Sports
July 29, 2026 by Jake Nichols
KNOXVILLE — This time last year, the Village Green Gators still were riding the high of their first championship in 14 years.
Fast forward 365 days, and head coach Sarah Fortney remained buoyant after the team fell just short of back-to-back titles in the Greater Knoxville Area Interclub Swimming Association (GKAISA) championship.
After unseating Knoxville Racquet Club (KRC) from a 13-year run last season, the Gators totaled 2,005.50 points for a second-place finish at this year’s Tom Schumann Memorial GKAISA championship meet at Tennessee’s Allan Jones Aquatic Center on Saturday, July 25.
KRC reclaimed its throne this year with a total of 2,175 points.
“I feel like we swam up from where we were seeded and outperformed what we were expecting,” Fortney said Sunday, July 26. “Heading into last year when we won, that was our first time to ever score 2,000 points.
“Historically, that’s always been enough to win that meet, and yesterday, it just wasn’t enough. Comparatively, we swam really well and everyone did well. And with that number of points, that’s the best we’ve been in 15 years, aside from last year. So we really can’t be upset with that performance.”
VG turned in 10 first-place finishes, while Concord Hills racked up 1,815.50 points for fourth place with Sugarwood in seventh at 843 points and Gettysvue in eighth with 782. Fox Den came in 16th with a total of 214 points.
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Area golf preview: HVA, Farragut, Bearden reload
July 29, 2026 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
The 2026 golf season opened earlier this week for Hardin Valley Academy, Farragut and Bearden.
The schools each had players competing in the 5Star Preps Masters at Three Ridges Golf Course in Northeast Knox County. The annual two-day, 36-hole event, which features some of the top teams and individuals in East Tennessee, opened Tuesday morning and will conclude today (July 29).
The Hawks entered the new season coming off a Class AA state championship but they’ll have a new coach as Greg Boling takes over both the boys team and the Lady Hawks, who were state runners-up last season.
Boling, who previously coached at Lenoir City High School before becoming coach at Point University in Georgia and later at Wallace State University in Alabama, is looking to develop relationships with his players.
“My expectation is to build relationships. It’s all about building relationships,” Boling said. “I also expect our players to become good people and contributors in society. I want them to be good moms and good dads.
“At all my previous stops, I was able to build deep and meaningful relationships.”
Top returners for the Hardin Valley boys include: Hunter Mousa (junior); Arjun Patel (junior); Sam Stiles (senior) and Cash Doane (senior).
The veteran cast will be joined by newcomers Jimmy Luttrell (junior), Mike Huff (senior) and Collin Schemel (junior).
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July 29, 2026 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
Bearden High School’s Jayla Blue was named Tennessee Gatorade Girls Soccer Player of the Year recently.
During her senior season with the Lady Bulldogs, she scored 33 goals and dished out 17 assists while leading Bearden to a 20-2-1 overall record and a fourth TSSAA Class AAA State Championship in five Ny.
She holds the school’s career goal scoring record as she found the back of the opposing side’s net 135 times during her illustrious record, shattering the previous mark held by Brinley Murphy, who is now playing at the
University of Florida after beginning her collegiate career at South Carolina.
Blue also holds the Lady Bulldogs’ single-season goal scoring record as she tallied 45 markers as a junior in 2024. She also totaled 15 assists during her junior campaign.
A recent Bearden graduate, Blue will play at the University of Tennessee. With the Lady Vols, she’ll join her sister, Nyla, a junior defender for Tennessee.
Jayla and Nyla are the daughters of former Lady Vols’ basketball player Ace Clement Blue.
July 29, 2026 by Ken Lay, Correspondent
The new Bearden High School cross country coach is no stranger to the school or its athletes. He’s been with the Bulldogs for five years.
Matt Eckert, who has been Bearden’s head track and field coach for the past five seasons, now will have another opportunity to impact Bearden’s athletes as he was recently tapped to take the reins for the school’s cross country team.
The new challenge is one to which Eckert is looking forward.
“I love to develop athletes and this gives me another opportunity to do that,” Eckert said. “We’ve had good workouts during our first days of practice and I’m excited to see how we do when we get to the district and the region (championships).
“I love to develop athletes mentally and physically.”
Many cross country runners compete in both indoor track (in the winter) and outdoor track in the spring and the sports have their similarities, but they’re also quite different.
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