Posted: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 7:00 pm

Briefly


Weather forces
hoops night off

All local basketball gymnasiums were dark on Tuesday night — the result of light wintery precipitation that postponed practically all prep games.
The Union City at Lake County and Trenton at South Fulton doubleheaders were called off mid-afternoon, following suit of the Haywood at Obion Central contests.
Games involving all four Weakley County schools (Westview, Dres-den, Greenfield and Gleason) were also postponed Tuesday night.
The UC-LC games will be made up Feb. 4.
No dates have been set yet for the Central and South Fulton contests.
Westview will play at Dyersburg Jan. 28, Dresden will travel to Huntingdon Saturday night, Greenfield is set to journey to Bradford Thursday and Gleason will play at West Carroll Jan. 24.
The Obion County School System Jr. High Tournament is still set to begin on Thursday night at OCCHS.

Skyhawks’ Sims
on Raycom roster

Quentin Sims, a wide receiver on the UT Martin football team, will join defensive lineman Montori Hughes on the Stripes team in the Raycom Football All-Star Classic in Montgomery, Ala., Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.
Sims, an All-Ohio Valley Conference first-team selection and a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) third team All-America honoree, had 86 catches for 1,092 yards and 16 touchdowns this season.
The 16 touchdowns in one year is a new OVC record.
Also joining the two UT Martin players in the All-Star Classic will be Lane College’s Vernon Kearney (DB), Murray State’s Casey Brockman (QB) and Roderick Tomlin (OL); and Jacksonville State’s Washuan Ealey (RB) and Alan Bonner (WR).
The Stripes team will be coached by former NFL coach and Super Bowl winner Dan Reeves.
The head coach of the Stars team will be Jim Bates, a 17-year defensive genius.
The game has a television contract with CBS Sports.

UTM donates toys
to We Care group

The UT Martin Depart-ment of Intercollegiate Athletics donated more than $2,000 worth of Toys to We Care Ministries in Martin after two recent basketball games against Southern Miss and Samford in the Elam Center.
In conjunction with the Toy Drive, UT Martin gave away two iPad minis to fans who donated toys.
“We appreciated the community’s help,” said Betty Baker, the director of We Care Ministries. “In order to help more than 500 children and youth it takes the whole community.”
Baker said toys from UT Martin will serve as the kickoff for next year’s We Care Christmas store. “That is our biggest event of the year and we have to start collecting toys in January.”
In addition to the Christmas Store, Baker said We Care gets requests for toys throughout the year.
“We are thankful for the overwhelming support of the community and our Skyhawk fans,” said Marty Shisler, director of UT Martin’s Skyhawk Club.
“We have always have been able to count on our fans when it comes to helping out the needs of Weakley County and Northwest Tennessee.”

UT Martin runners
earn high grades

The UT Martin cross country teams accounted for a 3.4 cumulative Grade Point Average in the fall, head coach Gordon Sanders has announced.
Overall, the Skyhawk cross country teams combined for 13 honorees on UT Martin’s Dean’s List.
“As in the past, 20 cross country student-athletes take care of priorities while planning in all of their responsibilities and events,” Sanders said. “They are free to enjoy all that the campus offers, and the fact that they keep a healthy balance makes my job that much more enjoyable as it also enhances their college experience. Even more heartening is seeing the first 4.0 GPA earned in the academic career of one of our team members. The team atmosphere of improvement pulls on everyone.”
UT Martin’s track season begins at the Tennessee State Invite on Saturday, Feb. 2.

Published in The Messenger 1.16.13