University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wide receiver Bryce Nunnelly from Walker Valley High School goes into his junior season with at least one All-America designation. He was listed Thursday on the HeroSports.com preseason second team for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. “Bryce is certainly deserving of this recognition, based on the numbers he put up last year,” first-year Mocs coach Rusty Wright said in a UTC release. “He is an outstanding young man who is a hard worker in the classroom, on the field and in the weight room. I expect this to be the first of many preseason lists that include his name.” Nunnelly was first-team All-Southern Conference and an academic all-conference selection in 2018, when he averaged 7.2 pass receptions and 112.5 receiving yards per game. He was an FCS national offensive player of the week after catching 10 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns against The Citadel.
Golf
» Rhea County High School graduate Hunter Green zoomed Thursday to the championship of the 71st Tennessee State Open golf tournament with a third-round 64 and a playoff victory over Knoxville resident Brad Hawkins. They finished at 202 at GreyStone Golf Club at Dickson, one stroke ahead of Clarksville’s Hunter Richardson and amateur Hunter Wolcott from Burns. Richardson received $2,500 compared to $10,000 for Green and $5,000 for Hawkins. Wolcott’s brother, Ben, and Murfreesboro’s Jason Millard tied for fifth place at 204, and Chattanooga’s Bryce Ledford was among six sharing seventh at 205. Chattanoogans Paul Apyan and Brooks Thomas were in a six-way tie for 13th at 206, and Lake Johnson tied for 20th at 208,
» Ava Merrill of Johns Creek, Georgia, and Luke Coyle of Campbellsville, Kentucky, got their first American Junior Golf Association tournament victories Thursday in the last Evitt Foundation RTC Junior All-Star at WindStone. Merrill followed her two 67s with a final-round 70 and a one-stroke girls’ win over Yoko Tai of Singapore. Californian Faith Low was third at 207, six strokes clear of fourth. Cleveland’s Hannah Nall finished 20th at 247 with an 80 Thursday. Coyle closed with a 66 for an 11-under 202 and a two-shot boys’ win over Nicklaus Etherton of Friendsville, Tennessee, with Ethan Gao of Alpharetta, Georgia, and Bryan Lee of Fairfax, Virginia, tied for third at 209. Will Baker of Statham, Georgia, was fifth at 210, and Ooltewah’s Sheldon McKnight had a 67 for a 211 and a tie for sixth with Bruce Murphy of Johns Creek. Dalton’s Wyatt Brackett tied for 15th at 215.
Soccer