Around the Region: Neil Spitalny wins State Super Senior Amateur

Chattanooga surgeon Neil Spitalny won his second golf tournament of the week and his third Tennessee Senior or Super Senior Amateur championship in as many years with the 2017 Super Senior title Thursday at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club, and Danny Green of Jackson won the State Senior Amateur for his 18th Tennessee Golf Association championship. Each won by five shots, Spitalny with a 214 after watching Nashville's Mike Nixon knock that many off his seven-shot lead starting the day. Another local, Larry McGill, was third in the Super Senior field at 220, and Mike Jenkins tied for 10th at 239 with Wes Gilliland 12th at 240. Jackson finished at 213 in the Senior Am with Buzz Fly and Tim Jackson from the Memphis area and Jeff Walker from Greenbrier sharing second place at 218. Signal Mountain's Tom Baird tied for 11th at 224 with fellow locals Richard Keene and Scott Patton tied for 13th at 225, Randy Yoder 17th at 228 and Mike Bennett tied for 19th at 230.

* Lee University sophomore Haverly Harrold was honored as the Gulf South Conference women's golfer of the month for September. She tied for second individually at the University of Indianapolis Fall Invitational and tied for 21st in the Battle of Old South in North Carolina. "Haverly is off to a great start this year," Lee coach John Maupin said in a school release. "Our first tournament in Indianapolis included some of the top players in the country, and Haverly was in the mix for medalist the whole way."

* The Georgia Northwestern golf team tuned up for the USCAA national tournament starting Monday in State College, Pa., with a 36-hole 602-639 defeat of Northeast Alabama Community College on Wednesday at the LaFayette Golf Course. The Bobcats' two best rounds of the season included a 3-over-par 147 from Branton Bailey, a 149 from Cole Roberts, a 152 from David Manis and a 154 from Lane Strickland. Ethan Everett led Northeast's first-year team at 152.

Volleyball

* University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman libero Megan Kaufman was the Southern Conference volleyball defensive player of the month for September, when she totaled 290 digs in 50 sets for a league-high 5.80 per set. She had double-digit digs in every Mocs match in September, with 42 in one. "Her work rate, competitiveness and desire to be great is inspiring," coach Travis Filar said in a UTC release. She has 379 digs and 6.02 per set in her first collegiate season, ranking her seventh in NCAA Division I in both categories.

* Cleveland State's first-year volleyball team beat the Covenant junior varsity 3-1 (25-13, 25-18, 19-25, 25-16) and Hiwassee 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-8) in road matches Tuesday and Thursday and is 11-3 for the season. The Lady Cougars scored nine consecutive points on Julia Gaither serves in the second set at Hiwassee.

Soccer

* Lee lost 2-1 in GSC men's soccer Thursday at Spring Hill. Samaan Williams scored from a Drew Jackson assist for the Flames (4-4-2, 3-3), who got six saves from Tristen Putnam.

* William Carey's 8-0 and NAIA fourth-ranked women's team swamped visiting Dalton State 8-0 in their Southern States opener Thursday, dropping the Lady Roadrunners to 6-2-1, and the WCU men also rose to 8-0 by edging the Roadrunners 2-1. Santiago Moore gave DSC (7-2) a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute

* Bryan College's 1977 men's soccer national champions and 1975 cross country national champs, both in the National Christian College Athletic Association, will be honored multiple times as part of the Dayton school's homecoming festivities this weekend. They will enjoy a joint dinner this evening, introductions at halftime of the 2017 men's soccer team's 2 p.m. game Saturday and Bryan Sports Hall of Fame inductions Saturday night at the Red & Gold Gala. John Reeser will return as the 1977 soccer coach after his 1975 and 1976 national champs were honored similarly last year. Other honorees are Garry Barnhart, Kevin Davey, Tom and Chris Hatten, David Maynard, Tom Potter, Mike Wood, Paul Young, Bryan Boyce, Rocky DaCosta, Luke Germann, Mark Padgett, John Rathbun, Michael Sayers and coach Jake Matthes.

Softball

* Lee's 2017 softball team finished No. 12 in NCAA Division II with a 3.592 aggregate grade point average and repeated as an Easton/NFCA all-academic team. The Lady Flames ended the season ranked 15th for their play. "We had a very successful season athletically, and to be honored for this prestigious academic award, I am even more excited about how well these athletes performed," coach Emily Russell said in a Lee release. Her 2016 team was 25th in the academic rankings.

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