Tennessee

U.S. Open Qualifier Mac Clark Sends Verbal To Tennessee (2025)

Published

2 years ago

July 7, 2024

U.S. Open Qualifier Mac Clark Sends Verbal To Tennessee (2025)

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Mac Clark of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has announced his verbal commitment to swim and study at the University of Tennessee. Clark has one year remaining at Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School, and will arrive in Knoxville next fall for the 2025-2026 season.

“I’m thrilled to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic careers at the University of Tennessee. I’d like to thank my family, coaches, friends, and teammates for helping me reach this point. I also want to give a special thanks to all of the coaches at Tennessee for extending me the opportunity to be a Vol. Can’t wait to get to Rocky Top! Go Vols!”

Clark, a distance freestyle specialist, trains and competes year-round with Team Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics. He is a U.S. Open qualifier in the 500, 1000, and 1650, as well as in the 400m, 800m and 1500m in long course. Clark also holds numerous Allegheny Mountain LSC Records, including the boys’ 15-16 1000, which used to be the oldest yards record for the LSC by more than a decade.

This past December, Clark competed at Speedo Winter Juniors – East, where he recorded his top finish in the 1650. He stopped the clock at 15:18.12 to finish 11th overall and take nearly twenty seconds off his previous best time. He also set personal bests in the 500 (4:26.61) and 400 IM (4:01.65) earning 23rd and 65th, respectively.

More recently, Clark has opened his long course season with a slew of best times this spring. At the ISCA International Senior Cup, he collected wins in the 400 IM (3:58.29/4:33.31), 1500m (15:46.48), 800m (8:15.93), and 400m free (4:00.91) with best times across all of them. This month he cracked the 4:00 barrier in the 400m free, as he clocked a 3:59.76 at the Holtrey Summer Classic.

Top SCY Times

500 free – 4:25.26
1000 free – 9:07.23
1650 free – 15:18.12
400 IM – 3:58.29

The Tennessee Vols finished 5th as a team at the 2024 SEC Championships with a total of 992 points. With over a year before arriving on campus, Clark already owns a personal best in the 1650 that would have scored this year.

Jake Narvid led the distance squad with a 10th place finish at SECs (14:57.29), while Joey Tepper (15:11.00) and Rafael Ponce De Leon (15:12.15) also scored with 19th and 20th place finishes. Clark’s arrival is timely for the Vols, as Tepper, Narvid, and Ponce De Leon were all seniors last season.

Clark joins Jack McCoy, Mike McCarthy, Gabe Nunziata, Liam O’Connor, Luke Amerson, and Ian Combs in Tennessee’s class of 2029.

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Tennessee

Memphis voters file federal lawsuit against new congressional map, claiming discrimination: ‘White control over Tennessee politics’

Published

9 hours ago

May 12, 2026

Press Room

Memphis voters file federal lawsuit against new congressional map, claiming discrimination: ‘White control over Tennessee politics’

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WSMV) – Three Memphis voters, through the American Civil Liberties Union, have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee leaders, claiming the state’s new congressional maps are discriminating against Black voters.

The ACLU announced the lawsuit on Monday, saying that three organizations — the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Equity Alliance, are also part of the lawsuit that was filed against Sec. of State Tre Hargett, Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins and several others.

“In May 2026, over the course of mere days, a White-dominated supermajority of the Tennessee General Assembly redrew Tennessee’s congressional map to crack the predominantly Black city of Memphis into three pieces and destroy the only district in which Black voters are able to elect representatives of their choice, shutting Black voters completely out of power in federal elections in Tennessee,” the filing states.

The ACLU and the other plaintiffs echo arguments made by Democrats while the maps were being debated during last week’s special session: “The cracking of Memphis unlawfully targeted Black voters.”

“The new plan carves through the center of Tennessee’s second largest city, dividing neighborhoods that have voted together for decades, splitting numerous counties and precincts, and cutting the Black population into thirds with suspect precision,” the lawsuit says. “The districts then run hundreds of miles east towards the Nashville suburbs, snaking through predominantly White and rural counties to dilute the voting power of now-divided Black Memphians.”

Gov. Bill Lee signed the new congressional map into law last week. The new map splits Shelby County, home of Memphis, into three districts.

Republicans have said the map modernizes the districting process and removes “racial data from the mapmaking process entirely.” Democrats, on the other hand, say that the move is meant to dismantle the Black-majority district.

Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R) told WSMV that Republicans “have been very clear” on their intention to secure a ninth Republican seat in the state. He has said the map would help “ensure the state’s representation in Washington reflects its conservative values.”

The lawsuit draws significant attention to the racial makeup of Tennessee lawmakers, describing, “White control over Tennessee politics.” Plaintiffs allege that a white majority “faction” of state leaders “gave bizarre, robotic answers to the most basic questions about the map they were sponsoring.”

“None of the sponsors of the plan would admit who actually drew it, and the lead Senate sponsor—a White legislator with over a decade of service in the Tennessee General Assembly who had attended law school in Memphis — would not say whether Memphis was predominantly Black and claimed not to know that Congressional District 9 was a majority- Black district,” the filing says.

They seem to be referencing Sen. John Stevens (R-Huntingdon), who was asked during the special session if he was aware that the majority of the residents in the ninth district are Black.

“I’m not aware,” he responded. “I know how the map is divided, but I don’t know the racial makeup of the map.”

Stevens got his juris doctorate from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

The three Memphis residents who took part in the lawsuit are Amber Sherman, a lifelong resident of Memphis and the lead Tennessee regional organizer for Black Voters Matter Fund, Rachael Spriggs, a Memphis resident for more than 20 years who is the director of Power Building for the Equity Alliance, and Kermit Moore, a nearly lifelong resident of Memphis who is the president of the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute.

The lawsuit claims intentional discrimination in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments, as well as retaliation for protected expression and association in violation of the First Amendment.

Plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the newly drawn map is unconstitutional and restore district lines before primary elections proceed.

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Tennessee

New Tennessee law allows K9 officers to be transported by helicopter, ambulance to vet

Published

21 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

New Tennessee law allows K9 officers to be transported by helicopter, ambulance to vet

Tennessee State Senators Michele Reneau of Signal Mountain and Bo Watson of Hixson spoke today about the new law supporting police K-9’s.

The act allows injured dogs to get stabilization services on-site and then be transported via ambulance or helicopter to a vet hospital.

“In the past, officers were basically putting the k9 in their car and transporting them in their in their own vehicle, they didn’t have an ambulance or an air ambulance,” said Senator Watson. “This allows for an air ambulance. It also allows for a educational program for those in EMS, who will be taught how to manage canines emergency medical condition, which is different than a human’s.”

In April, Erlanger flew a K9 officer from Clay County, to North Carolina.

It was the first time the program was used for a live transport after several training runs.

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Tennessee

What You Need to Know About Tennessee Softball’s Path to Another WCWS | Rocky Top Insider

Published

1 day ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

What You Need to Know About Tennessee Softball’s Path to Another WCWS | Rocky Top Insider

Tennessee softball’s path back to the Women’s College World Series is set. On Sunday night, the Lady Vols were named the No. 7 overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament and will host the regional stage in Knoxville as it looks to return to the WCWS in back-to-back seasons.

The Lady Vols are matched up with Virginia, Indiana and Northern Kentucky in the regionals. It would play Georgia, Clemson, UNC Greensboro or Charleston in the super regionals.

Ahead of the tournament, here’s a look at each team in the Knoxville Regional and potential matchups for the ensuing best-of-three super regional if Tennessee advances.