Baylor’s Berry returns to TWU

Billy Berry has resigned as Baylor School’s baseball coach to return as head coach to Tennessee Wesleyan University in Athens, where in 10 years before leaving in 2015 he compiled a 433-166-1 record with nine Appalachian Athletic Conference regular-season championships and eight national tournament appearances, including three trips to the NAIA World Series and winning it in 2012. Travis Watson recently resigned after two more AAC titles and another trip to the World Series. “Coach Berry is engrained in the history of TWU baseball, and I know that he will expand on that history as he resumes the helm of this program,” Wesleyan athletic director Donny Mayfield said in a web posting Monday. Berry, who is 479-223-1 as a college coach, admitted Monday night that he had missed some elements of collegiate coaching but added that “coaching is coaching and impacting lives is impacting lives, and I realize more than ever how much high school coaches can mean in four important years for their players.” Thanking athletic director Thad Lepcio and headmaster and president Scott Wilson specifically, Berry said, “I could not have enjoyed my stay at Baylor more. There are great people there, and the opportunity meant a lot to me and my family. This wasn’t an easy decision, but Tennessee Wesleyan was a huge part of my life for 10 years, and we consider Athens home. This was just one of those things when the opportunity arose and the conversation continued, my family could not pass it up.”

FOOTBALL

› The 2016 University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football guide was honored as “Best in the Nation” in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision last week at the Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America convention at Orlando, Fla. The book was written, designed and edited by UTC senior associate athletic director Dr. Jay Blackman with assistance from Jim Horton, Anne Wehunt, Corey Belonzi and Pam Henry, cover designs by April Cox and Courtney Muller and photography mostly by Dale Rutemeyer. This is the sixth year in a row for UTC to be recognized in the CoSIDA Publications Contest. The 2014 football media guide was voted No. 2 in the FCS.

AUTO RACING

› The Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip ran 95 cars in eight heads-up classes Saturday night, all with one-light pro starts. Doug Hughes of Decatur won the 4:70 class with a 4.71 burst on his 4.70 dial in a 1968 Camaro, and Steve Crawford of Section, Ala., was second in a 1967 Camaro Z-28. Rick Millard of Rossville and Wyatt Miles of Flintstone were first and second in the 5:70 with a 5.72 and a 5.71. Daniel Ray of Corryton, Tenn., was first in the 6:00 with a 6.01 in a 1967 Chevy Nova; 16-year-old Jake Clayton of Ooltewah was second at 6.06 in a 1989 Cavalier Roadster. Daniel Stutz of Ooltewah won the 7:00 with a 6.98 in a 1962 Cheyy, and Mike Clayton, Jake’s father, was second at 7.04 in a 1978 Pinto. Michael Newcome of Crossville, Tenn., was the LDR victor with a 4.82-second run in a 1990 Mustang, and Mike Frawley of East Ridge was second in a 1999 Camaro. Jarred Hicks of Resaca was first in 4.97 with Floyd Chrisman of Englewood second in 5.13 in Limited Street, both in Mustangs, and Corey Causay of Calhoun, Ga., and Jason Davis of Chattanooga were first and second in Mustangs in Easy Street. Jeremy Green of Philadelphia, Tenn., won the Bang Street class in another Mustang, with Tyler Levy second.

GOLF

› Davis Kirk of Dalton is tied for second at 3-under-par 69, one stroke behind Jack Vajda of Canton, after the first of three rounds of the 2017 Georgia Junior Championship at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro. Blairsville’s Beck Burnette is tied for sixth at 70 after Monday’s play, and Ringgold’s Gavin Noble shares 22nd at 73. Carol Pyon of Macon is the Girls’ Championship leader after a 69 at the nearby Georgia Southern University course. Chatsworth’s Tori Owens is tied for 10th at 75, and Savanah Satterfield of Chatsworth is tied for 27th at 81.