LITTLE ROCK — FOOTBALL Wonder Boys promote assistants
Arkansas Tech football Coach Steve Mullins promoted Jo Nixon to defensive coordinator and Matt Kitchens to linebackers coach on Wednesday.
Nixon spent last season as the Wonder Boys’ secondary coach and Kitchens spent last season as a graduate assistant. Nixon takes the place of Jeff Byrd, who was the Wonder Boys’ defensive coordinator and linebackers coach before he resigned to become defensive coordinator at NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Tennessee-Martin.
Nixon was previously a defensive coordinator at NAIA Langston (Okla.) University in 2006-2008 and at FCS Alabama State in 2009.
“Jo has a wealth of experience and I have full confidence that we will have an aggressive, smart defense,” Mullins said in a release.
Kitchens, a former Arkansas Tech linebacker, helped Byrd with coaching that position the last two seasons.
Arkansas Tech, which ranked seventh in the Great American Conference in total defense (412.1 yards per game) while finishing 2-8 last year, started spring practice Wednesday.
- Troy SchulteBASEBALL UCA gets road victory
Junior Clint Green scattered 11 hits, including 10 singles, and had four strikeouts in throwing a complete game to lead Central Arkansas to an 8-2 victory over Missouri on Wednesday in Columbia, Mo.
Leading 3-2 in the eighth inning, UCA (11-10) used RBI singles from Travis Snider and Logan Moon and a two-run double by Blake Marchal to take a 7-2 lead. Forrestt Allday walked and scored on an error in the ninth inning to cap the scoring. Missouri (15-9) got its runs on an Eric Garcia home run in the second inning and an RBI single by Connor Mach in the fifth.
Snider and Marchal led the Bears with two hits and two RBI each. Bryan Willson also had two hits for UCA.
BOWLING ASU women selected to NCAAs
The Arkansas State women’s team, ranked second in the National Tenpin Coaches Association poll, was among the eight teams selected Wednesday to compete in the NCAA Championship April 12-14 in Wickliffe, Ohio.
ASU, which will make its fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, finished no worse than third in any tournament this season and finished with an 80-23 record.
The other seven teams competing in the tournament will be Central Missouri, Fairleigh Dickinson, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Nebraska, Sacred Heart, Valparaiso and Vanderbilt.
GOLF Marquez leads Harding women
Harding freshman Brittany Marquez earned her second top-10 finish of the season individually and helped lead the Lady Bisons to a third-place finish in the team standings at the David Falconer Memorial Invitational in Danville.
Marquez shot 80-80-160 to finish in eighth place. Northeastern State’s Kelsey Kirkpatrick won the event at 153. Northeastern (Okla.) State also won the team title, followed by Arkansas Tech. SOFTBALL Arkansas loses at home
Arkansas could not take advantage of a bases-loaded situation in the fourth inning and lost to Tulsa 6-0 on Wednesday in Fayetteville.
Trailing 1-0, Clarisa Navarro hit a single to left-center field to start the fourth inning for Arkansas (18-13), then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Amanda Geile. Chloe Oprzedek walked and Sierra Bronkey was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Razorbacks, however, did not score.
The Golden Hurricane took a 3-0 lead in the fifth on a two-run home run by Samantha Cobb and added three more runs in the seventh inning.
TENNIS
Arkansas State blanks Central Arkansas
Central Arkansas, playing for the first time since March 17, was shut out by Arkansas State 7-0 on Wednesday in Jonesboro.
Marianna Rong, Tamara Slijepcevic, Janie Newland, Biljana Milowewska and Ioana Teu picked up singles victories for Arkansas State, which also won all three doubles matches.
Harding sweeps SAU
In a match that lasted just over an hour, Harding won its first Great American Conference match with a 9-0 victory over Southern Arkansas on Wednesday in Searcy.
It was the third consecutive victory for Harding (15-4, 1-0 Great American Conference), giving the Lady Bisons a 6-1 record at home. Harding won all six singles matches in straight sets.
TRACK AND FIELD Alcide in sixth place
Arkansas’ Makeba Alcide is in sixth place after the first day of the heptathlon at the Texas Relays in Austin.
Alcide finished second in her heat and seventh overall with a time of 14.27 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles. She also ran the 200 meters in 25.52 second. Alcide, who has 3,249 points, finished fourth in the high jump and eighth in the shot put. West Virginia’s Chelsea Carrier-Eades leads the heptathlon with 3,536 points.
Sports, Pages 19 on 03/29/2012