Dalton resident David Noll Jr. was honored as the Georgia State Golf Association's men's player of the year for a record eighth time overall and the sixth year in a row at the GSGA awards banquet this weekend. He won the Georgia Mid-Amateur Championship at Berkeley Hills Country Club in Duluth and the Atlanta Amateur Match Play Championship at Rivermont Golf and Country Club in 2012.
Baseball
• With the 2012 season approaching its start on Feb. 2, Chattanooga State baseball coach Greg Dennis signed two high school seniors to 2013-14 scholarships Saturday at the Tigers' field house: 5-foot-10 middle infielde Chris Cuzzort from Woodland High in Cartersville, Ga., and 6-foot right-handed pitcher Daniel Raby from Maryville (Tenn.) High School. They join recent signee Scout Plott, a catcher from Coahulla Creek who Dennis said reminded him of a former Tigers star catcher from northwest Georgia, Nate Rochester, in build, throwing capability and mindset. "He's very good defensively. We got to see him in our fall league," Dennis said. Raby, he said, "has a chance to be pretty good. He's a three-pitch guy who throws all three for strikes. We heard good things about him and liked him in our workout." Raby is a cousin of current Tigers freshman Tyler Troutt, who unofficially recruited him. Throwing a two-seam fastball, a changeup and a curve, he was Maryville's No. 2 pitcher last year and will be the No. 1 this spring. Cuzzort also drew interest from four-year schools Young Harris and Charleston Southern but had attended a couple of camps at Chattanooga State and "picked here because it was closer to my family and I felt I'd have a better opportunity here." Said Dennis: "He's very athletic, he runs well and he seems to have very good baseball instincts. He does a lot of things well."
Track & Field
• North Carolina freshman Tory Kemp from Chattanooga and Girls Preparatory School won the women's pentathlon with 3,596 points in the Tar Heels' Dick Taylor Invitational meet that opened their indoor track and field season this weekend.
• The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga indoor track and field teams did well in the distance medley relay Saturday at the Niswonger Invitational hosted by East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. UTC coach Bill Gautier entered two men's teams and two women's teams in the event, and the guys finished second and fifth while the Lady Mocs foursomes were fourth and 11th. Mocs freshmen Paul Stuart in the 1200-meter leg, Geoff Nelson in the 400 and Trevor Janssen in the 800 and senior Nathan Wanuch in the 1600 anchor run were just a little more than two seconds behind Middle Tennessee State's winning team. John Gilpin, Blake Olson, Marquis Carter and Patrick O'Brien were the fifth-place finishers. Freshman Teghan Henderson, junior Gabby Cader and sophomores Rebecca Greenwall and Amanda Sumner comprised the fourth-place Lady Mocs team.
Basketball
• Cleveland High School graduate Ish Sanders scored 21 points with five 3-point baskets and Marion County's Cody Henegar had 16 points with three 3s for Carson-Newman in a South Atlantic Conference basketball game Saturday at Anderson (S.C.) University, but the hosts won 85-80 after trailing by seven points at halftime. Cleveland's Shyra Clark led the Lady Eagles in scoring for the fourth consecutive game with 14 points and added eight rebounds and two steals, but they lost also to Anderson, 60-46. The Carson-Newman women are 9-4, 3-3; the Eagles are 11-3, 4-2.