Ridgeland High School senior William Boydston recently was invited to represent Georgia on the East Conference track and field team at the Down Under Sports Tournaments next July in Australia, and he has accepted. Boydston, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound offensive lineman on the Ridgeland football team, went to the Class AAAA track and field state meet as a shot putter last spring. "According to (Down Under officials), they do recruiting like in football and they have been watching William," said Boydston's mother, Linda Rose. The United States athletes will have nine days in Australia and three days of relaxation in Hawaii. Each "ambassador" athlete must help with fundraising. To protect college eligibility, sponsors for Boydston cannot give money directly to him, but they can donate on his behalf at www.DownUnderSports.com/payment?160352.
Cross Country
* Covenant College cross country coach Katie Stanford was named the USA South women's coach of the year, and Scots freshman Micah Sneller was the men's rookie of the year in voting announced Wednesday. Zach Atchison and Ruthie Cargill represented the Lookout Mountain school on the all-sportsmanship teams. Stanford, the men's coach of the year in 2014, is in her fifth year heading the Covenant programs. Sneller gives the Scots the rookie of the year for the second season in a row.
Basketball
* The Bryan College basketball teams opened their seasons Wednesday evening against Oakwood University, host Bryan winning 90-40 in the women's game but losing 97-94 in the men's. Senior post player Brandon Cole from Cumberland County led the Lions in defeat with 37 points and nine rebounds, and he reached his 2,000th collegiate point less than two minutes into the second half. He now has 2,021. The Mr. Basketball runner-up in high school was a third-team NAIA Division II All-American last season, and he has a nearly 3.9 grade point average.
Soccer
* The Maryville College and Covenant women's teams scored early but played to a 1-1 tie in a USA South soccer doubleheader Wednesday at Chattanooga Christian. Jenna Vreeland scored from an Anna Porch assist in the third minute for Covenant (10-4-1, 8-3-1), but seven minutes later Natasha Enrique ended a stretch of more than 502 shutout minutes for Covenant's Lady Scots. Sierra Siegel had the assist for Maryville (12-3-1, 9-1-2). Maryville's men (13-2-2, 7-1-2) won 2-1 with goals by Hayden Puryear and Tim Baker at 69:00 and 79:16. Michael Arango scored for Covenant (5-10-2, 4-3-2) at 85:21. The longtime coach of both Maryville teams is Tennessee Wesleyan Hall of Famer and former Chattanooga high school coach Pepe Fernandez.
Volleyball
* Covenant lost 3-1 to Birmingham-Southern in an NCAA Division III volleyball match Wednesday on Lookout Mountain. The set scores were 25-19, 17-25, 25-21, 25-18 in favor of the Panthers (22-4), who got 13 kills from Jeneva Salter and 10 kills plus 10 digs from Marjorie Ward. For Covenant (16-10), Ginny Moore and Chelsea VanDyk had nine kills apiece and Schuyler Moore and Hannah Rogers each had seven, while Schuyler had 32 assists and 16 digs and Ariana Buchanan, Jaclyn Stuart and Ginny Moore had 19, 17 and 15 digs.
* Dalton State won 3-2 over Brenau in SSAC volleyball Tuesday night in Dalton, by set scores of 25-8, 17-25, 25-11, 16-25, 15-5. Kianna Delaney had 15 kills and Michala Askew set 40 assists for the Roadrunners (11-11, 5-7), while Savannah Nelson and Anna Metzler had eight and seven kills and Karly Newman and Rafaella Martin Petrunko had 13 and 10 digs.
Baseball
* Cade Evans of the Chattanooga Cyclones had the highest batting average and most hits of any player with at least eight at-bats in the World Wood Bat World Championship tournament last week in Jupiter, Fla. The Boyd-Buchanan junior had 10 hits in batting .714 in four games, and he tied for second among all players with five stolen bases. The tournament is generally considered the most elite tournament in amateur baseball. It includes 85 invitation-only teams, with the Cyclones including Evans participating the last two years.