College men’s golf

Livingstone tied for eighth in the 20-team Atlantic/East Regional held at Victor, N.Y.

St. Thomas Aquinas (+17) emerged as the best, with Charleston (+19), Gannon (+23) and Davis & Elkins College (+23) also moving on to the D-II National Championships.

The Blue Bears shot 295-305-302 and finished 14-over.

Xavier Proctor was LC’s top individual. He shot 76-72-72 to finish 4-over. He tied for eighth. Colline Ajidra shot 71-76-75 and was 6-over.

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UNC Greensboro’s Nick Lyerly (East Rowan) will be playing May 16-18 as an individual in the D-I regional being held at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

 

College baseball

John Owen (East Rowan) pitched a complete game to lead Pfeiffer to a win in the first round of the USA South Tournament. Owen struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter. The grad student has a 5-4 record for the Falcons.

 

College softball

No official word from the school yet, but many sources indicate Catawba will be making a head-coaching change.

The Indians were 5-33 this season and 1-23 in South Atlantic Conference play.

 

College athletics

Queens University, a power in men’s basketball in the South Atlantic Conference and a rising force in baseball, announced that it’s making a move to Division I athletics.

Queens will begin a transitional period toward Atlantic Sun Conference membership in July. This will be a four-year transition period.

The Queens baseball program is of special interest to local fans, with Ross Steedley (East Rowan) serving as head coach and Jesse Park (Carson) as pitching coach.

 

College track and field

Locals were very prominent for UNC Wilmington’s men’s track team in the Colonial Athletic Championships in Boston.

Cooper Wright (East Rowan) won the 400 in 48.46 seconds and placed third in the 200 in 21.56.

Josh Parks (A.L. Brown) was everywhere. He won the 400 hurdles (55.92) and 110 hurdles (13.97). He was third in the long jump and the 100.

 

High school golf

The 36-hole State Championships are set for Monday and Tuesday.

Salisbury’s team will be in action at Foxfire (Red), as well as West Davidson’s team.

McGwire Owen (West Rowan), Jackson Black (South Rowan), Landon Merrell (East Rowan) and Cade Cranfield (Carson) were individual qualifiers for the 3A Championships to be played on Pinehurst No.6. They’ll be joined by Lake Norman Charter’s team and Northwest Cabarrus’ Cooper Burris and Talan Harrison.

Gray Stone’s Finley Church, Wyatt Reeder and Jacob Trainor were individual qualifiers for the 1A State Championships at Longleaf.

 

High school track

Next for the qualifying track and field athletes are the regionals, with athletes attempting to post a top-four finish to move on to the state events.

On Friday, Davie is hosting the 1A Midwest Regional and 3A Midwest Regional. The 2A Midwest Regional will be at the High Point Athletic Complex.

 

High school boys tennis

Salisbury’s Will Koontz won a match in the individual 2A State Championships, but lost in the quarterfinals.

The Salisbury doubles team of Colin Donaldson/Gray Davis lost in the first round.

South Rowan’s Joey Caraccio lost in the first round in the 3A State Championships.

• Undefeated and second-seeded Salisbury is scheduled to return to dual team action Monday against sixth-seeded Lincoln Charter.

 

High school soccer

Sutton Webb bumped her career total to 132 goals on Thursday by accounting for all of Salisbury’s goals in a 4-0 win against Gray Stone.

Webb scored three times in the second half. She broke a record (128) previously held by South Rowan’s Madison Henry.

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Carson senior Hannah Isley is now the program record-holder with 73 goals.

Isley enjoyed a phenomenal week, scoring six goals against A.L. Brown and six more against East Rowan.

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West lost 4-3 to Concord Friday when the Spiders scored with 2.5 seconds left on the clock.

Lesli Guerrero, Selma Mehmedovic and Mia Arntsen scored for the Falcons. Anna Mead had two assists, while Rebekah Walters had one.

Emily Kelly made 10 saves.

 

HS softball

Central Cabarrus overcame a pair of two-run homers by Emma Clarke and beat West Rowan 5-4 in the South Piedmont Conference Tournament championship game on Thursday.

• A.L. Brown beat two higher-seeded teams, including regular-season champion Mooresville, in the Greater Metro Conference Tournament, but the Wonders lost 2-0 to Hickory Ridge in the championship game. Elon-bound Anna Dew pitched the shutout for the Bulls.

Playoff seeding for softball will be announced on Monday.

West Rowan (9th in 3A West RPI) is certain to get a first-round home game. Carson and East Rowan are in the playoffs, but are on the home/road bubble as far as the first round. South Rowan will have a first-round road game.

The Wonders and Davie will be in the 4A playoffs. Both will be on the road in the first round.

 

HS baseball

Seeds will be announced on Monday and first-round playoffs games are scheduled for Tuesday.

Brackets are filled by 32 teams. Salisbury is No. 33 in the 2A West RPI rankings.

South Rowan will be the No. 1 seed in the 3A West bracket by virtue of Thursday’s exciting 5-2 win against East Rowan. The Mustangs would have been seeded No. 1 in the bracket had they won that game.

Wherever the Mustangs are seeded, they — and South — have the bats, the pitching and the defense to have realistic state-championship aspirations.

East will be at home for the first round.

Ranked 13th and 15th respectively in the 3A West RPI rankings, Carson and West Rowan may also land first-round home games.

Northwest Cabarrus (17th) looks like a road team in the first round, and it’s possible South could be seeing one of its familiar SPC foes as early as the second round.

But that’s looking ahead, and it doesn’t pay to look ahead in one-and-done playoffs.

Any stud pitcher can beat you on a given night.