Wesley Strader from Spring City and Andy Morgan from Dayton are among the 78 fishing pros entered in the Forrest Wood Cup this week at Lake Lanier in Georgia. Billed as the “world championship of bass fishing,” the tournament will run Thursday through Sunday with daily 7 a.m. takeoffs at Laurel Park in Gainesville and 5 p.m. weigh-ins at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth. The winner will receive $500,000 plus a possible $100,000 Ranger Cup bonus. Chattanooga native Steve Daniel holds the distinction of being the first Forrest Wood Cup winner in 1996 at Georgia’s Lake Sinclair. This year’s event includes all-time FLW top money winner David Dudley.
Football
n The Tennessee Crush scored first and won 25-11 against the North Georgia Bulldogs in Saturday night’s United South Football League game at Finley Stadium. The Bulldogs (6-2) edged the Crush (8-1, 7-1) 16-14 in their earlier meeting in Calhoun, Ga., and remain the only team to have scored against the Crush this season. A long kickoff return by Willie Idlette set up the Crush for the first score of the game, and he scored a clinching touchdown late.
n Former Alabama quarterback Andrew Zow will be the special guest for the Jackson County Bama Club kickoff barbecue Aug. 17 at the Goosepond Civic Center at Scottsboro, Ala. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. CDT, and tickets cost $15. They may be bought in advance from a club member or from the county’s Chamber of Commerce at (256) 259-5500, or they may be bought at the door. The event also will include door prizes and a live memorabilia auction.
Triathlons
n GPS senior runner Johanna Gartman is midway through two weeks of triathlon training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The camp is for under-19 athletes who have been identified as potential national triathlon members.
n The Dalton (Ga.) Recreation Center will be the site Saturday of a youth triathlon with three age divisions: 8-under, starting at 8 a.m. with a 50-meter swim, a 1-mile bike ride and a half-mile run; 9-12, starting at 8:45 with a 150-meter swim, a 4-mile bike and a 1-mile run; and 13-17, starting at 10 a.m. with a 300-meter swim, an 8-mile bike and a 2-mile run. Race-day registration starts at 7 a.m., but participants can pre-register at active.com or download entry forms at www.ccacswimming.org.
n The annual Sports Barn/Quintana Roo Sprint Triathlon will be next Sunday morning, starting at 7 a.m. at the Chickamauga Dam recreation area. It includes a quarter-mile swim, an 8.2-mile bike ride into town and a 2-mile run along the Tennessee River and North Shore. The entry fee is $45 ($75 per relay team) until Thursday, then $50 ($75), and pre-registration is required at www.sportsbarn.net or 266-1125. The First Things First organization is sponsoring the event along with the Sports Barn.
Golf
n Jacob Clark, Scott Stevens and Sport Allmond have comfortable boys’ age-group leads in CDGA Junior Tour points heading into the City Junior Championship golf tournament Monday and Tuesday at Lookout Mountain Golf Club, but the girls’ divisions are close. Clark has 49 points to 40.5 for Ryne Thompson and 37.5 for Kyle Holley in the Boys 16-18 group, and Stevens has 53 to 42 for Brooks Thomas and 39.5 for Patrick McDonald in 14-15. Allmond has 60 points, 12.5 more than second-place Zac Bombassi in 12-13. With considerably fewer participants, Rachel Mason is first in Girls 15-18 with 30 points, one more than Caroline Stitts and four ahead of Lexi Stewart, and Katherine Holmes leads the 12-14 group with 43 points while Samantha Griffith and Anna Pope have 38 each.
Bowling
n Two senior bowling leagues at AMF Tri State Lanes in East Ridge have announced start-up meetings soon. Both are for men and women ages 50 and over. The established Seniors on the Move league will meet Aug. 10 at 1 p.m. and begin bowling the following Tuesday, and the new Monday handicap league started by Bettye Davis will have its meeting Aug. 16 at noon and begin competition at 1 p.m. a week later. Anyone interested in that “Cream of the Crop” Monday league can call Davis at 892-8118. Tuesday bowlers should call Betty Armstrong at (706) 858-7405 or Pat Almany at (706) 375-8178.
Lacrosse
n The ChattLax Blue under-15 and Huntsville Arsenal under-13 teams each went 2-0 with the help of a two-overtime victory in the Dancing Bear Lacrosse Festival honoring the memory of the late David Dickert on Saturday at Finley Stadium. ChattLax Blue downed ChattLax Red 8-2 and squeaked by Huntsville’s under-15 team 5-4 in double overtime, and the 13-under Arsenal downed a Murfreesboro team 10-3 before edging the ChattLax under-13 squad 8-7 in two OTs. To keep on schedule, the festival used the “Braveheart” format for second overtimes, with one midfielder and one goalie for each team playing until a goal is scored.
Staff Reports