OUTDOORS
Dicus retires from commission
Chuck Dicus, a former president of the Razorback Foundation, announced Thursday his retirement as president of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation effective Jan. 1.
Dicus forged key financial relationships with Quail Forever, National Wild Turkey Foundation and Ducks Unlimited during his tenure. He also brought the Arkansas Duck Stamp print program under in-house management and worked to finalize plans for a new education and nature center in Northwest Arkansas, securing a $5 million contribution from J.B. Hunt co-founder Johnelle Hunt.
Deke Whitbeck has been named Dicus' successor and will begin transition activities this month.
AGFC approves feral hog harvest
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission unanimously voted Thursday to allow the harvest of feral hogs on AGFC-managed wildlife management areas during deer, bear or elk gun seasons.
During the commission's meeting in May, commissioners voted to eliminate such hunting to remove the incentive for illegal hog releases on public land.
"We continue to catch feral hogs that have ear notches, tags or other marks that indicate illegal releases or escapes are still occurring on or near our WMAs," AGFC feral hog program coordinator J.P. Fairhead said. "By eliminating the opportunity for people to go back and hunt hogs on those properties, we hoped to remove the motivation behind those releases."
The regulation also was put in place to allow AGFC staff to trap hogs in large groups. Added hunting pressure on hogs can make them wary and scatter them, pushing the problem to neighboring landowners and making capture difficult.
Not all WMAs were included in the ban passed in May. Many WMAs owned by federal agencies are managed cooperatively with the AGFC for wildlife and those areas still allowed feral hog harvesting during bear, deer or elk gun seasons.
"I think we still have some work to do explaining the reasoning behind the hog ban on WMAs," AGFC Director Jeff Crow said. "We do plan on presenting the ban on all feral hog hunting again in 2019, but for now the Commission has decided to allow shooting of feral hogs on all WMAs during a firearms deer, bear or elk season."
VOLLEYBALL
OBU reaches GAC Tournament semifinals
Tabatha Huckabee had 24 kills to lead Ouachita Baptist past Arkansas-Monticello 3-2 (24-26, 25-13, 29-27, 22-25, 15-13) on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Great American Conference Tournament at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs.
Caitlin Cantrell and Kori Bullard had 17 kills each for OBU (23-6), which got 36 digs from Ashley Wake, 19 digs and 60 assists from Stormi Leonard and 18 digs from Jayme Shell. Shay Mitchell led UAM (12-17) with 28 kills and Kya Standford had 15 kills and 10 blocks. Kendall Vondra had 63 assists for the Cotton Blossoms, while Macy Mitchell had 40 digs and Carolina Gasparini added 18 digs and 5 blocks.
OBU will face No. 3 seed Southern Nazarene, which swept Henderson State 25-18, 25-17, 25-23 in Thursday's first quarterfinal match. Abby Bell had 26 digs to lead Southern Nazarene (18-10), while Kaitlyn Vought added 12 digs, Courtney Bowie had 12 kills and Lexie Matthews added 10. Sharon Tukuaoga led Henderson State (13-16) with 11 kills, while Sydney Skelton had 19 digs.
ASU racks up postseason awards
Five Arkansas State players were named to the All-Sun Belt Conference team on Thursday, with four of those players winning individual honors and Coach David Rehr winning the Coach of the Year award.
Carlisa May was named offensive player of the year, while Markie Schaedig earned defensive player of the year honors. Mallory Warrington was named setter of the year and Kenzie Fields was named freshman of the year. May, Schaedig, Warrington and senior Kelsey Reis were all first-team All-Sun Belt selections, as was UALR senior Edina Selimovic. Fields was named to the second team along with UALR's Carolee Dillard.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
Arkansas fourth in Atlanta
The Arkansas Razorbacks sent 11 swimmers and a diver to finals Thursday while achieving nine individual best times, but sit in fourth place after the first day of the Georgia Tech Invitational at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
Freshman Ayumi Macias won the 500 freestyle in 4 minutes, 42.39 seconds, which is the eighth-fastest time in the country this year. She shaved 14.50 seconds off her previous personal-best time. Aiden Lister swam a season-best 4:49.08 in the 500 freestyle preliminary before finishing eighth in the final with a time of 4:51.03.
Chelsea Tatlow finished second in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:59.50. Nicole Gillis finished third in the 3-meter springboard with a preliminary score of 285.75 and a final score of 308.95, both zone qualifying scores.
Auburn has 346 points to lead the event, followed by Florida (246), Alabama (228) and Arkansas (224).
-- Democrat-Gazette Press Services
Sports on 11/18/2016