Southern Section in national final

The Southern Section will face Southern California today at 12:30 p.m. for the 2019 USTA Boys 18 national team championship at the Champions Club. Although Atlanta standout Garrett Johns lost in three sets to fellow Duke recruit Andrew Zhang — from the nation’s No. 1 signing class — the second-seeded Southern boys won 5-2 over the third-seeded Midwest Section in Monday’s semifinals. Zhang is from Michigan. Southern team winners were Phillip Jordan, Andres Martin, Keshav Chopra and Joshua Raab in singles and Jordan with Martin, Johns with Raab and Welsh Hotard with Wes Barnett in doubles. The other Midwest win was by Luke Baylis with a 7-5 third set. Southern California, one of the five seeds in the 17-section field, beat Texas 7-0 with a singles sweep by Siem Woldeab, Jacob Bullard, Aditya Gupta, Julian Noah Steinhausen, Matthew Sah and Matthew Mu and doubles victories by Bullard with Steinhausen and Ali Amin with Gupta. The Midwest and Texas teams will play for third place at 12:30, when No. 1 seed Intermountain and Florida vie for fifth after 6-1 and 4-2 wins Monday over the Eastern and Middle States sections.

RUNNING

› Sewanee has hired Bill Cooper from Randolph College in Virginia as a proven NCAA Division III head coach for its cross country and track and field programs. A 1996 track All-American who also played soccer at Heidelberg College in Ohio, he was an assistant coach at Hartwick in New York and Colby in Maine from 2000 to 2003 and then was the head coach in both cross country and track at Muskingum in Ohio until 2008. He spent four years as women’s head track coach and assistant cross country coach at Trine University in Indiana before going to Randolph to coach cross country and help start a track program. That happened in 2014, and Cooper was the Old Dominion Athletic Conference men’s indoor track coach of the year in 2016. “Bill is ideally suited to become Sewanee’s next head coach of our varsity track and cross country programs,” athletic director Mark Webb said in Monday’s release. “He brings to Sewanee a highly successful NCAA Division III coaching record and has a profound appreciation of the small liberal arts college experience.” Cooper called Sewanee “a special place” and “a phenomenal institution.”

SOCCER

› Bryan College announced its 2019 soccer schedules late last week, and both teams will open against Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies — the women at Bryan on Aug. 24, the men at Gwinnett on Aug. 27 — who finished in the top 12 of the 2018 NAIA rankings. Coach Kwame Appiah’s Lady Lions then host another Top 25 team, Cumberland, on Aug. 28 and entertain Dalton State on Sept. 3 before road games at Cumberlands (Kentucky) on Sept. 7 and Bethel on Sept. 10. They host Montreat in their Appalachian Athletic Conference opener on Sept. 14 and play at home also on Sept. 18 against AAC newcomer Kentucky Christian, Oct. 2 against Brenau, Oct. 5 against St. Andrews, Oct. 9 against Reinhardt and Oct. 19 against Bluefield. They visit area AAC rival Tennessee Wesleyan on Oct. 15. The Lions have a new coach, alumnus Jeremiah Davidson, after going 12-6-1 last year, and they visit Gwinnett and NCAA Division II member Alabama-Huntsville (Aug. 31) before his home debut on Sept. 3 in the doubleheader against Dalton State. Other Bryan men’s home games are in AAC doubleheaders with the women. The Lions play Oct. 16 at TWU.

› The Dalton State men host Tennessee Wesleyan on Aug. 20 in their opener under Saif Alsafeer and also play at Reinhardt and against Truett McConnell at Reinhardt on Aug. 29 and 31 before their Sept. 3 date at Bryan. Alsafeer’s NAIA Roadrunners host Milligan on Sept. 7, NCAA Division II team Shorter on Sept. 18, Middle Georgia State in the Southern States Athletic Conference op0ener on Sept. 28, Florida College on Oct. 12, Bethel on Oct. 31 and Martin Methodist on Nov. 2. They visit Sewanee on Oct. 1.