Simonsen goes on in Open qualifying

ATLANTA - The Honors Course head professional Henrik Simonsen tied for medalist honors and was among 12 golfers who advanced from U.S. Open local qualifying at Dunwoody Country Club on Monday. Simonsen shot a 4-under-par 68 that included eight birdies and four bogeys. "One of our caddies, Pete Pesolja, came down early and walked the course and made tour-caddie notes that helped a ton," Simonsen said. "I had one of those days where the ball went where I was looking." Six men shot 68s and five carded 69s. Former McCallie golfer Adam Mitchell and Chattanooga Golf and Country Club assistant pro Matt Brock were among eight golfers playing for the last qualifying spot out of nine who had 70s, and Mitchell wound up the first alternate with a birdie on the first playoff hole. South Carolina resident Paul Cormack beat him with an eagle. Mitchell Brock, Matthew's brother, and Dalton's David Noll Jr. shot 71s.

Auto Racing

  • David Soloman from Spencer, Tenn., won $5,000 Saturday at Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip for his first-place finish in the Heads-Up 4.70-second class. Soloman won with a 4.76 run in a 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup truck built by Don Ness with a modified 665-cubic-inch Chrysler engine. Tom Neubert of Corryton, Tenn., was second in a 706 Chevrolet-powered 1957 Chevy, and Bud Townsend of Loudon and Craig Cash of East Ridge were third and fourth. Michael Davis won the 5.70 class with Stacey Sitton, Jim Nash and Ronnie Clayton second through fourth, and Rick Millard and Lonnie Wigley won the 6.00 and 7.00 classes with Jim Bracket and Rick Millard Jr. their runners-up. Cynthia Farrow had the low elapsed time (4.64 seconds) and top speed (135.25 mph) of the night in her alcohol-injected 632 Chevy dragster.

  • Chris Wall of Springfield, La., won the Tennessee Spring Fling 40-lap race for Super Late Model cars Saturday night at Cleveland Speedway and then donated his $3,000 prize money to the Morris family, longtime track mainstays who were victims of the recent tornadoes. Chattanooga's Ronnie Johnson raced for the first time in more than a decade at the track owned and operated for many years by his late father and finished second to Wall. Jake Knowles of Tyrone, Ga., Skip Arp of Georgetown and Riley Hickman of Ooltewah completed the top five.

Baseball

  • Lee University is hosting one of the nine opening-round brackets Thursday through Monday in the 2011 NAIA baseball playoffs. Each double-elimination bracket has five teams, and Lee is seeded No. 1 in the Cleveland Bracket with Missouri Baptist seeded second, Culver-Stockton (Mo.) third, Indiana Tech fourth and Shawnee State (Ohio) fifth. Tennessee Wesleyan is seeded third with defending national champion Cumberland of Lebanon, Tenn., first and Southern Polytechnic second in the Paducah (Ky.) Bracket.

Tennis

• The Sewanee women's tennis team will host first- through third-round matches Thursday through Saturday in the NCAA Division III tournament. The Tigers (19-6), runners-up to DePauw in the SCAC tournament, will open against Rose-Hulman in the field that also includes Emory, Agnes Scott, Principia and Washington-St. Louis. The Tigers/Engineers winner will face Washington.

  • MOBILE, Ala. - Baylor School eighth-grader Jack Gray from Ooltewah won his second major USTA Southern major tennis title of the season Monday at the Southern Spring Championships. Gray, who had won his age group in the Fall Southern Championships in November in Louisville, Ky., beat North Carolinians in the last three rounds in Mobile - fourth-seeded Grey Hamilton (6-4, 6-4) and then Riley Bronson (6-4, 6-0) and John Karlawish (6-4, 6-3).
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Basketball

  • The Chattanooga Steam 15-under boys' basketball team coached by Mike Sholl lost 56-55 in overtime to the Alabama Force from Montgomery in the championship game of the YBOA super regional this past weekend in Birmingham. The Steam won their four games before the final, including by six points against the Alabama Force, and are 21-2 for the season. They already have qualified for the YBOA nationals in Orlando, Fla. Ben Snider and Kile Sholl each averaged 13 points in the five super regional games, and Lance Estus averaged 12.

Football

  • In addition to the 15 area middle school football players reported Monday as having been picked to play for Tennessee in games this summer against Kentucky all-stars, defensive lineman Mikenzy Blair of Vonore, offensive lineman Bailey Byrum of Sweetwater and linebacker Dylan Bargerstock of Hixson also were selected as seventh-graders.

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