Former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga vice chancellor and athletic director David Blackburn has been hired by Middle Tennessee State as senior associate athletic director for external affairs, the Murfreesboro school announced Monday. Blackburn succeeds Whit Turnbow. UTC won 13 Southern Conference regular-season championships and 10 SoCon tournament titles during Blackburn’s four years overseeing the Mocs until last June. He has spent the past year as a consultant. A 1990 Tennessee graduate, Blackburn spent two decades associated with the football program and the athletic department on the Knoxville campus, where he eventually became the senior associate AD for administration. “It was an easy decision to hire a person the caliber of David Blackburn,” MTSU AD Chris Massaro said in a school release. “We lost a great talent in Whit Turnbow, but we feel like we have replaced the position with a person who brings a tremendous skill set. Personally I look forward to having someone in the department who has sat in the athletic director’s chair, because as we can continue to grow that experience will be invaluable to me and our department. David has a background in fundraising, which is always a big need for our department, and his external skills are off the charts.”
‘ Sewanee women’s basketball coach Tracey Braden goes into her second year on the job with added titles and responsibilities. Braden is the new assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator for the Tigers, but she already has provided much administrative help since arriving in May 2017. She helped with two NCAA tennis regionals and the 2017 Division III national tournament and this year’s Southern Athletic Association track and field championships. “I appreciate Tracey’s willingness to serve the department in this new role,” Sewanee AD Mark Webb said in Monday’s announcement release. “Prior to her arrival she had significant administrative experience as the athletic director (2016-17) at Westminster College. Moreover, she has already made significant contributions to the department.” The former Central Missouri State basketball player coached at Westminster in Missouri from 2008 to 2017.
Golf
‘ Rain plagued the first day of qualifying for the Tennessee Women’s Amateur golf tournament Monday at The Honors Course, as only two players in the championship flight played as many as 12 holes and many never started, according to the TGA website at 11:20 p.m. Manchester’s Jenna Burris was even par through nine, one out of the lead, and Cleveland’s Rheagan Hall was 1 over through six. A lot of the players not in the championship flight did finish their round. Local player Darlene Werhnyak led those with a 4-over 76, one better than Susan Miller of Tellico Village, and Charleston’s Maggie Scott and Crossville’s Jean Kraft were in a group tied for third at 81. Chattanoogan Kristy Snow was tied for sixth at 82, and everyone who did not finish was at least 16 over par. Match play starts Wednesday.
‘ Chatsworth’s Tori Owens missed qualifying for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur by three strokes with her 75 Monday at Cartersville Country Club, and Dalton’s Carter Pendley also missed by three with a 73 in U.S. Junior Am qualifying at the University of Georgia course in Athens.
Cross Country
‘ UTC’s 2018 cross country schedule begins Friday, Sept. 7, with the UTC Twilight Cross Country Opener at the school’s golf development center on Hickory Valley Road. This will be the Mocs’ first meet at the facility, where the men will run a 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) course and the women will run two miles. The men will run an 8k and the women will do a 5k at the Greater Louisville Classic on Sept. 29, and the men will do another 8k and the women a 6k at the Berry Invitational on Oct. 13. The Southern Conference meet is set for Oct. 27 at Cullowhee, North Carolina, and the Division I South Region meet will be Nov. 9 at Tallahassee, Florida.