Area athletes update …
Tennessee’s Tavis Bailey (A.L. Brown) has won the discus in three straight meets to open the outdoor season.
Bailey, who set the school record in the event in March in a meet at Alabama (202 feet, 6 inches), threw the discus 199-3 in Saturday’s Tennessee Relays.
An offensive lineman in his days with the Wonders, Bailey also placed second over the weekend in the shot put with a career-best effort of 63-3.5 that was the fourth-best throw in Tennessee history.
“It feels good to have a good shot put mark outdoors,” Bailey said. “I had it indoors but hadn’t put it together outdoors.”
• Western Carolina’s Alisha Bradshaw (Salisbury) swept the throws in Saturday’s Beynon Classic.
Bradshaw threw a season-best 149-4 in the discus. She threw 168-1 in the hammer and 43-7.25 in the shot.
• Western’s Keith Leonard (East Rowan) placed second in the pole vault in the Beynon Classic. He cleared 15-5.

Pro football
Most are projecting Arkansas defensive end Chris Smith (West Rowan) as a third or fourth round draft pick by the NFL.
He’s ranked among the top 10-12 defensive ends and as one of the top 100 to 125 players.

College football
• Virginia’s Kevin Parks (West) sat out the Spring Game with injuries, but he’s been voted one of the team captains for his senior season.
• Guilford junior Jordan Farmer (Davie) was named to the All-ODAC sportsmanship team.
• In Catawba’s Spring Game, B.J. Sherrill (West) rushed three times for 21 yards and a TD and was 5-for-11 passing for 75 yards. Trey Mashore carried five times for 25 yards. Nathan Lambert (South Rowan) was 1-for-2 passing for 11 yards and rushed three times for 6 yards.

College baseball
Army’s Jon Crucitti (West) went 3-for-4 and scored two runs in a 10-4 win against Bucknell on Sunday.
• Brett Huffman (West) had three hits for UNC Pembroke in an 8-7 victory against Francis Marion on Saturday.
Preston Troutman (East Rowan) had `two hits for Appalachian State in a 6-5 win against The Citadel on Saturday in Boone.
Troutman had a triple in a 10-6 win over Citadel on Sunday, and Brian Bauk (Salisbury) went 1-for-3 and scored a run.
• Corey Randall (Davie) pitched seven strong innings for UNC Asheville in a 3-0 loss to Campbell on Sunday.
• Avery Rogers (East) pitched a scoreless ninth for Guilford in an 11-2 win against Emory & Henry on Sunday.
• East Carolina’s Eric Tyler (South) had the game-winning single in the ninth inning in a 2-1 victory at Rice.
• UNC Wilmington’s Andy Austin (East) drove in a run in a loss to Hofstra on Saturday.
Ş Jacob Barber (Davie) drove in three runs for Winston-Salem State in an 8-4 win against Lincoln on Sunday.
• Rob Bain (NW Cabarrus) is 3-1 on the mound for Davidson.
College softball
Kaitlyn Jones (South) had a hit in both games of a doubleheader with Mount Olive on Saturday, but the Crusaders lost both games. Katherine Starnes (South) went 2-for-3 for BA in the second game.
• Steffi Sides (East) went 2-for-2 and drove in a run in Guilford’s 8-4 loss to Emory & Henry on Sunday.

College golf
Davidson’s Alex Nianouris (Salisbury) shot 75-77-78 — 230 in the Irish Creek Collegiate and tied for 75th.
UNC Greensboro’s Roy Dixon (Salisbury) was recently named Blue Chip Performer by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. The Blue Chip Performer award goes to UNC Greensboro’s Athlete of the Week.

Minor leagues
Jerry Sands (Catawba) is batting .324 with two homers and seven RBIs for Durham, Tampa Bay’s Triple A team.
• Jordan Jankowski (Catawba) hasn’t been scored on in his first three relief appearances for Double A Corpus Christi and he’s struck out six.
• Daniel Wagner (South) is 1-for-5 for Double A Birmingham. He was 1-for-2 on Friday.
• Whit Merrifield (Davie) is batting .219 for Double A Northwest Arkansas.
• Justin Seager (NW Cabarrus) is batting .263 in Class A.
• Corey Seager (NW Cabarrus) hasn’t homered in his first 10 games, but he’s batting .333 in advanced A ball.