Former Baylor School golfer Jay Vandeventer from Bristol and Tullahoma resident Cody Hale were among the five who advanced to sectional qualifying in a U.S. Open local qualifier at Holston Hills in Knoxville, and Chattanooga's Thomas Smith and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga player Steven Fox were the first and second alternates after shooting 68s. Vandeventer, a Tennessee Volunteers junior, tied Phillip Pettitt for medalist honors with a 65, and Hale matched the 67s of Peter Malnati and Scott Masters.
Softball
• Lee University and Shorter University, which has several players from area Georgia high schools, both made the 32-team field for the NAIA softball tournament May 17-23 at Gulf Shores, Ala. Lee is in Pool D with No. 4 Central Baptist from Arkansas, Morningside from Iowa and No. 22 Reinhardt, the Lady Flames' first opponent that Thursday. Reinhardt is led by pitcher Maddie Monroe from Calhoun (Ga.) High School. This will be the seventh trip to the nationals for Lee, which was 13th in the final poll.
• Memphis junior third baseman Laura Curtis from Chattanooga Christian and Chattanooga State was named to the All-Conference USA softball second team for 2012 after batting .288 with 15 RBIs and 17 runs in her first season with the Tigers. She leads the team with a .416 slugging percentage, 10 sacrifice hits and 75 assists going into the C-USA tournament. She is batting .533 when leading off an inning and .345 with runners on base.
Baseball
• MAYFIELD, Ky. -- Ben Chambers went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and region player of the year James Rollins was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored for Covenant College in the winners-bracket final of the National Christian College Athletic Association Mid-East Region baseball tournament Wednesday night, but the fourth-seeded Scots lost 7-4 to third seed Bluefield. Covenant (24-19) plays at 1 p.m. today against top-seeded tourney host Mid-Continent, and the winner will play Bluefield at 4. Bluefield (30-26) would be the champion with a win; a second final would be played Friday if the Rams lose today. Joe Gatewood was 2-for-3 and drove in five runs for Bluefield on Wednesday.
Wrestling
• The UTC wrestling team had the NCAA's 13th-highest aggregate grade point average for the 2011-12 season, the National Wrestling Coaches Association announced Tuesday. The Mocs' starters and top reserves combined for a 3.15 GPA in the just-concluded academic year, after compiling a 3.14 last year. Senior Brandon Wright and junior Dean Pavlou, both two-time Southern Conference champions, were NWCA All-Academic Division honorees for the third time each. Pavlou has a 3.65 GPA; recent graduate Wright finished with a 3.33.
Bowling
• The 66th annual Tennessee USBC Bowling Association State Handicap Tournament concluded last weekend at Holiday Bowl Brainerd and AMF Tri-State Lanes, and a number of area participants excelled. Chris Massengale had two 300 games in team events, and Scott Vandiver rolled a 299 in singles. Keith White had an 821 series (299, 258, 264) last Saturday and an 834 (278, 279, 277) the next day. The top two scratch division teams were from the Chattanooga area: Team Who Knows from Cleveland (David Hicks, Joe Carpenter II, Terry Kelly, White and Bobby Carr) with a 3,465 score and Team Stone Cold from Chattanogoa (Chris Cross, Jeff White, Chris Massengale, Anthony Reviere and Frank Massengale) with a 3,377.
Cycling
• T.J. Killelea from Chattanooga was part of the King College team that finished fifth overall in the Division II omnium in the school's first appearance at the UCA Cycling National Championship. More than 90 teams in Divisions I and II took part in college cycling's most prestigious event for three days last weekend at Ogden, Utah. The King men including Killelea finished seventh in the team time trials Friday. Sophomore Killelea was in a big crash early in the road race Sunday but fought back to finish 38th in leading the King riders.