Bryan College track team wins five events

photo File photo of Bryson Harper
Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

The Bryan College track and field team won five events with two NAIA national qualifying times and a school record and also had four second-place finishes in the Johnson City Invitational meet hosted this past weekend by Milligan College and Science Hill High School. Lions freshman Chris Pineda from Dalton High School won the 800-meter run with a national qualifying time of 1 minute, 54.45 seconds, and classmate Connor Hatfield qualified for the NAIA outdoor meet with a 3000 steeplechase victory in 9:24.75. Yet another freshman, Bryson Lillard, set the Bryan record with a winning 55.52 in the 400 hurdles, and the Lions won the distance medley relay. Senior Bryson Harper from Sequatchie County High was first and Alex Stephens of Cleveland was second in the 1500 in 3:57.67 and 4:00.13, and Harper was second in the steeple. Junior Jason McLeod was second in the 5000, and Andrea Spencer from Bradley Central was the women's 800 runner-up.

Golf

  • Keith Mitchell of Chattanooga, a member of the University of Georgia men's golf team, had the best closing round Sunday, a 6-under-par 65, and finished third at 274 in the Azalea Invitational tournament at the Country Club of Charleston, S.C. The Baylor School alumnus was four shots behind winner Matthew Nesmith of North Augusta, S.C., and one behind the runner-up.
  • MADISON, Miss. -- Hunter Green from Rhea County is tied for 12th individually at 2-under-par 70 and Brett Patterson from McMinnville and another Middle Tennessee State teammate are tied for 16th at 71 as the Blue Raiders share sixth place at 285 after the first round Monday of the 16-team BancorpSouth Intercollegiate at the Reunion Golf and Country Club. Inclement weather cut Monday's schedule from two rounds, so the tournament will be a 36-hole event ending today.
  • Lee University junior JB Eksteen from Paarl, South Africa, was chosen the Southern States Athletic Conference men's golfer of the week for the second time in 2012 after he tied for first place in the 32-team Camp LeJeune Championship this past weekend. His three-round 206 is unofficially a Lee record for a 54-hole event. Eksteen has finished first outright, tied for first and finished second in his last three tournaments. Lee is ranked sixth in the NAIA.
  • Led by Dalton resident Hudson Keener's first-place 72 that included three birdies, LaGrange College took the team lead by three strokes over Mobile with a 310 in the first round of Covenant College's Spring Reeder Cup tournament Monday at Lookout Mountain Golf Club. Covenant's Trey Patterson is tied for third at 76 and Sewanee's Saer Brown shares fifth with a 77 that included the day's only eagle. The 28 players averaged 81.18 on the tough par-70 course.

Baseball

  • PIPPA PASSES, Ky. -- Tennessee Temple lost 4-2 and won 11-5 in college baseball Monday at Alice Lloyd. Brandon Davis got the second-game pitching win with seven strikeouts and three earned runs allowed in seven innings and was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Chris Altman was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for Temple (12-22-1) in that game, and Dustin Stowers was 2-for-3 with an RBI after going 3-for-4 with two doubles in the loss. Taylor Wilson doubled, singled and drove in three runs after singling in a run in game one, when Ryan Bruce was 2-for-4 with a double and Hunter Giles struck out eight and allowed four hits and two earned runs.

Softball

  • Lee University freshman Jessa Watts from Niceville, Fla., was the SSAC softball pitcher of the week after she recorded a save and then a shutout win against nationally ranked Brenau last Tuesday and allowed only an unearned run in a victory over Auburn-Montgomery in the SSAC Crossover tournament. She is 12-4 in her first college season.
  • UT-Martin senior Chelsea Jones from Tullahoma was the Ohio Valley Conference softball pitcher of the week after going 4-0 with a 0.71 earned run average. She is second in UTM career victories.

Auto Racing

  • Because of a two-hour rain delay it was early Sunday morning before he did it, but Lamar Scoggins from Georgetown opened his 2012 racing season with the Limited Late Model win from the pole at North Georgia Speedway. Scoggins will be in the LLM/Crate race Saturday at Cleveland Speedway's season opening featuring the Southern All Stars' Shamrock 50.

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