SUNDAY SPORTS BRUNCH Ex-arlington runner earns a Gulf South first
Chris Van Tuyl
Upperclassmen recently dominated the 2019 Gulf South Conference Cross Country Championships, with representatives from Lee University, Alabama Huntsville and host Montevallo (Ala.) all finishing in the top five of the women’s 5K.
Union University wasn’t too far behind, capturing second as a team. The Bulldogs were also able to come away with one other bit of special distinction. The GSC’S inaugural Champion Scholarathlete Award went to former Arlington High standout Amanda Leatherwood.
“It’s definitely an honor,” she said. “It’s just really rewarding, too, because it is a lot of hard work to balance academics with athletics.”
According to a release, the award is handed out at the final site of each GSC championship, where the athlete with the highest cumulative GPA among teams participating will be recognized. GPA is based on the most recently completed term, and the athlete must have a minimum of 48 credit hours to be eligible for the award.
Leatherwood, a senior physical education major, has a 4.0 GPA with 107 credit hours completed. Union shined on the men’s side, with junior and Kenya native Ronald Ayabei, winning.
“It’s cool to be able to say Union swept the academic award,” said Leatherwood. “Academics are something that our coach really emphasizes as a priority.”
As for the running portion of her weekend, Leatherwood came in 43rd overall, with a time of 21:20.14.
“Honestly, a lot of parts of this season performance-wise have been kind of disappointing,” she said. “I’ve had kind of a lingering injury since sophomore year, and so it’s always been my hope to get back to the level that I was before that injury, but that didn’t happen.”
A herniated disc in her back was the culprit.
“The doctors weren’t sure how much
I would be able to recover,” she said, “and so to be able to come back to the point where I am now — where I’m able to run in the conference race — I’m happy with that.”
Additionally, the past two seasons have afforded Leatherwood the opportunity to compete with her sister, Marykate, a sophomore.
“We haven’t ever had a chance to run on a team before she came to Union,” said Amanda, “so it’s been a really fun experience.”
Mid-south soccer awards distributed
A few days after hosting its first American Athletic Conference Championship quarterfinal match — a 2-1 loss to Temple — the University of Memphis men’s soccer team had five players named to three different all-conference lists. Senior forward Sam Ashton was the at-large member of the first team. On the second team were Ben Roberts, a senior defender, and Gurman Sangha, a sophomore midfielder. Redshirt freshmen Peter Chang and Ford Hunt, both midfielders, landed spots on the all-rookie team. The Tigers finished the season with a 10-7 record.
Northwest Mississippi Community College sophomore goalkeeper Tim Spencer was selected for ALL-MACJC honors.
The former Cordova standout made 10 or more saves in seven matches for the Rangers, including a career-high 14 saves in a 2-1 double-overtime loss to Itawamba on Sept. 10.
Sunday Sports Brunch is a weekly look at movers, shakers and newsmakers on the Memphis sports scene, from youth level to the pros. If you have an item of interest, please contact Chris Van Tuyl at christopher.vantuyl@commercialappeal.com