McCallie School senior Thomas Priest has committed to sign a soccer scholarship with Lipscomb University.
Priest, who was named all-state last season, chose the Nashville school over offers from more than half a dozen other programs. He has started every game of his varsity career for the Blue Tornado, helping them to a 43-5-8 overall record, a state championship and two region titles - never losing to a region foe - during that time.
"He's a winner who plays his best on the biggest stage," McCallie coach Chris Cushenberry said. "He's the guy we trust with the ball in the middle of the field. He battles hard defensively and always plays bigger than his size. The people with the highest soccer IQ that see him always pick him out.
"Lipscomb is getting a great teammate, student and player in Thomas."
Lipscomb is 4-3 this season after going 10-6-2 overall and 3-2-1 in the Atlantic Sun Conference last year, when the Bisons reached the semifinals at the conference tournament for the eighth time in 10 seasons. Last year's win total was the second-best in program history.
Georgia softball update
Northwest Whitfield's win over LaFayette last week, coupled with Ridgeland's win over the Lady Ramblers, has established a pecking order in Region 6-AAAA softball with a week left in the regular season - at least for now.
The Lady Bruins (21-1, 8-1) and Lady Panthers (14-4, 7-2) are likely headed for a first-place showdown showdown next Thursday at Ridgeland. Northwest, though, won the earlier meeting and has a decided edge on Ridgeland in the "runs allowed in region play" tiebreaker.
LaFayette isn't out of it, having split with Northwest and Ridgeland. The Lady Ramblers need to win out and hope Ridgeland loses once or Northwest loses twice, with the possibility of a three-way tie still existing.
The top two teams get a bye in the region tournament and an automatic bid into the state postseason.
In Region 6-AAA, the top seeds in the north and south subregions are set. Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe (6-1 in subregion play, 9-3 including crossover games) has the tiebreaking edge over Ringgold (4-3, 6-6) on the north side. Sonoraville (7-1) is the clear No. 1 on the south side, with Bremen (4-3) and Calhoun (4-3) fighting for second.
The top seeds from each subregion will face the No. 4 seeds from the other in a best-of-three series in the region tournament, with the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds playing. Winners would meet in the title series.
Varsity achievement
Former Baylor School swimmer Peter Lochmaier has been named as a freshman to the Air Force Academy's swimming and diving varsity team.
Lochmaier was a four-year letterman for the Red Raiders and a two-time All-American in the 100-meter butterfly, 200 freestyle relay, 400 free relay and 200 medley relay.