Sewanee tennis standout Jack Gray from Chattanooga and Baylor School won the 2018-19 honor as the top overall senior male student-athlete in the Southern Athletic Association. It’s the Wessex Hotels SAA Man of the Year, won in 2016 by Gray’s then-doubles partner Eric Roddy and in 2013 by Sewanee swimmer Phillip Link. “On behalf of our eight SAA institutions, I would like to congratulate Jack on this award,” league commissioner Jay Gardiner said in a release. “Jack joins a long list of Sewanee student-athletes of winning one of our major SAA honors. He embodies what an SAA and NCAA Division III student-athlete is about. Not only did he have success on the court, but his record in the classroom and in the community truly stood out among a number of outstanding nominees.” The criteria include character and leadership as well as athletic and academic achievement. Gray was a four-time All-SAA tennis player, the last three on the first team, and was the SAA newcomer of the year as a freshman, the league’s player of the year as a junior and the most valuable player of the SAA tournament as a senior. The Tigers won SAA regular-season and tournament titles all four of his years at Sewanee. He’s also a four-time SAA academic honor roll member and an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar Athlete. He graduated last month with a mathematics degree and a Spanish minor.
Track & Field
* University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior runner Kennedy Thomson is one of 25 athletes – and 13 women – selected to represent Canada in the North America Central America Caribbean under-23 track and field meet in Queretaro, Mexico. There will be 31 countries represented. Thomson will compete July 5-7 in the women’s 800-meter run, in which she ran a personal-best 2:05.73 this spring in Hamilton, Ontario. “I am thrilled and honored to have been selected to represent Team Canada in the 800 meters,” Thomson said in a UTC release Wednesday. “It is a great privilege to represent my nation, UTC and my hometown at an event like this. Coach Amanda (Cotter) and I have been consistently improving together, and we have worked hard to prepare for opportunities like this.” Said Cotter, Andy Meyer’s assistant coach: “Kennedy has been in terrific form all outdoor season. It’s great that she had the chance to extend her competitive season. Her invitation to compete at NACAC is a testament to how hard she’s worked all season. Making a national team is a huge honor and will be an invaluable experience for her.” Thomson holds UTC indoor and outdoor records in the 800 and the indoor standard in the 1500. “Earning my first Team Canada assignment gives me the opportunity to compete against world-class athletes on an international stage,” she said. “I am so grateful for the support and encouragement that Coach Amanda and Coach Andy and the entire UTC community have provided. I hope to continue this progress and compete amongst the top women at the NACAC Championships. This experience will undoubtedly help prepare me to better represent UTC in the upcoming NCAA season.”
Golf
* Nicole Adam, a North Carolina resident whose grandparents Jim and Nancy Sims live in Red Bank, won a Junior PGA Championship qualifier Wednesday in Kannapolis with an 8-under-par score for the two rounds and a birdie on the second hole of a playoff. The other playoff participant also qualified for the national tournament in Connecticut.
* Blairsville resident Beck Burnette closed with a 68 Wednesday and finished fifth at 210 in the Georgia Junior Championship at Augusta Country Club. Brock Hoover of Woodstock won by two strokes with an 11-under-par 205. The top eight qualified for the Georgia-South Carolina Junior Challenge Match set for July 19-20 in Spartanburg. Ainsley Cowart of Winston won the Georgia Girls’ Championship at Greensboro by nine strokes with a 207. Chatsworth’s Tori Owens tied for 17th at 231.