Volleyball Lady Flames win 3-0 over Shorter

CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Senior Christa Hutchison had 14 kills with a .345 hitting percentage and freshman Marija Zelenovic added 13 kills on .462 hitting as fifth-ranked Lee University defeated Shorter University 25-19, 25-18, 25-23 in Southern States Athletic Conference volleyball Thursday night. Sophomore Irene Ojukwu contributed 11 kills and senior setters Gretchen Higdon and Kelsey Leffew had 20 and 19 assists for the Lady Flames (11-2, 6-1), while classmate Sarah Smith had 20 digs. Tori Bradley and Jasmine Crook downed 10 and eight kills for Shorter (14-5, 4-3), while Jordan Corder had 27 assists and 10 digs and Tanequa Whitman made 22 digs. Both teams will be in the SSAC crossover tournament today and Saturday at Lee.

Running

• McCallie School senior Gil Walton will be competing in the Race of Champions this weekend at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C. His race will include top teams and individual runners from the South and Mid-Atlantic regions of the country. Walton's personal best of 15 minutes, 42 seconds for five kilometers is a McCallie record, and he holds course records at Baylor School and at Scottsboro, Ala. While he is in North Carolina, the McCallie team will be at the Jesse Owens Cross Country Invitational in Oakville, Ala., competing Saturday in the Gold Division. Walton, a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, is a Blue Tornado team captain.

Auto Racing

• Two-time dirt-track world champion Ronnie Johnson of Chattanooga is competing this weekend in the Alabama State Race at Phenix City, Ala., where last year he won the Super Late Models' $7,000 top prize as well as Crate Late Model and Sportsman races in different cars, each of those with $5,000 payoffs. "I don't think that'll happen again any time soon, but if everything lines up just right it could be possible," Johnson said before departing.

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