The Gulf South Conference, which includes Lee University, has postponed competition in basketball, football, soccer and volleyball until at least Jan. 1, but will permit cross country meets and golf tournaments during the fall semester. The GSC is part of NCAA Division II, which recently canceled all national championship events for fall semester sports for the 2020-21 school year in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the conference's news release Wednesday announcing the changes noted that development as one of "three significant factors" contributing to its postponement decision. The other two were the "health and safety of student-athletes and campus communities" and the participation protocol mandated by the NCAA Board of Governors for "high contact risk sports," which have more stringent requirements regarding testing and safeguards. Although basketball begins during the fall semester, its schedule finishes in the spring semester, and the GSC plans to adjust its calendar for that sport in the coming weeks. The conference will also consider spring competition for football - in which Lee does not participate - soccer and volleyball. "Given the directives from the NCAA, I believe the GSC Board of Directors' decision to postpone our high risk sports until January 1 gives us the best chance to have a significant season for each team," Lee athletic director Larry Carpenter said in a school release. "Allowing the golf and cross country teams to compete in the fall is very encouraging. It presents an opportunity to compete against other institutions at a minimal risk while allowing us to evaluate the protocols we've put in place." The GSC's decision is another in a series of moves that have drastically reduced the fall semester sports schedule for colleges in the Chattanooga area. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a Division I and Southern Conference school, learned Thursday afternoon that it would not have league competition this fall. Division III fall sports national championship competition for 2020-21 was canceled earlier this month, and the Southern Athletic Association, which includes Sewanee, and the USA South Athletic Conference, which includes Covenant, had already postponed fall sports with hopes of allowing those teams to compete during the spring semester. The NAIA has moved its fall sports national championships to spring 2021, and while the Southern States Athletic Conference, which includes Dalton State College, has done the same for all of its league competition except cross country, the Appalachian Athletic Conference, which includes Bryan College and Tennessee Wesleyan University, is allowing competition but has pushed back its fall sports schedules to mid-September. The Bryan athletic department's website has been updated with schedule changes, while Tennessee Wesleyan's site has notices explaining when new schedules will be posted. The National Junior College Athletic Association, which includes Chattanooga State and Cleveland State, has delayed all sports that would have started during the fall semester until January, with cross country and half marathon the exceptions.
Staff file photo / UTC women's soccer coach Gavin McKinney, pictured, has another international player on the Mocs' roster with the addition of Ao Yamada from Japan.Soccer
* UTC women's soccer coach Gavin McKinney has added another player to the 2020-21 roster midfielder: Ao Yamada from Okayama Sakuyo High School in Japan. Yamada - who has played for her country's under-17 national team and helped her high school program to a runner-up finish in a national tournament, according to UTC's release - brings the Mocs' total of international players to four as she joins Lauren Dluzewski and Osa Iyare of Canada and England's Hollie Massey.
* United Soccer Coaches named recent McCallie graduate Noah Tremain a high school scholar All-American for 2019-20, making him one of just 121 players - and one of only 52 boys - in the group honored for both on-field and classroom success. Tremain, who will attend the University of North Carolina, was this year's winner of the Times Free Press Best of Preps John Franklin Academic Award as the Chattanooga area's most outstanding student-athlete in academic achievement. Tremain was a McCallie starter since eighth grade and helped the program go 55-9-10 overall and 9-2 in the playoffs during his career. Although he missed out on his senior season this year when the TSSAA canceled spring sports due to the pandemic, Tremain was an all-state and all-region selection as a junior in 2019, when he helped the Blue Tornado to their second Division II-AA state championship in three years.
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / Addison Keylon lays down a bunt for Ooltewah High School during a home game against Walker Valley on May 16, 2018. Keylon, who played softball for Bryan College as a freshman this past spring, has transferred to UTC and will join coach Frank Reed's Mocs.Softball
* Addison Keylon, a former Ooltewah High School standout from Harrison, has transferred from Bryan College to UTC and will play softball for the Mocs and coach Frank Reed. An outfielder, Keylon will be available for the 2021 season with three seasons of eligibility remaining, according to UTC's release, which noted she was the leadoff hitter for Bryan in all 19 games of its pandemic-shortened season this past spring and led the team in batting average (.439), hits (29), total bases (37) and stolen bases (15). Keylon hit better than .400 and had an on-base percentage of better than .450 during her Ooltewah career.
Academics
* The Southern Athletic Association has inducted eight former Sewanee student-athletes into the league's Sigma Alpha Alpha Honor Society: Jordan Brewer and Andres Carro (tennis), Jack Bargainer (cross country and track and field), Constance Connolly (volleyball), Tommy Oliver (golf), Annie Sherrill (lacrosse), Alpo Sipilä (soccer) and Jo Jo young (field hockey). Qualifications for nomination include being a graduating senior with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 who made the All-SAA first or second teams. Sewanee now has 19 inductees since the society was founded in 2018.
Golf
* Ben Rebne from Ringgold, Georgia, a former Heritage High School golf standout who was a Dalton State College senior in 2019-20, competed this week in the U.S. Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes Resort in Bandon, Oregon. Rebne, who last month became Dalton State's fourth winner of the NAIA Jack Nicklaus Award as the nation's top college golfer at that level, was unable to advance from stroke play after shooting 10-over-par 81 on the Bandon Trails course on Monday and 3-over 75 on the Bandon Dunes course on Tuesday.
Outdoors
* The Tennessee Wildlife Federation is accepting submissions through Aug. 31 for its sixth annual photography contest. Entrants may submit up to 20 images of Tennessee wildlife and/or landscapes at tnwf.org/PhotoContest. The best photos will be featured in the TWF's 2021 calendar and on its digital platforms, and winners will receive prizes such as TWF apparel, a birdhouse, duffel bag and gift cards.
Baseball
* Bryan College pitcher Dalton Ross, a 2020-21 senior, was named the reliever of the year in the Florida Collegiate Summer League after posting a 0.00 ERA in 19 2/3 innings for the Seminole County Snappers. Ross allowed just eight hits and five walks in the wooden bat league, striking out 29 batters and holding opposing hitters to a .103 average.
Diving
* Chattanooga's Sarah Griffith, an 11-year-old entering sixth grade at Baylor, made her third trip to the Amateur Athletic Union's national championship meet for diving and finished first in 1-meter competition and third in 3-meter competition Aug. 4-5 in Noblesville, Indiana.
Compiled by Marty Kirkland. Contact him at mkirkland@timesfreepress.com.