Notre Dame High School senior and Chattanooga Junior Rowing captain Lauren Simpson signed scholarship papers last week to row for the University of Tulsa. "Lauren has been one of the most effective leaders the team has had in years," CJR coach Jack Fish said. "She has set the standard for the team with steadily improving performance levels and an exemplary work ethic." Said Susan Zeglen, one of Simpson's three-year boat mates in the women's four: "Lauren has been an amazing role model. In the three years I have rowed with her I am constantly in awe of her hard work." Simpson had interest also from Iowa, Miami, multiple colleges in Virginia and others and seriously considered Tennessee and Alabama in addition to Tulsa. "I visited out there and completely fell in love with it. The team was so welcoming to me," she said, noting also that the Golden Hurricane scull and sweep whereas many college programs stick to single-oar sweeping. The Tulsa coaches bumped up their original scholarship offer after learning that a fall signee would not be coming, and Simpson said that plus academic and other aid put her total package at "about 99 percent." She has done everything from doubles to eights for CJR. "I actually tried a lot of different sports before I started rowing," she said, "but something about rowing clicked and everything in my life after that was an all-or-nothing kind of deal."
Golf
• Austin Peay freshman Jessica Cathey from Soddy-Daisy High School made the 10-person All-Ohio Valley Conference women's golf team and also the league's all-newcomer team after leading the Governors in stroke average during the regular season. With a hole-in-one Monday, she tied for ninth individually at 230 in the league tournament that ended Tuesday at GreyStone Golf Club in Dickson, Tenn. APSU was fifth as a team. Madalyn Everts from Notre Dame High led sixth-place Tennessee Tech by shooting a final-day 70 and jumping to second place individually and making all-tournament.
• Lee University won the Southern States Athletic Conference women's golf tournament Monday and Tuesday at Wynlakes Golf and Country Club in Montgomery, Ala. The Lady Flames, who led Mobile by five strokes after the first round, shot a 319 Tuesday and won by 13 strokes over second-place Coastal Georgia. Already having repeated as SSAC player of the year, Lee's Courtney Shelton also repeated as medalist by edging Mobile's Haley Mize in a playoff after each shot 155 for 36 holes. The Lady Flames' Madison Alexander was third at 158, Sloane Skinner tied for fourth at 159 and Bernadette Little added a 168. They'll play in the NAIA national tournament in Lincoln, Neb.
• Lee freshman Florian Loutre from Le Mans, France, was the SSAC men's golfer of the week after taking medalist honors during the Flames' championship in the league tournament last weekend. He shot 7 under par with a low round of 67. Lee will begin play May 14 in the NAIA national tournament in Salem, Ore.
Tennis
• Covenant College senior Kelsey Whitted was the National Christian College Athletic Association women's tennis player of the week for her three-set singles victory and No. 1 doubles win with Sarah Carter that helped the Lady Scots win 5-4 over Great South foe Spelman in their final match of the season. Whitted played with a leg injury that kept her out of a match the day before.
Track & Field
• Tennessee Temple's Marissa Phinazee won the 100- and 200-meter dashes in 12.53 and 25.83 seconds at Centre College's invitational track and field meet last weekend, and teammates Adrian Martin and Idoreyin Nsentip were fourth and 10th in each. The Lady Crusaders' Kourtney Chorman was sixth in the shot put and 10th in the discus, and Femi Adedoyin was ninth in the men's 100 and 200.
Basketball
• Georgia Northwestern women's basketball coach Jim Williams has signed 6-foot-1 Model High center Caroline Long to enrollment papers to join the Lady Bobcats next season. Long started all four years for the Rome-area school, which went 19-8 overall and 11-3 in Region 7-AA this past season. "She gives 100 percent of herself for her team. She's heart and defense," Model coach Sally Echols said in a GNTC release. "She plays the help. She controls the post. Plus, she has a real knack of getting to the ball and getting it in. .. She uses her body so well. She is deceivingly strong." Said Williams: "I really feel like Caroline's going to patrol and enforce the paint the way we like."