Senior PGA tour invades Nashawtuc

It's Bank of America Championship week at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord, and tournament officials have put together activities beginning with qualifying at Shaker Hills Golf Club Tuesday and culminating in the Champions Tour final round Sunday. In between, there will be pro-ams, clinics, putting and hole-in-one contests, a charity dinner, military appreciation day, and walk-a thons to benefit the Veterans of Foreign War and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

The major event, of course, is the Champions Tour 54-hole tournament, which features the game's best senior golfers. In the field are seven members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, 16 of the top 24 all-time money winners, and eight former Bank of America Championship winners, including defending champion Mark McNulty. Playing the Concord course for the first time are Tom Watson, Chip Beck, Jay Haas, Scott Hoch, Nick Price, and Curtis Strange. Other top names slated to tee it up include Jim Albus, Jim Dent, Allen Doyle, Bruce Fleisher, Bob Gilder, Hale Irwin, Tom Jenkins, Tom Kite, Bruce Lietzke, Larry Nelson, Dana Quigley, Craig Stadler, Dave Stockton , and Lee Trevino.

The tournament is dedicated to military personnel, and a number of activities will focus on providing sports rehabilitation to soldiers wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

General-admission grounds tickets good for any day during tournament week are $25, and children 15 and younger, accompanied by an adult, will be admitted free. Up-to-date tournament information is available at bankofamericachampionship.com. Tickets can also be purchased online. For corporate or group ticket packages or to order tickets by phone, call 877-559-GOLF.

Andover relay team captures N.E. title

All that's left for the Andover quartet of Bizzy DiTroia, Melissa Knapp, Vanessa Singleton, and Christina Muccio to conquer is the rest of the nation. The 4 x 100 relay team, following its record-setting performance in the Massachusetts All-State Championships, added the New England title to its resume when it roared home in 48.98 seconds at Elliot Field on the campus of Fitchburg State College. That was a tad slower than its All-State time of 48.68, but good enough to shade runner-up North Reading (49.66). This weekend, the foursome was in Greensboro, N.C., competing in the Nike Outdoor Nationals. Also winning New England girls' titles were the Bishop Guertin (Nashua ) duo of Catherine Ressijac and Ellen Powers in the 800 meters and triple jump, Emily Jones of Bromfield in the 3,200 meters, and Kristen Judge of Tewksbury in the high jump. Bryan Longo of Lexington was the lone competitor from the area to strike gold. He won the 800 meters in 1 minute 54.57 seconds.

Scholastic odds 'n' ends

Burlington senior Greg Nelson chalked up a school-record 5,892 points to win the North Division decathlon. It was the sixth state championship in his career . . . . Top-seeded Souhegan ( Amherst, N.H.) senior Thomas Wilbur topped No. 4 Matt Shapiro of Hanover in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, to win the NHIAA singles championship . . . . Merrimack in Class L and Hollis/Brookline in Class I won New Hampshire state baseball titles, and Salem in Class L claimed its second straight state softball championship and eighth in the last 10 years . . . . Caroline Martignetti scored the only goal in overtime to lift Winchester to a 15-14 win over Weston and its third straight Division 2 North sectional lacrosse championship . . . . Tough way for the Andover baseball and girls' lacrosse teams to end their season. Both teams were eliminated by Lincoln-Sudbury. The baseball team let a lead of 6-0 slip away and left 13 baserunners stranded in a 12-10 Division 1 North quarterfinal loss. The lacrosse team fell for the third straight time in the semifinals, this time by a 14-12 count, despite the eight-goal, one-assist effort by Rachel Fox. . . . Andover's and Billerica's boys' lacrosse teams gave sterling efforts, but both came up short in what would have been upset wins. Andover fell to top-seeded and unbeaten Xaverian, 10-6, while Billerica lost in double overtime, 12-11, to three-time defending state champion Duxbury in the Division 1 East semifinal games . . . . Belmont Hill successfully defended its crown in the US Youth Rowing Championships in Cincinnati, stroking home in 7:16.17, five seconds faster than runner-up Lakeside School of Seattle. Crew members were Kyle Gordon, Nick Whitehead, Mike DiSanto, Robbie Stone, and coxswain David Fuller.

Campus corner

Bentley College sophomore attack Alyssa Ritchie of North Andover has been named to the Division 2 All-America second team by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association. She was chosen after a record-setting season in which she scored a single-season high of 92 points . . . . Offensive lineman Brandon Saunders (6 feet 4 inches, 225 pounds) of Woburn and Arlington Catholic is among the Merrimack College 2007 recruiting class. The 18 recruits come from five states -- Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Illinois . . . . The Northeast-10 Conference inducted former Merrimack softball coach Michele DeGregorio into its Hall of Fame. DeGregorio, who coaches at Bentley, led Merrimack to a 45-4 record and the NCAA Division 2 title in 1994. It was the NE-10's first national championship. Also inducted was Woburn native and cross-country All-America Gary Mello . . . . Senior Todd Fletcher of Chelmsford and sophomores Nick Monroe of Groton and Steve Capraro of Medford were among 13 University of Massachusetts at Lowell student-athletes named to the Hockey East All-Academic team . . . . UMass-Lowell senior pitchers Pete Nickerson of Dracut and Pat Donovan of Lowell are members of the Division 2-3 All-Star team that will play at Fenway Park July 22 against the best from Division 1. Nickerson went 6-3 this season with a 2.67 earned run average over 70 2/3 innings and 11 starts. Donovan was superb out of the bullpen and became the River Hawks' all-time leader in career (27) and single-season (15) saves.

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