The Dalton State College women’s golf team, ranked fourth in the NAIA, took the first-round lead in the TWU Invitational at Tennessee National with a 313 on Monday. Milligan was second at 319, No. 8 Loyola of New Orleans was at 320 and 13th-ranked Southeastern (Florida) and host Tennessee Wesleyan shared fourth place at 327 in the nine-team field. Milligan and TWU both also are receiving votes for the Top 25. Loyola’s Ashley Rogers was first individually with a 72, and TWU’s Ryann McCuistion was second at 74 with DSC’s Hannah Gasaway third at 75, Isabel Rijos and Sutton Rollins at 77 and Haejin Choe tied for 10th at 79. Wesleyan also has the sixth-place team (362), led by Maddi Balthrop’s 81. She was tied for 15th with DSC’s Katelyn Skiffen. The tournament ends Tuesday at the course near Loudon. The Dalton State men moved up to third from fourth in the latest NAIA poll, with Coastal Georgia No. 1.
Track & Field
* Covenant College senior Lilly Smith was announced Monday as the USA South women’s track athlete of the week for the second time in three weeks. At the Emory Invitational meet in Atlanta, Smith reset her own Lady Scots record in the 1500-meter run at 4:46.25, good for fifth place in the top heat. She also ran the final leg of the distance medley relay and passed the leader to give Covenant the win in another-program record time, 12:50.57, and she was part of the 4×400 relay. Preceding her in the first-place DMR were Maggie Henry, Virginia Kay Roberts and S.K. Lipperd. Covenant was third in the men’s DMR with Leif Le Mahieu, Stephen Cone, Brendan Yeager and Jonathan George setting a Scots record, and Michael Rawlings was seventh in javelin with a program-best throw.
Lacrosse
* Sewanee attacker Hayden Hunt was chosen the Southern Athletic Association men’s lacrosse offensive player of the week for his eight goals, five assists and eight ground balls in three Tigers wins. He totaled seven goals and three assists in two one-point victories in Colorado.
Soccer
* The Chattanooga Lady Red Wolves Soccer Club hired Nathan Brown as an assistant coach Monday. Brown has compiled a record of 65-37-10 in six seasons as the Walker Valley High School girls’ soccer coach. The Lady Red Wolves will open their inaugural season May 10 on the road against Asheville City SC.