Lanni Marchant shatters Canadian women’s marathon record

Lanni Marchant

Chattanooga attorney and former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga running star Lanni Marchant beat the Canadian women’s marathon record by 36 seconds in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday, and the woman who had held the mark for 28 years, Sylvia Ruegger, was at the finish line to hug and congratulate her. Ruegger’s record of 2:28:36 came in the Houston Marathon in 1985, when Marchant was three months old. The former Southern Conference athlete of the year finished third Sunday in 2:28:00, nearly four minutes faster than her previous personal best from 2011, according to the Toronto Star. She said the greeting from Ruegger was “just awesome.” Added Marchant, in the Star’s story: “Sylvia’s such a legend to me, and she’s such a strong woman and a strong personality, and to take the record from her — I’m in awe.”

• Bryan College senior Alex Stephens from Cleveland was the AAC men’s cross country runner of the week after leading the Lions to a close third-place finish behind NCAA Division I schools UTC and Middle Tennessee in UTC’s Front Runner Invitational on Saturday. Stephens finished fifth individually in the 5-kilometer race in 15 minutes, 11 seconds.

Golf

• Former Girls Preparatory School golfer Mary Alice Murphy claimed her first college title when she tied for medalist honors at the Fighting Camel Fall Classic on Tuesday at Keith Hills Golf Club in Buies Creek, N.C. The Mercer University senior shot a 5-over-par 221 over three rounds Monday and Tuesday. She shot a final-round 3-under 69 — the only under-par round of the tournament — to surge from 14th place to a tie with Elizabeth Haycock of Old Dominion and Kaylin Yost of Campbell.

• The Lee University men’s and women’s golf teams are on the verge of National Christian College Athletic Association titles going into the final day today at Panama City Beach, Fla. Lee’s Courtney Shelton has a nine-stroke individual lead at 137 in the women’s invitational, where the Lady Flames share the lead at 596 with Dallas Baptist, and the Flames rallied to take a one-stroke lead at 578 over three teams with Hunter Vest and Shea Sylvester tied for second individually at 140, Matt Emery at 148 and Taylor Davis at 150. Lee’s Bernadette Little is tied for third in the women’s event at 147 with Madison Alexander tied for 13th at 153. Covenant College finished 18th out of 18 men’s teams, and the Scots’ James Van Nice tied for 32nd individually, missing the cut for today’s round by one stroke.