The Georgia Northwestern men's golf team leaves today for Chautauqua, N.Y., and the NJCAA Division III national tournament. The Bobcats are wrapping up their second year as a program. With a three-day total of 897, they defeated runner-up Georgia Military by nearly 80 strokes in the GCAA/Region 17 tournament in Albany, Ga. "We have a lot of different personalities on our team, but they all like to win," coach Jared Willerson said in a GNTC release. "If we go up there and play like we're capable of playing, we'll do well and have a shot at winning. It's going to be a different experience. Most of our guys have barely left the state before. We're just a bunch of country boys headed up North. ... I've looked at some of the scores that have been shot (in the nationals) the last few years, and I know we're capable of shooting those scores or better." The Chautauqua Golf Club, host of the Division III juco nationals since 1999, was designed by Donald Ross, who designed Brainerd Golf Course as well as famous layouts such as East Lake, Oak Hill, Inverness and Pinehurst No. 2. The four-round tournament begins Tuesday with 13 teams and individuals from 20 other schools.
Academics
* The recently released Gulf South Conference FireSeeds Spring Sports Honor Roll included 40 Lee University athletes from the sports of baseball, softball, golf and tennis. Ten came from softball and nine each from baseball and women's tennis, and nine Lady Flames and Flames had grade point averages exceeding 3.90 on a 4.0 scale. The women's tennis team had senior Jodie Rice and freshman Marta Garcia-Nieto with 4.00 GPAs, sophomore Krista Good with a 3.98 and senior Tonya McGraner and junior Maclain Yowarsky with 3.93s, while women's golf was led by senior Madison Alexander with a 3.99, men's tennis by sophomore Westley Lemke with a 3.98 and softball by juniors Lexie Dean and Angie Hughes at 3.96 and 3.91, respectively.
Hunting & Fishing
* A new Quail Forever chapter has been started for southeastern Tennessee, northwestern Georgia and northeastern Alabama. The Tri-State Chapter will promote habitat development for bobwhite quail and other bird species, increasing their numbers and allowing future generations chances to hunt them. "Quail Forever's unique model of locally driven habitat efforts was the ultimate factor for the creation of our chapter," treasurer Tony Sanders from Soddy-Daisy said in a release. "The quail hunting tradition is strong in our state." Don Oscai of Hixson is the president; Keith Watson of Sale Creek is the vice president. For more information, contact Sanders at tony@tonysandersoutdoors.com or 567-4801.
* The Gordon Lee duo of Will Smith and Colby Chapman won the Northwest Georgia High School Anglers Association Classic earlier this month with a one-day haul of 18.02 pounds. Hunter Teeters and Austin Traffansteadt are other members of the Gordon Lee team.