The Chattanooga area's top two runners in recent years waged a titanic battle Saturday morning in the 47th Missionary Ridge Road Race. John Gilpin, the 2015 and 2016 victor in the 4.7-mile race from the Bragg Reservation, edged 2017 and 2018 winner Christian Thompson by the slimmest of margins, 24:32.64 to 24.32.65, for 2019 bragging rights. Haley Moody was the women's winner and ninth overall in 29:47, one spot ahead of Jennifer Huwe (30:13), the female runner-up for the second year in a row. Her husband, Kevin Huwe, was third overall in 25:25, and Joseph Wilson (26:23) and Noah Cochran (27:53) also beat 28 minutes. Van Dick, 49, was the male masters winner and eighth overall (28:49), and grand masters winner Tripp McCallie, 50, was 12th (30:44). Gilpin and Moody both won after being third in their genders on the ridge last year. Rachel Nokes was the third-place female this year, 22nd overall (33:04).
Tennis
» Girls Preparatory School tennis coach Sue Bartlett went 3-1 in singles this past week for the Great Britain team that finished third in the women's 60-over Alice Marble Cup division of the ITF Seniors World Team Championships in Portugal. Great Britain won 2-1 over Australia on Friday after losing 3-0 to the top-seeded and eventual champion United States on Thursday. That's when Bartlett sustained her lone loss of the week: 6-2, 7-5 to Diane Barker, who is seeded No. 1 for this week's world individual tournament. The U.S. women beat France 2-1 for the championship. Bartlett's three wins were by a combined score of 36-4. Chattanooga's Wesley Cash made the first-place U.S. team for the men's 60s Von Cramm Cup but was unable to participate.
Soccer
» Following up its NCAA Division II semifinals run last year, the Lee University women's soccer team was predicted by league coaches to finish second in the Gulf South Conference this year. West Florida got 12 first-place votes and 168 points in the coaches' preseason poll, while Lee - which was third in the GSC last year - attracted 152 points and Mississippi College got 151 with two votes for first. Lee's Lady Flames edged then-No. 2-ranked UWF in the NCAA South regional. "Every year brings something different," Lee coach Chris Hennessey said in a recent release. "As a team we had a very good spring, and everyone put the extra work in. For a young team, I think we have matured quickly. It will be important for us to concentrate on each day and not look to or past certain games." The season starts Sept. 5 against Cedarville in an event hosted in Michigan by Grand Valley State, which ended Lee's 2018 season in the Final Four. Lee faces Grand Valley on Sept. 7. Junior midfielder Kelsey Yoder made the preseason all-conference teams. Classmate Anna Lanter from Soddy-Daisy is another veteran leader, along with senior Riley Engels from Signal Mountain and Devin Healy from Loudon. Yoder scored 10 goals last year.
» Derek Potteiger's Lee men were picked to finish third in the GSC - behind favorite West Florida, directed by Chattanooga Football Club coach Bill Elliott, and defending champion Spring Hill - and got three players on the preseason all-league team: senior defender Samir Williams, senior goalkeeper Daniel Hrenko and junior midfielder Jared McWhorter. Williams and Hrenko were All-GSC and all-region last year, when the Flames wound up 9-7-3 and 6-3-2 and fifth in league play. They got two first-place votes for this season.
» The Dalton State College soccer teams recently were voted to finish fifth in the Southern States Athletic Conference men's standings and eighth in the women's. William Carey was picked No. 1 in both nine-team groups. Tennessee schools Bethel and Martin Methodist were voted second and fourth in the men's league and just the opposite in the women's, with Mobile third in both.
Volleyball
» Going into Andrea Hudson's 29th season as head coach, Lee's volleyball Lady Flames were picked to finish fourth in the GSC and senior setter Hanna Matthews from Ooltewah was a preseason all-conference choice. West Florida was an overwhelming pick to win the league, with Montevallo second and Alabama-Huntsville, Lee and West Alabama completing the coaches' top five. Lee lost the GSC player of the year, the libero of the year and its starting middle blocker but returns four seniors. Matthews started all 32 matches in 2018 and totaled 1,147 assists, and left-hander Bailey Kress is a three-year starter at right-side hitter. Middle blocker Mary Katherine Givhan and defensive specialist Micaela McMichen are the other seniors.