Recent Girls Preparatory School graduate Madison Watson has accepted a scholarship to run cross country for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. UTC coach Bill Gautier has known Watson - who also competed in track and field for the Bruisers - since she attended kindergarten with his daughter. He said she is a "tremendous young lady and all-around person" as well as an all-state runner. He praised the training she has received at GPS and added, "I'm really excited to get to coach her and watch her continue to develop." GPS coach Jeff Gaither noted that Watson had a "breakthrough season" as a junior, when she finished seventh in the state cross country meet and earned all-state honors. "As a senior, Madison led a young team to a third-place finish and repeated as an all-state runner," Gaither said. "She was our only senior in the state meet lineup."
Golf
* Chattanoogans Richard Keene and Neil Spitalny are seeded No. 1 as the match play portion of the Tennessee Senior Four-Ball Championship begins today at Oak Ridge Country Club. Keene and Spitalny shot the tournament's low round for the second straight day, with Thursday's 64 leaving them at 126 for two rounds of stroke play - two strokes ahead of two other teams in the 55-and-older division. They'll tee off the match play quarterfinals at 7:30 a.m. against eighth-seeded Greg Guinn and Rick Richardson, who finished stroke play at 65-69 - 134. The semifinals are this afternoon, with the final Saturday. Two-time defending champions Steve Golliher of Knoxville and Danny Green of Jackson also advanced from the 30 teams in stroke play and are seeded fourth. In Super Senior (65-and-older) competition, Winchester's Jess Voorhies and Brentwood's Jim Webb advanced from the 12-team stroke play field to this morning's match play semifinals. Voorhies and Webb are seeded fourth after finishing stroke play at 67-71 - 138, and they'll take on top-seeded Ron Bargatze and Mike Nixon, who finished seven shots ahead of them in stroke play. The final is Saturday morning.
* Alyssa Brown from Chattanooga and Baylor School ended her collegiate golf career as the 2014-15 most valuable player for Centre College in Danville, Ky., and she made the All-Great Lakes Region team, which was chosen by the Women's Golf Coaches Association.
Volleyball
* UTC's volleyball recruiting class has been given a "high honorable mention" grade by PrepVolleyball.com. There are 42 schools in that listing, following a top 30 group and 25 "highest honorable mentions," and the Mocs are the only Southern Conference program in any of the three. Also, the ranking for UTC came before the announcement of setter Madison Bergren's transfer from UT-Martin. The earlier signees were outside hitters Miranda Elpers and Ally Ford from Louisville, Ky., and Oakton, Va., respectively; liberos Lindsey Farrell from Bartlett, Tenn., and Rachel Petkosh from Merritt Island, Fla.; and middle blocker Emily Plumlee from Chesapeake, Va. "This is the second time in four years that we've been honored," Mocs coach Travis Filar said in a UTC release. "We just need to keep working hard and preparing as a team."
Basketball
* Daniel Wright from the Chattanooga Grizzliez basketball organization and the Wright Way youth development program is hosting the X1 Hoops Father's Day Challenge with 18 boys' teams Saturday at Dalewood and Tyner middle schools. Though not sanctioned, it is for AAU- and YBOA-type teams. There are six teams for players going into grades 10-12, including one from Dayton and one from Knoxville, and seven entries for grades 8-9, including one each from Dalton, Ringgold and the Tri-Cities area of northeastern Tennessee. Fifth- and sixth-graders have a five-team division that will play at Dalewood along with the high-schoolers; the eighth- and ninth-graders will play at Tyner. Games will begin at 9:30 a.m. at both gyms, and championship games are expected to start at about 7 p.m. in the two older divisions. They each will have four teams in a single-elimination playoff after two guaranteed games for each squad; the youngest division will have the top two teams square off about 4 p.m., Wright said Thursday. Tickets cost $7 and will get spectators in both gyms. "Anybody coming to watch can expect to see great basketball and a lot of sportsmanship - kids having a good time playing basketball during the summer and having an opportunity to honor our fathers and coaches," said Wright, who has five Grizzliez teams in the tournament. He will be coaching a fourth-grade team in the fifth-sixth division and a sixth-grade team challenging the eighth- and ninth-graders. The latter is preparing for the YBOA sixth-grade nationals July 5-11 in Orlando, Fla.