From staff reports

Catawba’s football team was picked seventh in the eight-team South Atlantic Conference in the preseason poll.
The poll of league coaches was announced on Monday.
The predicted order of finish was (1) Carson-Newman (59 points), (2) Lenoir-Rhyne (55), (3) Wingate (48), (4) Mars Hill (39), (5) Newberry (34), (6) Tusculum (26), (7) Catawba (19) and (8) Brevard (8).
Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne got four first-place votes each.
Carson-Newman reached the quarterfinals of the Division II playoffs last season and led all of D-II in rushing.
Lenoir-Rhyne lost to Carson-Newman in the second round of the playoffs. The Bears were second in D-II in rushing.
Fullback Ike Whitaker (Salisbury), who made an All-America team last season, is one of the returning standouts for the L-R Bears.
The Cabarrus Football Jamboree will be held at Concord High’s Bailey Stadium on Friday and will include East Rowan and A.L. Brown.
Three SPC teams (Hickory Ridge, East and Concord) will scrimmage three teams from outside the league.
Hickory Ridge takes on Mount Pleasant at 6. East battles A.L. Brown at 7. Concord matches up with Robinson at 8.
Admission is $5.

The rain date is Saturday.
Robinson is now being coached by John Fitz, who was a key member of Chip Hester’s Catawba staffs for seven years.
Fitz was a high school coach before he came to Catawba.
He served a an assistant at High Point Central and was the longtime defensive coordinator at Oxford Webb before he went to Wilmington New Hanover for six seasons, the last three as head coach.
Fitz is Robinson’s third head coach, following Tony Paroli and Bobby Cloninger.
Robinson is moving up to 4A this season and will compete in the Mecka Conference with A.L. Brown and Mecklenburg schools.
• Carson has a home scrimmage scheduled for tonight at 6 p.m. against North Stanly.
North Carolina champ Wilmington beat host Randolph County 7-0 on Monday in Asheboro to win the Southeast Regional.
Wilmington (34-2) advances to the eight-team World Series that starts Friday in Shelby.
Other teams that have won their regionals include Petaluma, Calif., Burnsville, Minn., and Brooklawn, N.J.
The McCanless Couples played a Captain’s Choice format on Sunday.
Winning team members were Frank Foster, Treva Honeycutt, Glenn Trexler and Tim Earnhardt.
The team of Allen Drew, Ricky Honeycutt and Vicky and Keith Poteat finished second.
Walt Kincaid won closest to the pin. Kim Kincaid won longest putt.
• In the Member-Member Tournament at the Country Club of Salisbury, Josh Brincefield-Chris Owen won Flight 1 with a total of 134.
Finishing second was the team of Blake Wray-Richard Dwiggins, also at 134.
The winning team in Flight 2, ED Cook-Glenn Dixon won with a 141 total. Lee Frick-Wally Eidson also shot 141.
Flight 3 winners were Curtis Kyles-Todd Bell at 146, Jon Post-Abraham Post also finished at 146.
Craig Rae-Clint Miller won Flight 4 with a 150 score. Jon Dwiggins-John Drye shot 156.
The Rowan ExpressTrack and Field Club, coached by Ralph Ellis, competed in the AAU Junior Olympics held at Eastern Michigan.
Brittany Ellis, 7, was 14th in the shot (15 feet, 5 inches) and 49th in the lonj jump (7-8 1/4). BreAsia Ellis, 10, was 40th in the shot put (15-7), 17th in the turbo javelin (35-6) and 61st in the long jump (9-10). BraNiya Goodlett, 11, was 39th in the discus (39-11) and 48th in the shot put (18-8 1/2).
BraQuan Ellis, 10, was 33rd in the discus (31-1), 55th in the shot (16-0) and 40th in the turbo Javelin (27-4).
Anyone interested in playing football for Southeast Middle should report to the school on Friday, Aug. 16, at 4 p.m.
Practice will last two hours. Players should bring a completed physical and cleats.
Parents should pick the players up promptly at 6 p.m.
Reserve seats for Carson football will be on sale at the school from 5:30-7:30 p.m. tonight, Wednesday and Thursday.
The cost is $35. Seats are available to all.
Fifteen Appalachian State Mountaineers are now with NFL teams, and 14 played in exhibitions last week.
Blake Houston (South Rowan, Catawba) scored the winning run in the 10th inning of Gastonia’s Coastal Plain League playoff win on Sunday. Houston had two hits and scored three runs.
• Asheboro’s John J. Tuttle (A.L. Brown, Catawba) pitched well but lost his playoff start. He pitched into the seventh inning of a 3-0 setback and struck out six.