Area Sports Notes: Baylor grad Green wins Rat Race; Florida takes big zone lead

Assorted Sports Equipment on Black
Assorted Sports Equipment on Black

Featuring 5k open boys' and girls' winners Cale Russell (1:04:39.4) and Taylor Ward (1:08.31.0) and two other top-five boys in that oldest age group, the Florida team took a commanding lead Saturday in the Southern Zone Open Water Championships at Chester Frost Park. Florida has 377 points, and North Carolina is second at 218 with Southeastern (Tennessee/Alabama/Florida Panhandle) third at 146, followed by Georgia at 121 and Florida Gold Coast at 102 in the nine-team competition that includes pursuit relays today. Also as part of the Chattanooga Swim Fest, Baylor School graduate Jason Green from Asheville won the 12th annual Chattanooga Rat Race in 1:13:18.6. He just finished his freshman year at St. Bonaventure, and Vanderbilt's Lara Hernandez-Tome was second and the female winner in 1:13:48.5. Lauren Matevish and Victoria Rian were third and fourth as women took five of the first seven spots, interrupted by Daniel Montiel in fifth.

Basketball

' University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball season tickets are on sale through GoMocs.com, by calling 423-266-MOCS (6627) or 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at the McKenzie Arena box office. The first season of women's games with Katie Burrows as head coach costs $125 for padded reserved seats or $100 for general admission ($100/$85 for UTC faculty and staff), and the second season of the men's Lamont Paris era costs $190 for padded reserved seats, $165 for 100 or 200 level reserved seats, $135 for 200 level corner seating, $105 for 200 level end zones and $90 for 300 level general admission. Purchases, including renewals, by Aug. 1 will include special-edition season tickets, entries for a chance to win a basketball signed by coaches Paris and Burrows, invitations to an exclusive season-ticket-holder event and a clear Mocs bag for arena use. Buy by July 1 and you'll get all that plus a 2018 Mocs flag.

Volleyball

' UTC announced its 2018 volleyball schedule this past week, and the opponents include five Power Five conference members, four reigning conference champions and seven 2017 NCAA tournament participants. The schedule begins Aug. 24-25 at the Tennessee Invitational in Knoxville with matches against Belmont, Elite Eight participant Michigan State and the Volunteers. Coach Travis Filar's Mocs will host the Chattanooga Classic in Maclellan Gym the next weekend, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, with UNC-Asheville, Tennessee State and new Division I member North Alabama. UTC will play Sept. 4 at Tennessee Tech and Sept. 7-8 at the Western Kentucky Invitational with conference champs WKU (C-USA) and Miami of Ohio (MAC) plus Notre Dame. Middle Tennessee State visits UTC on Sept. 12, and the Mocs visit 2017 ACC champion Louisville on Sept. 15 and SEC champion and Elite Eight program Kentucky on Sept. 16. Those two teams were a combined 53-11 last season, and the Mocs' nonconference foes as a whole went 237-166. UTC begins Southern Conference play Sept. 21-22 by hosting Wofford and Furman. Other league home matches are Oct. 5 against The Citadel, Oct. 6 against Mercer, Oct. 10 against Samford, Oct. 26 against East Tennessee State, Oct. 27 against UNC Greensboro and Nov. 9 against Western Carolina. The conference tournament is set for Nov. 16-18 at UNCG. "With the schedule we have assembled, which easily is the toughest nonconference slate in the history of our program, we feel strongly that it will test us physically and mentally," Filar said in a UTC release. The goal as always, he added, is to "be playing our best volleyball in November and be where we feel we belong in the SoCon, and that is as one of the premier programs in our league."

Golf

' Savanah Satterfield of Chatsworth completed her quarterfinal victory over Braselton's Keagan Dunn, 1 up, Saturday morning in the tournament division of the 2018 Georgia Women's Match Play Championship at the Reynolds Lake Oconee Great Waters course in Eatonton, but then she lost 2 and 1 to Berry College golfer Karley Hammond. Hammond went on to defeat Julianna Collett from St. Simons Island and Georgia Southern by the same score in the final. Vanderbilt player Louise Yu from Duluth won the championship division.

Soccer

' Ben Brock, Jonah Bryan, Thomas Priest and Logan Russell of state runner-up McCallie and Matheus Maia and most valuable player Eemeli Makela of state champion Baylor comprised half of the Division II-AA East-Middle all-region boys' soccer team for 2018, as voted by the region's coaches. Other selections were Alex Bulgarino and Henry Hylbert of Montgomery Bell Academy, Travis Tuerff and Will Turner of Father Ryan, Tyler Chitty of Lipscomb and Dylan Trann of Pope John Paul II.

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