Vandegrift golfer wins junior title
Golfer Luke Dossey, who will be a junior next season at Vandegrift High School, was crowned the winner of the Byron Nelson Junior Championship on Thursday.
“It means a lot,” Dossey said after his two-shot victory at Lakewood Country Club in Dallas. “There are a lot of great names up on that champions board and just to join them is really special.”
Dossey joined PGA Tour winners Jordan Spieth and Cody Gribble among the players who have won the Byron Nelson Junior. Dossey finished with a three-round total of 4-under-par 209, while Sam Bennett of Madisonville carded a 211 total.
In two years, Dossey will join older brother Cooper on Baylor’s golf team. Cooper, who helped Vandegrift’s boys team to three UIL state championships from 2014 to 2016, was his younger brother’s caddie Thursday.
San Marcos names basketball coach: San Marcos High has promoted Thomas Acker to be its boys basketball coach, according to the San Marcos Daily Record.
Last season Acker was an assistant coach for the Rattlers, who finished 18-16 and qualified for the playoffs out of District 14-6A.
Acker replaces David Norris, who was 133-99 in seven seasons at San Marcos. Norris took over the Dripping Springs girls basketball program in May, replacing Laura Joiner.
From 2004 to 2015, Acker was the head boys coach at Lehman. He led the Lobos to the only playoff appearance in school history in 2010.
National team berth on hold: Westlake swimmer Dakota Luther, who qualified for the U.S. national team in the 200-meter butterfly, won’t be officially added to the team until it’s clear that there are enough roster spots to accommodate all the second-place finishers from this week’s USA Swimming Championships.
With a time of 2 minutes, 8.71 seconds, Luther finished as the runner-up to Hali Flickinger (2:07.60) on Tuesday at the national meet in Indianapolis. Flickinger was a U.S. Olympian in 2016.
Nearly all runners-up are expected to make the squad and compete at the World Championships next month in Budapest, Hungary.
Luther, who is 17 and will be a senior at Westlake in the fall, is the daughter of former University of Texas All-American Whitney Hedgepeth, who first qualified for the Olympics in 1988 as a 17-year-old. Eight years later, Hedgepeth won a gold medal in the 400 medley relay and two silver medals in backstroke events at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Luther, who committed to Georgia in June, won her third straight UIL gold medal in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2017 swimming and diving championships. She also won the 100-yard butterfly in 52.61 seconds, a time that was nearly one-tenth of a second faster than the record set by Dana Vollmer of Granbury in 2005. Vollmer has gone on to win seven Olympic medals, including five golds, over the past three Olympic Games.