete of the week. That honor, sponsored by General Shale, goes to someone with at least a 3.3 grade point average in his or her second year at a league school and with impressive athletic achievement for the given week. UTC basketball players Eric Robertson and Alicia Payne were the recipients on Jan. 14 and 21, and Johnson was honored for improving to 25-6 for the season with a 17-0 technical fall against Davidson last Friday. He is a sophomore chemical engineering major with a 3.70 GPA for his time at the university. UTC runner Teghan Henderson and volleyball player Lauren Gainer were among the student-athletes of the week in September.
Boxing
* Central High School graduate and former Chattanooga Y-Cap boxer Ryan "Blue Chip" Martin puts a 10-0 professional record on the line tonight in Hidalgo, Texas, in a six-round bout against Carlos Valenzuela of Mexico. This is the first fight of 2015 for Martin, who won eight in 2014 -- the last three by knockout against opponents with a combined record of 39-11. Valenzuela is 6-2 with three KOs. "We are hoping Ryan gets rounds out of this match with Valenzuela," matchmaker Sean Gibbons said in a SBS Promotions release. "He has been making quick work of his opponents, and we need to see more of the great tools he has before going into eight-round bouts. This fight will give us a bigger picture of how fast we can move him throughout 2015."
Baseball
* Covenant College opened its ninth baseball season under coach Doug Simons with a 3-1 home win Friday against Emory & Henry. Garrett Kriston pitched eight innings with five hits allowed and got the win on the strength of two unearned runs in the seventh inning, when Perry Rigby and Will Carlton had RBI singles. Carlton was 3-for-4 and Scott Gillespie went 2-for-3 with a fifth-inning RBI hit. Alec Mitchell pitched a hitless ninth for the save.
* Bryan College defeated the University of Rio Grande 7-5 and 7-0 in a baseball doubleheader Friday in Dayton. The Lions take a 5-0 record into today's rematch.
* The Tennessee Temple baseball team lost 4-1 Friday in the opener of a three-game series with Alice Lloyd College at Walker Valley High School. Starting pitcher Hunter Giles took the loss despite striking out 10 batters in seven innings and allowing one earned run. The Crusaders scored on a single by Ryan Bruce to score Tennessee Wesleyan transfer Chase White from second base.
Basketball
* The Sewanee women's basketball team edged visiting Hendrix 78-73 in double-overtime Friday, and the Sewanee men completed a Southern Athletic Association sweep with a 70-58 victory. Marcellus Caldwell and Jorden Williams led the male Tigers (7-2 SAA) with 20 and 18 points. Jamie Chauvin scored 32 and Kayla Sewell had 11 rebounds, six assists and five blocks with 11 points for the Sewanee women.
* Morris College swept visiting Tennessee Temple in a basketball doubleheader Friday night in Sumter, S.C., 94-82 in the women's game and 89-88 in the men's despite a furious comeback by the Crusaders. B.J. Brown scored 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field and Cameron High added 17 for the Temple men (7-17), who outscored their hosts 55-37 after halftime. Julian Butts and Bryan Jones scored 14 points each, Butts with eight rebounds. Amanda Rector had 24 points, five assists and four steals and Angel Foster scored 21 points for the Lady Crusaders (10-13), while Sloane Woodard had 10 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
* Dustin Stanley's layup at the buzzer was ruled to be too late Friday night, leaving Georgia Northwestern's Bobcats on the short end of a 64-63 score against Trinity Bible College at the Rossville Athletic Center. Cameron Sherlin scored 18 points on 6-of-9 3-point shooting in the game that included 21 lead changes and eight ties, while Tyler Shropshire had 13 points and 10 assists and Stanley had 11 rebounds with 10 points. Veshawn Bell scored 11 for GNTC. West Georgia Tech beat the Lady Cats 70-16 after leading 45-5 at halftime.
Soccer
* Dalton State College is holding soccer tryouts today at Lakeshore Park in Dalton, with men's candidates welcomed from 1 to 2:30 p.m. and women from 2:30 to 4. Additional tryouts will be held in late spring, according to Kerem Daser, DSC's director of soccer. The school is beginning intercollegiate soccer in the 2015 fall semester, and scholarships will be awarded. A school release said Daser he is "looking for good student-athletes who will be able to excel both on the soccer field and in the classroom."