UTC earns four APR recognitions

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga had four sports programs honored this week with NCAA public recognition awards for being in the top 10% nationally in the last set of multiyear academic progress rates. That covers the 201415 to the 2017-18 school years, and UTC’s four — men’s tennis and women’s basketball, cross country and volleyball — tie UNC Greensboro for most in the Southern Conference. APR scores for all Division I teams will be released Wednesday.

BASEBALL

› The Appalachian Athletic Conference baseball tournament got backed up Thursday in Kingsport, Tennesssee, with No. 2 seed Bryan College holding a 9-8 lead in the ninth inning of the 4 p.m. Pool B game against sixth seed Union College and top-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan on hold for its scheduled 7 p.m. Pool A contest with Point University. Bryan scored seven runs in the top of the first inning.

SOFTBALL

› Lee University shortstop Kayla Louie and freshman pitcher and first baseman Taylor De Adder were voted to the 2019 All-Gulf South Conference softball second team. Louie, a junior, led the Lady Flames with a .398 batting average and set program records for stolen bases in a season (44) and a career (97). De Adder batted .394 with three home runs, 14 doubles and 39 RBIs and went 9-11 with a 4.71 earned run average in the circle.

TENNIS

› Five Lee players made the All-GSC tennis second teams: sophomore Carley Sickinger and freshman Lisa Kirr from the Lady Flames and senior Jake Okines, junior Antonio Pons and freshman Jesus Garcia from the men’s team.

› Caio Bardauil and Caius Blomqvist from the Tennessee Wesleyan men’s tennis team recently were named first-team All-AAC, and the Bulldogs’

Francisco Lanusse and the Lady Bulldogs’ Elisa Piquero and Helena Cabezas Marti made the all-freshman teams.

Mandie Watters and Bardauil were TWU’s Champions of Character honorees.

SOCCER

› The Red Bank-based Premier Soccer Academy put two boys’ teams in age-group finals at the United Cup of Champions last weekend in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and the under-11 PSA Boca Juniors won a championship. They won 4-0, 9-1, 3-2 and 5-3 in the U11 Bronze division. PSA Lanus, essentially an under-12 team, won 2-1 and lost 2-1 in U14 Silver pool play, won 2-1 again in a semifinal and lost 4-0 to Nashville FC 06 Gold in the final. Pedro Kozak is the PSA head coach, assisted by Ross Shumate with Lanus and Alan Bible with Boca Juniors.

RUNNING

› Cleveland State cross country coach David Kyle recently bolstered his running Cougars by signing Francisco Davis from Cleveland High School. “Francisco is an incredible young man,” Kyle said in a Cleveland State release. “He is a hard worker, and I can’t wait to see him run at the next level. He has a very supportive family, and everyone that meets him immediately loves him. He will be a great teammate for us.” Said Cleveland High coach: “He has been nothing short of an absolute pleasure to coach for the past two years. His drive and determination rival his can-do attitude and supportive leadership style. He does not flinch in the face of adversity, but rather smiles and quickens his stride. Francisco’s leadership comes in the form of coaching those around him with a can-do mantra and a disregard for impossibility. He has displayed the perfect balance of fierce competition and supportive praise for any competitor and team that he runs with or against. In a sport that tests every aspect of an athlete’s will and work ethic, Francisco stands as one of any team’s best assets for peer coaching, motivation and heart.” Davis said running has been a “passion” for him since his childhood in the Philippines, “and I consider it to be a blessing to run at the next level.”