Fifteen-year-old Jake Clayton won the $3,000 top prize in the Super Pro class Saturday at the Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip. The Central High School freshman and 2014 Junior Dragster strip champion won with a 6.41-second burst on a 6.40 dial in a 1987 Mazda RX7 owned by Hugh Harris. The Super Pro runner-up was NHRA national and world champion David Rampy of Piedmont, Ala., with a 7.08-second run on a 7.07 dial in a 2010 GMC truck. Nick Kay was the Foot Brake winner with a 6.55 run on a 6.53 dial in a 1967 Chevrolet Nova; Ray Zumstein was second in a 1985 Chevy S10. Mattie Keener from Whitwell was the Junior Dragster victor with a 7.91 run on a 7.90 dial, with Mycah Jordan second with an 8.42 on an 8.40. Cynthia Warnock had the low elapsed time (4.62) and top speed of the meet (148.25 mph) in a Chevy-powered dragster.
Golf
* The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s golf team is fourth out of 12 teams after Monday’s two rounds of the Henssler Financial Intercollegiate tournament at Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw, Ga. UTC’s Emily McLennan is tied for eighth individually at 150, and the team is at 608 (305-303), six shots behind Illinois and Augusta. Texas Tech leads at 583. Also for the Mocs, Isabella Loza and Sarah Dolmovich, the latter playing as an individual, are tied for 27th at 154 and Cris Perez and Monica San Juan share 31st at 155. Area players Avery George and Jenna Burris are at 153 and 154 for fifth-place Middle Tennessee State (610).
* With three top-10 individuals, the Lee University men’s golf team leads the UNA Spring Classic at Muscle Shoals, Ala., by six strokes with a 571 after two rounds Monday. Lee’s Peyton Sliger and Corey Sheppard are third and fourth at 140 and 141, Shea Sylvester is tied for eighth at 144 and Taylor Davis is tied for 14th at 146.
Baseball/Softball
* Tennessee Wesleyan had both the player of the week, Wardy Polanco, and the pitcher of the week, Ryan Hartman, for Appalachian Athletic Conference baseball for March 21-27. It was the second time in a row for Hartman, who beat 20th-ranked Bryan 6-1 with four hits allowed and 13 strikeouts, most in the AAC this year. He is 4-0 with a 0.59 earned run average and has 62 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings. Polanco batted .450 with a 1.300 slugging percentage in the 10th-ranked Bulldogs’ 4-1 week, with five home runs, two doubles, 12 RBIs and eight runs scored. He is batting .379 with 10 homers and 27 RBIs.
* Covenant College senior Garrett Kriston was the USA South baseball pitcher of the week after his two-hitter with 11 strikeouts in a 1-0 win over William Peace. That was announced Monday, when Covenant beat Sewanee 17-8 with a nine-run fourth inning. Luke Harvey was 4-for-5 with three runs scored and Caleb Bloye had three RBIs for the Scots (16-13), who got three hits apiece from Devin Cerrato, Trenton Nobles, Z Arima and Perry Rigby and two RBIs each from Harvey, Nobles, Alex Kerr and Taylor Bloye. For Sewanee (3-26), Ryan Poole was 3-for-4 and Beau Allen and Kyle Schnell each had two hits with two runs and an RBI.
* The Cleveland State baseball team won 6-3 and 13-1 over the Cumberlands junior varsity Monday. Sean McDermott was 3-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs, Koltyn Plumb was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and Devin Gardner homered, singled and also drove in three runs in the five-inning second game for the Cougars (19-11). Each of those three scored twice, as did Brett Browning, while Jordan Ransom was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Parker Cochran had two RBIs.
* Former Chattanooga State first baseman Lindsey Stickrod, now a Memphis junior, was the American Athletic Conference softball player of the week after going 5-for-11 (.455) in four games last week. In 7-0 and 2-1 wins over Connecticut, she was 5-for-5 and scored four runs. She is batting .324 (third on the team) with four home runs, 23 RBIs and 19 runs scored for the season.