Carson-Newman College senior center Kevin Day receives third All-American nod

Friday, January 1, 1904

Carson-Newman College senior center Kevin Day from Soddy-Daisy made his third All-America team of the 2012 postseason with the announcement Monday that he was a second-team Little All-American. The Little All-America teams comprise NCAA Division II and III and NAIA football teams. Day is the 16th Carson-Newman player to make three All-America teams but the first in five years. Running back teammate Brandon Baker from Miami was a third-team Little All-America choice.

Basketball

• P.J. Whittaker was 6-of-8 on 3-point shots and scored 24 points with four assists and three steals, but that wasn't enough to keep Tennessee Temple University from falling 99-84 at NCAA Division II member Alabama-Huntsville in men's basketball Tuesday night. John Jones and Hampton Mack scored 13 and 12 points for Temple (7-5), which recently gave another Division team, North Alabama, its first loss of the season. Jaime Smith had 24 points and seven assists for UAH (8-1), and Zane Campbell and Wayne Dedrick added 18 and 16 points. The Chargers led by 19 at halftime and by 36 with 11:52 to go.

Track and Field

• Jesse Cochran of Ridgeland High School will be signing his scholarship papers Wednesday and joining Tennessee Temple University's first track and field team this spring. Cochran will be completing high school graduation requirements on Jan. 24 and then enrolling at the local college. He ran track for only one year at Ridgeland, competing in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles and the 1,650 run with occasional participation in the 4x100 relay. He previously had run cross country, and he played football as a Ridgeland freshman. Cochran planned to join the Army upon early graduation but then got the scholarship offer and changed his mind. "I like the idea of running track in college, and one of the things that drew me to Temple was that my girlfriend's mother graduated from there," he said. "And I like the idea of a Christian environment." He said his grade point average is near 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, and he plans to major in business. "We are excited to be able to add more local kids to our team as we are working hard to build a winning program," Temple coach Emmanuel Awotula said, noting that the 110 hurdles and the metric mile are among the events he envisions for Cochran.