Following its second Southern Athletic Association championship in a row, the Sewanee men’s lacrosse team dominated the league’s season awards. Tigers goalkeeper Selby Austin repeated as SAA defensive player of the year, Robbie Berndt went from newcomer of the year in 2015 to offensive player of the year and sophomore transfer Cason Liles followed him as the top newcomer. Those three were joined on the All-SAA first team by Cotter Brown, George Pratt and Jake Rubenstein, and Hayden Hunt, Peter Brown and Wil Rainer were second-team honorees. Jimmy Parker and Matt McJunkin received honorable mention. Berndt had 34 goals and 11 assists with 21 goals in conference play for Sewanee (12-3, 7-0), while Austin stopped 59.7 percent of the shots he faced and allowed only 5.67 goals per SAA match. Liles won 59 of 85 faceoffs in league play.
Golf
– Dalton State College junior Sean Elliott is a semifinalist for the Jack Nicklaus Award he won last year as the record-setting NAIA national medalist. There are 30 NAIA semifinalists. Finalists will be named on May 18, and the winner from each of five college divisions will be announced on June 2.
Softball
– Tennessee Wesleyan College stayed alive in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament in Kingsport, Tenn., with a 2-0 win Wednesday against Columbia (S.C.) College, and second-seeded Bryan College defeated Point University 2-0 to set up a winners-bracket final today against top seed Reinhardt University. TWC’s Rachel Mathews allowed three hits in five innings and Alexis Adams got a save with two hitless innings, while Rachel Percy was 2-for-2 with an RBI triple and Briana Muller was 1-for-1 with the first RBI for the Lady Bulldogs (24-17). The hits were scattered throughout the lineup for Bryan (29-21), with no player contributing more than one, but Lacye Walker was 1-for-2 with a walk and drove in two runs, Katelyn Bowen was 1-for-1 with a walk and Ashley Brown had a pinch-hit double. Kaitie Sims pitched all seven innings of the shutout, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out two.
Cross Country/Track
– Dalton State recently signed three area runners for its men’s cross country team: Ryan Gebelein and Devin Swafford from Heritage High School in Ringgold and Henson Gibbs from Northwest Whitfield. All three are receiving Zell Miller academic scholarships in addition to athletic aid. Gibbs is a two-time state meet qualifier who also was an all-area wrestler and played baseball. “Henson is a great athlete, and we are lucky to have him sign with us,” Roadrunners co-coach Andy Meyer said in a DSC release. “He has had success with whatever he has attempted. Henson is a strong runner with a lot of heart, as evident with his wrestling success.” Gebelein was fifth in the Georgia AAAA state meet and finished second in his region in both the 1,600-meter run and 3,200, in which he has personal bests of 4:37 and 9:51. “He has had a stellar high school career, and we are looking for him to make an immediate impact as a freshman. Ryan has immense talent,” Meyer said. “(Swafford) has only been running a couple of years and has made great progress. We look forward to working with Devin and seeing just how good he may become.” Swafford has personal bests of 2:09 in the 800, 10:41 in the 3,200 and 16:50 for a cross country 5k.
– Juniors T.J. Davis from Ooltewah High School and Tiana Mills from Girls Preparatory School are among five Carson-Newman University track and field athletes competing today through Saturday at the 121st Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Davis finished fifth in the men’s long jump last year as the first Eagles athlete to compete in the prestigious event. Mills will be in the women’s long and triple jumps.