University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior golfer Wes Gosselin continued to blister the Blackthorn Club course in Jonesborough, Tenn., on Thursday and leads by 11 shots going into the final round of the 101st Tennessee State Amateur. Gosselin shot a 68 for a 17-under-par 199 for 54 holes and is taking aim at the tournament record of 19 under set last year at Holston Hills in Knoxville by Lee University’s Peyton Sliger of Maryville. Andrew Pratt set the State Am record for margin of victory with an eight-shot win in 2004. This year’s State Junior Amateur and Tennessee Match Play champion William Nottingham of Kingsport is second at 210, and Lee golfer Taylor Davis of Franklin is third at 213. UTC’s Stuart Thomas from Knoxville also carded a 68 and is tied for seventh at 216, and Lee’s Matt Johnson from Manchester is tied for 13th at 218. UTC’s Lake Johnson from Chattanooga shares 21st place at 220, and UTC’s Andrew Weathers from Chattanooga, Lipscomb’s Mikey Feher from Signal Mountain and Sliger are tied for 26th at 221. “I’ve played really solid golf so far,” Gosselin said in a UTC release. “I’m getting in good position off the tee, then hit good iron shots and saw a lot of 10- to 20-foot putts drop. It’s all working pretty well right now. Tomorrow I just want to stay focused, keep doing what I’ve been doing and let the scores take care of themselves.”
* Former Chattanooga Christian standout Scott Stevens, now on the South Carolina golf team, wound up tied for 32nd place at 287 with a fourth-round 70 Thursday in the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship at Gatineau, Quebec. Quebec resident Hugo Bernard won by two strokes with a 271.
Soccer
* UTC was picked to finish eighth out of 10 teams in Southern Conference women’s soccer this season, as announced Thursday by the league office. The Mocs’ second season with Gavin McKinney as coach officially begins next Friday at 7 p.m. against Kennesaw State at Finley Stadium, with Alabama A&M visiting two days later at 2 p.m., but they have an exhibition tonight at Tennessee Tech and a home exhibition at 5 p.m. Sunday against Belmont. Admission is free to all home games. “We schedule preseason friendlies to learn about our squad. There are a lot of new players in the mix,” McKinney said in a school release. UTC finished eighth in the SoCon last year with a league record of 2-6-1 and a 4-12-3 overall mark. Two-time defending champion Samford got eight first-place votes from the coaches and was picked to win, followed by Furman, UNC Greensboro, Mercer, East Tennessee State, Western Carolina, Wofford, UTC, VMI and The Citadel.
Cross Country
* Dalton State was picked to repeat as men’s cross country champion in the Southern States Athletic Conference. The Roadrunners, runners-up in their debut season in 2014, won the 2015 SSAC meet by 46 points and had nine all-conference runners, and then they were 11th in the NAIA meet with Spencer Head finishing seventh individually for All-America status. As a senior he leads three returners from last year’s top seven for DSC – joined by junior Sadoth Fraire and sophomore Cole Thornton – and coaches Andy Meyer and Margie Bruner feel good about the freshmen: Ryan Gebelein and Devin Swafford from Heritage High, Henson Gibbs from Northwest Whitfield and David Murillo from Calhoun High. William Carey has the 2015 NAIA national champion, Geoffrey Kipchumba, and was picked to finish second again in the SSAC, with Bethel third, Blue Mountain fourth and Mobile, Loyola (La.) and Brewton-Parker fifth through seventh.
Baseball
* The Chattanooga Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities team that won the region tournament and won a game in the RBI World Series in Cincinnati was the 18-under Tennessee Express, and players were Jordan Artime, Cordero Cummings, Dakota Fowler, Evan Houston, Cameron Hughes, Jesse Jones, Tanner Meyland, Matthew Oxford, Jordan Ransom, Logan Rigsby, Seth Rogers, Mason Smelzer, Cameron Starks, Vince Vantiegham and Bryan Wilson. The coaches were Keith Landecker, Chae Butler and Michael Haywood Jr. with Al Frias as manager.