The Gulf South Conference recently voted to delay the start of fall semester sports competition amid the COVID-19 pandemic to either the last week of September or the first week of October, and that includes Lee University, which competes in men’s and women’s cross country, golf and soccer events as well as women’s volleyball during the first half of the academic year. “The safety and welfare of our student-athletes, coaches and staff are our top priorities. With an uptick of COVID-19 and after reviewing recommendations from the NCAA Sport Science Institute, I believe this is the right decision by our conference,” Lee athletic director Larry Carpenter said in a school release. “I commend our presidents for making this decision and look forward to resuming competition later in the fall.” According to the release, “administrators from across the league will jointly work” on a new schedule, and in the case of football, soccer and volleyball, it will limit games to GSC competition. The start of practices will also be delayed for members of the GSC, an NCAA Division II conference. In related news, the NAIA’s Appalachian Athletic Conference, which includes Bryan College in Dayton and Tennessee Wesleyan in Athens, announced last week that its 21 member schools in seven states around the Southeast intend to compete in all fall semester sports it typically sponsors: men’s and women’s cross country and soccer as well as women’s volleyball. An AAC release noted a league task force has spent the past two months developing “COVID-19 guidelines and procedures” to prepare for the resumption of sports, with practices beginning no earlier than Aug. 15 and all forms of competition delayed until at least Sept. 5.
Golf
* The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s golf team added another note of recognition to an outstanding 2019-20 academic year by finishing tied for 22nd nationally among Division I programs and leading the Southern Conference with a combined GPA of 3.811, the Women’s Golf Coaches Association announced last week. The University of New Mexico led all D-I programs at 3.965. Previously announced were UTC’s Kirsty Beckwith and Esme Hamilton as WGCA All-America Scholars, adding to a year in which all eight Mocs on the roster made the athletic director’s honor roll, the dean’s list and the academic All-SoCon team. The Dalton State College women finished 10th nationally among NAIA programs with a team GPA of 3.509; the College of Saint Mary led at 3.795.
* The Golf Coaches Association of America recently revealed its Second Wave Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholars, and the list included sophomore Leon Bader and junior A.J. Lintunen – a Baylor School graduate – from UTC in NCAA Division I, where the requirements include a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2 and a stroke average of less than 76. Among the honorees in the NAIA, which has the same GPA requirement but permits a stroke average of less than 78, were Dalton State College’s Sport Allmond and Ben Rebne, who were seniors this past season and are from Ringgold, where they were Heritage High School teammates. Also announced last week was that the Roadrunners as well as Division II’s Lee Flames had achieved GCAA All-Academic Team status for 2019-20 as each had a team GPA of 3.0 or better. It was the ninth straight year the Flames – whose Scott Odell and Evan Spence were announced as Early Wave All-America Scholars in June – received the recognition.
* Chatsworth’s Tori Owens finished fourth and Chickmauga’s Macall Miller tied for 10th in the Georgia Women’s Amateur Championship last week at the Landings Club in Savannah. Owens, a former Murray County High School standout who was a freshman on the Kennesaw State University team this past season, shot 72-75-74 at the Oakridge Course to finish at 5 over, one stroke behind Savannah’s Mary Miller and two out of what turned out to be a grueling playoff between Lilburn’s Thienna Huynh and Duluth’s Sara Im, who won on the seventh hole. Miller, who played at Gordon Lee and was a freshman golfer at the University of Montevallo this past season, shot 77-78-76 to finish at 15 over.