Women's senior golfer Madison Alexander and men's basketball player Chad Lee won the Charles Paul Conn Athlete of the Year awards at Lee University for 2014-15. Lee, a McCallie School graduate from Chattanooga, reached the plateaus of 500 points and 500 rebounds in his 78-win Flames career and was an NCCAA Scholar-Athlete as well as a two-time Southern States Athletic Conference scholar-athlete. He maintained a 3.77 grade point average as a business administration major with a financial emphasis and has taken part in a variety of service projects and community activities. Alexander, who's from Johnson City, has a 3.99 GPA as a business major and plans to take the LSAT this fall and begin law school in 2016. She represented Lee in all 40 golf tournaments while she was at the Cleveland school and helped the Lady Flames win 19, including the SSAC event twice and the NCCAA tourney once. She was the medalist in two tournaments and is a three-time WGCA Academic All-America and this year's national NCCAA Game Plan 4 Life Character honoree for women's golf.
* Cleveland State basketball players Jamesha Mosley and Rico Overall were chosen as the school's athletes of the year and received the Hugh Walker (female) and Dr. D.F. Adkisson (male) awards in recognition. Softball player Tori Roberts and baseball player Wright Hackett received the Dr. George L. Mathis Scholastic Award as the athletes with the highest cumulative GPAs, and softballer Miranda Smith got the L. Quentin Lane Sportsmanship award.
Softball
* Host Lee University beat Mississippi College 5-2 in the NCCAA Mid-East softball regional Friday in Cleveland. Angie Hughes (15-7) pitched a four-hitter, giving up the two runs on a Karla Beth Hux double in the final inning, and Kaylie Drew was 2-for-3 with her 16th and 17th homers of the season for the Lady Flames (32-17). Lexie Dean was 3-for-3 with two RBIs, Qiley Lewis was 2-for-2 and scored twice and Amanda Lynn was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run in the victory. The Choctaws, who previously and later defeated Kentucky Christian, 7-1 and 13-0, are 27-21 and face Lee again for the championship today at 2:30.
* Girls Preparatory School catcher Mackenzie Hobbs is headed to Sewanee to play softball and actually expressed excitement Friday about going to a program that didn't win a game this season, after having played for a 2014 state prep champion. Another former GPS catcher, Amy Campbell, who went on to shine at East Tennessee State, is now a Sewanee assistant coach and urged Hobbs to "come and help us change this team," said Hobbs, who also can play third and first base. "My brother (Brient, former Ridgeland quarterback) went there and Sewanee was a perfect fit for him, and we are very similar. We're both very hardheaded and very hard-working, and we both have a passion for history," the GPS May Queen added. "She's a great girl and a really good receiver of the ball," GPS coach Susan Crownover said. "A lot of pitchers like throwing to her."
Lacrosse/Soccer
* GPS soccer goalkeeper and lacrosse midfielder Savannah Williams was honored Friday at the school for her commitment to play both sports at Sewanee. She was the Division II-AA East-Middle Region soccer most valuable player and all-state last season, when the Bruisers went 13-2-2 with 11 shutouts and the state championship. GPS won with Williams blocking a Briarcrest Christian penalty kick. She also talked to King and Centre about soccer and to Asbury about both sports but chose Sewanee because of its "homey feel," tradition and academic standards, all of which remind her of GPS. "She's a great leader, a great leader," GPS soccer coach Patrick Winecoff said. "She works really, really hard and is inspirational."
Track & Field
* Carson-Newman sophomore T.J. Davis from Ooltewah provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division II track and field meet with a 14.58-meter triple jump Thursday at the Roanoke/Virginia Tech Twilight Qualifier in Roanoke, Va. Right behind his winning jump was teammate Randall Freeman and fellow Ooltewah graduate Randall Freeman with a personal-best 14.47, and the Lady Eagles' Tiana Mills from GPS also had a personal record with a first-place 11.65-meter women's triple jump. Mills also reset her school record in the long jump to 5.75 meters.