Sewanee senior tennis player Bronte Goodhue from Chattanooga and Girls Preparatory School was named Monday as the Southern Athletic Association woman of the year, the league's highest annual honor for a female athlete. She and the SAA man of the year, Oglethorpe golfer Anthony Maccaglia, will be presented the awards at a June 5 dinner in Atlanta. Goodhue is a three-time SAA player of the year and a three-time All-American who be a fourth-time All-American as she competes with teammate Lindsey Liles in the NCAA Division III tournament. Goodhue already is a four-time ITA National Scholar-Athlete and was Sewanee's 2015 valedictorian with a 4.08 grade point average, and she spends considerable time in volunteer activities as well as Alumni Leadership Council work.
* Former McCallie School and University of Tennessee tennis standout Johnny Thornton from Chattanooga was named the ITA East Region NAIA men's assistant coach of the year for his work at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Ky. He's a former coach at Tennessee Wesleyan.
Golf
* Dalton State junior Julia McQuilken was the individual winner as the Roadrunners tied for second in the team standings of the NAIA women's golf national tournament last week, and Monday she officially was recognized as a first-team All-American. DSC's Caroline Griffin, who finished sixth at Pooler, Ga., after winning the Southern States Athletic Conferrence tournament, was a second-team All-American. Dalton State also is in the NAIA men's tournament, which begins this morning and runs through Friday in Daytona Beach, Fla. Sunday at the SSAC awards banquet in Montgomery, Ala., Dalton State was honored as the league's men's and overall Commissioner's Cup winner for the 2014-15 school year. In its first year competing for SSAC honors, DSC won league titles in women's cross country, men's basketball (with the NAIA national title), women's golf and men's golf and was the runner-up in men's cross country. "To do what our athletic program did in our first year is pretty remarkable," athletic director Derek Waugh said in a school release.
* Severe weather forced the suspension of the 36-hole U.S. Women's Open sectional qualifier Monday at Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta. Everyone completed the first round and Chattanooga's Brooke Pancake was in a three-way tie for third at 2-under-par 70, while UTC golfer Emily McLennan was tied for sixth at 71. Blakesly Warren of Chattanooga and Jenna Burris of Manchester had 74s for the first 18 holes. Two spots in the Women's Open and two alternate positions are at stake as play resumes this morning.
Softball
* Heritage High School junior catcher Shelby Hammontree has switched her college commitment from East Carolina to North Georgia. Hammontree, who hit .411 with four homers, nine doubles and 31 RBIs for the Region 7-AAAA champions last season, has been committed to ECU since her freshman season. However, concerns over the coaching situation after the departure of Beth Keylon led her to reopen her recruiting, and she decided on North Georgia for a couple of reasons. "Once I made the decision to decommit from ECU, the two most important considerations in my mind were academics and the opportunity to win a national championship," Hammontree said. "Ultimately softball as a player will end for me, so I wanted a great education. In addition I just could not see myself going to a program that was not a winner. I want to improve as a player and I want to win -- that is why you play the game."
* Former Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe standout Maddie Bray was the winning pitcher as Shorter University closed out Florida Tech, 5-3, in an NCAA Division II super regional this past weekend in Rome, Ga., and Kalei Kimbrell from Gordon Lee got the save both in that game and the previous 3-1 win. The Lady Hawks (41-15) will play seventh-ranked St. Mary's of Texas on Thursday in the national tournament in Oklahoma City. Bray is 15-9, Kimbrell has nine saves, shortstop Kendall Johnson from Gordon Lee leads the team with a .389 batting average, 24 extra-base hits and 51 RBIs, and Ericka Bynum from Ringgold is batting .317 with six homers and 47 RBIs.