Area sports notes: Trio of UTC wrestlers finish second

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The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team had nine medalists Sunday at the Cougar Clash, hosted by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. There were no champions for the Mocs, but juniors Chris Debien (141 pounds) and Jake Huffine (133) plus sophomore Fabian Gutierrez (125) reached the finals before losing. UTC's Alonzo Allen (125) took third, Dominic Lampe (184) was fourth, Hunter Fortner (174), Rodney Jones (197) and Connor Tolley (285) placed fifth and Franco Valdes (133) got sixth. In the finals, Gutierrez lost 8-4 to eighth-ranked Ryan Millhof from Arizona State, Huffine lost 5-2 to Kent State's Timothy Rooney and Debien dropped a major decision, 16-5, to 14th-ranked Tristan Moran from Wisconsin. In the semifinals, Gutierrez pinned Arizon State's Brandon Courtney with three seconds remaining in the match after they had combined for 29 points. "I think all three of our lower weights looked good," Mocs coach Kyle Ruschell said of his team's finalists in a UTC release. "They continue to wrestle hard, but there are still some things to clean up. We know what they are, and will get back work on improving for the next match." For the team, that will be a Dec. 18 dual at Edinboro (Pennsylvania) University. The Mocs wrestle another dual two days later at Ohio University, then host their annual Southern Scuffle tournament Jan. 1-2 at McKenzie Arena.

Softball

* UTC softball season tickets go on sale today at 10 a.m. at GoMocs.com and 423-266-MOCS. They also will be available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at the McKenzie Arena box office. The Mocs are scheduled to play 20 home games, including the Chattanooga Challenge Feb. 15-17 and the Frost Classic Feb. 22-24, and access to all costs $50. Single-game tickets will go on sale Jan. 21; for information on group packages call AJ Lewis at 423-425-5740. UTC students can attend games free with valid Mocs ID cards.

Basketball

* Dalton State College evened its overall record at 4-4 and its Southern States Athletic Conference mark at 1-1 with Saturday's 80-77 win against Mobile in Alabama. Junior guard Randy Bell had 32 points, including a 13-for-15 showing at the foul line, and four steals to lead the Roadrunners, who rallied from a 40-31 halftime deficit. D'Anfernee Pugh added 17 points and Timothy Green had 15 with four blocks. The Rams had four scorers in double figures: Darius Curry (16 points), Maurice Anderson (15), Tony-Toni Wright (14) and Trent Short (13). Mobile had a slight rebounding edge, 26-24, but shot just 21-for-54 (38.9 percent) from the field, and the Roadrunners got a big lift from their subs, with 54 bench points. The bulk of that came from Bell, but Green was a reserve as well.

Soccer

* Nineteen men's and women's soccer players from Bryan College, Dalton State College and Tennessee Wesleyan University have been designated 2018 Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes. That requires at least junior academic status and a minimum 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. From Bryan are Jake Poulakis, Jonathan Ricketts, Keith Lyons, Marcelo Monteiro, Dylan Evans, Riley Lawyer, Aleithia Robe, Paige Klose and Keeley Holliday. From DSC are Isael Gutierrez, Taeylor Fisch and Alondra Salaises. Representing TWU are Gabriel Gonzalez, Jacob Loper, Livia Walker, Jessica Young, Samantha Green, Hannah Dearing and Skotti Bullington.

Volleyball

* Bryan has five 2018 NAIA Scholar-Athletes for volleyball: Mariah Dunlop, Veronica Salas and Micayla Keen for the second time plus Megan Martinez and Jennifer Keck. Also honored are former Chattanooga-area high school standouts Ashlyn Flock of Campbellsville, Kellee Geren of Milligan and Abby Graham of Montreat.

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