The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team was picked to finish third in the Southern Conference and the Mocs’ Tanner Smith and Rodney Jones were voted to the preseason All-SoCon team, the league office announced Tuesday. UTC, 7-7 overall and 5-1 in the league last season, was voted behind affiliate members Campbell and Appalachian State. Campbell received seven first-place votes and 49 points and had five All-SoCon individuals. ASU got 41 points, two more than UTC, and like the Mocs put two wrestlers on the preseason all-league team. Smith, at 149 pounds, was the 2019 SoCon freshman of the year after posting a 12-9 record and qualifying for the NCAA tournament. He also made the SoCon all-freshman team and was runner-up at the SoCon tournament. Jones qualified for the NCAAs at 197 pounds last year by taking the SoCon’s second automatic bid at that weight. “We are very proud that these guys are recognized for their work and accomplishments up to this point,” coach Kyle Ruschell said in a UTC release. “Tanner and Rod, as well as the rest of our guys, are working hard to achieve this and even more this season.”
Soccer
* The Tennessee Wesleyan men’s soccer team, ranked 22nd in the NAIA, ended its regular season Tuesday with a 2-0 Appalachian Athletic Conference home win over second-place Union College. In sealing its first AAC regular-season title in six years and a berth in its first national tournament since 2012, TWU (14-2-2, 9-1-1) scored on goals by Nicholas Akoto and Josh Conradie from assists by Nick Davis and Montel McKenzie, and Nick Croucher made five saves. McKenzie was the AAC defensive player of the week after helping limit the two foes last week to five shots each and scoring the first goal in a 2-0 win over Bryan. He was the AAC offensive honoree the first week.
* Covenant junior forward Jake Major was the USA South men’s soccer player of the week. He had three goals and an assist as the Scots won twice. Major has eight goals and two assists. Covenant (14-2-1, 11-0) won 2-0 in a makeup game Tuesday at Brevard and clinched the USAS West Division title – the program’s first conference regular-season title as an NCAA member. Josh Brower assisted Jesse Riggs on the first goal and scored the second, and Paul Lemay had four saves.
* Lee University’s Jared McWhorter was the Gulf South Conference men’s soccer player of the week, and Lady Flames goalkeeper Taylor Green from Ooltewah was the women’s defender of the week. Green posted her sixth and seventh shutouts of the season, 1-0 and 2-0, on a GSC trip to West Tennessee and has a 0.63 goals-against average and a .774 save percentage. McWhorter had three goals and an assist in two games and has seven goals in 2019.