Three-time FLW Tour angler of the year Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., was the first-day leader in the series’ Lake Cumberland tournament Thursday out from Somerset, Ky. Morgan’s five-bass limit totaled 18 pounds, 5 ounces. Michael Neal of Dayton was ninth at 15-13. Jason Meninger of St. Augustine, Fla., was second at 17-9. First place for the 180 pros can be worth as much as $125,000. “It wasn’t like I smashed them and caught a ton of fish today, but I had some quality,” Morgan said in an FLW release. “The five fish that I weighed today were probably the prettiest limit of fish that I have ever caught. They were all female, full of eggs, and not a blemish on them. Just fat, chunky and gorgeous.”
Shotgun Sports
‘ Soddy-Daisy High School graduate Eli Christman earned two individual gold medals as a Martin Methodist freshman in the recent ACUI College national shotgun championships at San Antonio. He won the invitation-only International Shoot Out with the top qualifying score of 120 in 125 Olympic skeet targets and finals score of 56 in 60, with harder targets. That earned him a $1,000 scholarship and MMC a $3,000 prize. Christman also won the American skeet national title by following his perfect 100 with 19 targets in a row in a 14-person shoot-off, and he was seventh out of 468 men in the high overall standings, earning him first-team All-America status. He had 94s (out of 100) in American Speed ISkeet and Super Sporting. The event included 870 shooters from 84 universities and colleges.
Tennis
‘ University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher announced Thursday the signing of Tomas Rodriguez from Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the 2018-19 season. Rodriguez, who has prepped at Colegio Everest in Santiago, Chile, has qualified for the ITA World Cup each of the last four years and has been ranked as high as No. 11 in his age group in South America. He was a doubles semifinalist at a G4 international event last year in Santiago and a singles and doubles quarterfinalist at the G4 “Indervalle” Open in Cali, Colombia. “We are super excited to have Tomas join our program next year,” Merzbacher said in a release. “He certainly will be an impact player at the top of the lineup in singles and doubles. He has played all over the world and competed against the world’s best players in ITF competitions.”