Friday, January 1, 1904
Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., won the big opening-night race Saturday at Cleveland Speedway, the Southern All Stars' Shamrock 50 with a $10,000 top prize. "The track was really, really racy," Owens said after his first victory of 2012. "In the heats I was a little bit worried because it was a little one-laned on the bottom, but it smoothed up and I was able to move around and get by those guys." Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, who had won his last three races, earned the pole and finished second, and reigning SAS series champion Billy Ogle Jr. of Knoxville was third. Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., was fourth; Brad Neat of Dunnville, Ky., was fifth. "We were too loose," McDowell said. "We were pretty good in the heat race, and we just didn't change enough to tighten up. So hat's off to Jimmy and those guys." Lamar Scoggins of Georgetown won the Crate/Limited Late Model race with Shannon Bearden of Cherry Log, Ga., second and Harrison's Bobby Mayse third. Richard Dixon and Lee Harbin were the A-Hobby and B-Hobby winners with Johnny Hughes and Scott Boyd their respective runners-up.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Michelle Fuzzard was named Southern Conference softball player of the week for the fourth time this season. The fifth-year senior from Huntington Beach, Calif., went 4-for-6 with a home run and five RBIs last week and was walked 10 times in a three-game SoCon series sweep of Elon. Fuzzard reached base in 14 of her 16 plate appearances last weekend and had a 1.500 slugging percentage. Her five RBIs last week extended her SoCon-best career total to 197.
Tennessee Wesleyan sophomore outfielder Brooke Ward from Soddy-Daisy is the Appalachian Athletic Conference softball player of the week and Reinhardt junior Maddie Monroe from Calhoun, Ga., repeated as the pitcher of the week. Ward batted .571 as TWC went 5-1, with a home run, a triple and four doubles among her 12 hits, and she scored eight runs and batted in seven. She's hitting .310 with 15 RBIs for the season. Monroe pitched a one-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in her only appearance last week. She is 13-5 with a league-high 132 strikeouts.
MELBOURNE, Fla. -- The UTC women's golf team is in fourth place after the first two rounds Monday of the Knights & Pirates Invite at Suntree Country Club, and the Mocs' Marion Duvernay is tied for seventh individually at 2-over-par 146. Texas Tech leads the 15-team field at 581. UTC is at 596 with Maria Juliana Loza tied for 11th at 148 and Jordan Britt and Mette Kryger sharing 25th at 151.
Lee University's Courtney Shelton was the Southern States Athletic Conference women's golfer of the week after her medalist performance in leading the Lady Flames to their seventh consecutive tournament championship at the Piedmont Spring Invitational in Clarkesville, Ga. It was her third first-place showing of the season and her second time as the SSAC honoree.
Bryan College junior Audrey Nelson was the AAC women's golfer of the week for her medalist performance out of 13 golfers in the Reinhardt Invitational tournament.