Men's golf opens its spring season at the 2023 Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play down in Dade City, F.L. This will be the first time the Panthers are participating in the event.

Event Info: Mon. - Tue. February 6-February 7 - Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play (Dade City, F.L.) Live Scoring | Lake Jovita Country Club

Previously known as the Mid-American Match Play, the event was renamed in 2015 to honor Earl Yestingsmeier. Yestingsmeier passed away in 2014 at the age of 80. He led the Ball State men's golf program for 36 seasons, 31 of them serving as both coach and sports information director. He is enshrined in the Ball State Athletics, Golf Coaches Association, and Indiana Golf halls of fame, leading Ball State to 107 tournament titles and 11 NCAA appearances.

The Field High Point is one of eight teams competing in the tournament. Drake, Dayton, Western Kentucky, Loyola Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, and Ball State are also competing. The tournament is being hosted by Ball State.

HPU's Lineup

Alan Smith Gregor Meyer Burch Harrison Grady Newton Charlie Barr Kyle Nordheimer

Lake Jovita Country Club Located just north of Tampa, Lake Jovita Country Club is ranked a top 50 golf course. There are two courses on the property, which is semi-private and open to the public. The course being played will play as a par 72 at a length of 7,153 yards.

Format and Schedule The match play tournament is 54 holes. The first 36 holes will be played on Monday with the final 18 set for Tuesday. Monday will be a shotgun start with High Point facing off against Eastern Michigan. Teams are seeded based on GolfStat rankings. The Panthers will have representatives starting off holes 1,2,3,5,6 and 8. High Point will either face No. 1 Ball State or No. 8 Central Michigan Monday afternoon, depending on results. The final round is set for Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.

2023 Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play Matchups (1) Ball State vs. (8) Central Michigan (4) High Point vs. (5) Eastern Michigan (3) Western Kentucky vs. (6) Loyola (2) Dayton vs. (7) Drake

About the Fall High Point's fall consisted of five events. The team's best finish was 7th at the JT Poston Invitational. On the individual side, Burch Harrison won Big South freshman of the week in back-to-back weeks. Harrison finished T-15th at the Grandover Intercollegiate, shooting a 1-under par 215 for the tournament, highlighted by his final round, 3-under par 69. Graduate transfer, Alan Smith, led the team in scoring in three of its five fall events.

#RollPoint x #GoHPU

It stretches over 5,000 miles. It weighs over 10 million tons. And it's circling around the Gulf of Mexico and the mid-Atlantic, where the right combination of currents and wind could push it ashore.

If you haven't heard of the great Atlantic sargassum belt, or even if you have, chances are high that you'll see it pop into your news feed at least once this summer. After a decade of record-breaking blooms, 2023's sargassum mass is again shaping up to cause headaches (literally and figuratively) for beachside towns and tourists.

Here's what you need to know.

Sargassum is a type of leafy, rootless and buoyant algae that bunch up in islands and floats around the ocean.

In the open sea, healthy patches of sargassum can soak up carbon dioxide and serve as a critical habitat for fish, crabs, shrimp, turtles and birds.

But if sargassum moves closer to the coast, the seaweed can wreak havoc on local ecosystems, smothering coral reefs and altering the water's pH balance. Once ashore, clumps of sargassum can choke local economies by closing tourism sites, cutting off marinas and constricting fishing yields.

Sargassum begins to rot after about 48 hours on land, releasing irritants like hydrogen sulfide, a hazard to anyone with respiratory issues like asthma. Oh, and the resulting smell resembles manure or rotten eggs — not a great spring break aroma.

It used to be that sargassum rafts were disparate, sporadic bodies, causing little disruption to beach-going.

But scientists noticed a change in sargassum levels in 2011, when masses of the seaweed multiplied, gaining in density and size, becoming so big they were captured on satellite images.

Today, the patches comprise a 5,500-mile-long, 10 million-ton belt that circulates annually, starting near West Africa and snaking through the Gulf of Mexico back into the Atlantic.

More than double the width of the contiguous U.S., the mass fluctuates in size from month to month, with the high point generally landing in the summer.

"The low season of the cycle is now higher than the high point of the cycle five or six years ago," says Brian Barnes, a researcher with the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science.

"What we thought was just a massive bloom has only gotten bigger and bigger and bigger each year," Barnes adds.

The exact drivers of the growth are still a bit "shrouded in mystery," says Brian Lapointe, a research professor with Florida Atlantic University, who's been studying sargassum for over 40 years.

His hypothesis is that it has to do with how humans are altering the nitrogen cycle. We're using more fertilizer, burning biomass, cutting down forests and increasing wastewater from cities, all of which sends ammonium, nitrate and phosphate down major river systems.

Those elevated nutrients then shoot out over the surface of the ocean, acting as a fertilizer for sargassum patches.

"What we've found in studying these plants over the last four decades is that the ratio [of phosphate to nitrogen] is going up, and that's exactly what's happening to all these major river systems," Lapointe said. "It's almost like sargassum is a barometer for how global nitrogen levels are changing."

Cleaning up major rivers from the Mississippi to the Orinoco would be the best step for mitigating excessive sargassum bloom, Lapointe says.

But in the meantime, the blooms continue to get bigger and bigger. Barnes and Lapointe both say that this year is already on track to break records.

The University of South Florida's Optical Oceanography Lab, which tracks the mass using NASA satellite imagery, the latest bloom has already doubled every month from November to January.

And, thanks to ocean currents, the belt is continuing to migrate westward, threatening beaches along the Florida Keys, along with Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and the eastern Caribbean.

An estimated 200 tons of sargassum already began washing up on beaches along the Yucatán Peninsula earlier this month, spurring local authorities to jump into cleanup operations.

Key West, Fla., is also seeing large, early amounts of sargassum piling up, restricting beach access just a month after beaches were closed in other parts of the state duringa toxic microalgae bloom known as the "red tide."

Barnes says the two oceanographic events are totally unrelated, but "they both run on the same principle: You need a seed population, you need fertilizer, you need light and the right temperatures." It's a good year for those elements.

Local officials in Florida and elsewhere sometimes use heavy machinery to clear beaches, but scientists say that can threaten local sea turtle nests and cause shoreline erosion.

Last year's record bloom offered a taste of what could happen without proper planning.

Following last year's record sargassum levels, the U.S. Virgin Islands declared a state of emergency and requested assistance from FEMA to handle the masses.

A desalination plant on St. Croix became so clogged with seaweed that local electrical-generating capacities were threatened.

In Barbados, local governments employed 1,600 dump trucks daily during the peak season to clean the beaches for tourists, LaPointe told NPR.

And desperate officials in the Cayman Islands tried a pilot program to pump the seaweed directly out of the water, but swiftly suspended the efforts after realizing how difficult it is to decompose the material, the Associated Press reported.

As evidence that necessity is breeding invention, private companies, too, have experimented with using sargassum as food, fertilizer, biofuel, construction material and medicinal products.

But Lapointe cautions that keeping the biomass at bay might be the safest long-term option.

The field of study is young, but "we're finding [sargassum] can contain heavy metals, including arsenic. It has fairly high concentrations of the toxin," he said. "There's a concern that, through leaching, that could impact groundwater."

In 2018, doctors on the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique also reported more than 11,000 cases of "acute sargassum toxicity" during an eight-month period of intense beach buildup, Reuters reported.

The hassle and danger of living with sargassum yields is only complicated by how tricky it is to predict where the patches will wash ashore. Bloom sizes vary based on wind, river flooding, droughts and temperature.

But once the seaweed is grown, patches "aggregate where the currents push them," Barnes says. "We can see it out there in the open ocean and we can track movements offshore with accuracy. [...] But once you start getting into the scale of an individual beach, it becomes much more difficult."

Barnes is hoping his team can get better at predicting sargassum beaching with precision, in large part because he doesn't see this excessive bloom cycle "winding down anytime soon."

"It's only getting bigger and bigger and bigger each year," he said.

Lapointe agreed, framing it another way: "I remember seeing The Blob as a movie when I was a kid and it scared the you-know-what out of me. [...] This blob of seaweed is scarier. It's the real deal."

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Michigan State basketball has reached out to a couple of transfers already, the latest being High Point’s Zack Austin.

How do you make an athletic roster even more athletic? You hit the transfer portal. Michigan State basketball may be doing just that this offseason, barring some attrition.

Earlier this week, Tom Izzo reached out to Butler transfer, and leading scorer, Jayden Thomas and now he’s putting his feelers out there for another top player on the market.

According to Jake Weingarten, Michigan State is one of the latest programs to reach out to High Point’s Zack Austin.

Newest schools here: Michigan State, Alabama, Providence, Florida, UNCC, WCU, UAB, Tulsa, Austin told @Stockrisers. https://t.co/WCTzpxeYfr

— Jake (@jakeweingarten) March 15, 2023

This would be an intriguing addition because he has basically everyone in college basketball pushing to land him. He’s already heard from dozens of schools and his recruitment is going to pick up here soon when some of those teams finish up their March runs.

What kind of player is Michigan State targeting in Austin? A bouncy scorer.

Sophomore Zack Austin is entering the transfer portal. The 6’5 Guard had a great season for High Point averaging 14 PPG,5 RPG,1 SPG,and 2 Blocks a game. Austin was also efficient finishing with a 57% TS. Austin is an elite athlete who dunks everything and he’s a great defender. pic.twitter.com/QcdAjeGVAo

— KJ (@Kjpistons) March 15, 2023

Austin spent two seasons at High Point, averaging 14.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 2.2 blocks as a true freshman while shooting 41 percent from the floor, 32 percent from deep, and 72 percent from the line. He then averaged 14.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, and 1.1 steals with a shooting percentage of 44 percent from the floor, 33 percent from deep, and 79 percent from the line. He can put the ball in the hoop and he’s a willing defender on the wing/forward spot.

He faced Michigan State last season and scored 15 points with eight rebounds and two steals while shooting 5-for-10 from the floor and 3-for-6 from deep.

What stands out is obviously his 2.2 blocks per game over his career at the wing spot and that just goes to show what kind of athlete he is.

Austin stands 6-foot-7 and weighs about 200 pounds and he can get up. If you watched the highlights above, you’ll see he loves to throw down over anyone.

Just imagine a lineup with Coen Carr, Austin, Jaden Akins, and Xavier Booker out there. There wouldn’t be a more athletic group in the nation.

We’ll see how much effort Izzo puts in to recruiting the High Point transfer, but gauging interest is a good start.

This article first appeared on Spartan Shadows and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads:

HIGH POINT, N.C., March 9, 2023 – The latest High Point University Poll finds that nearly a majority of poll respondents (46%) prefer changing to year-round daylight saving time. That would mean a later sunrise and more daylight in the evening.

Only 20% of poll respondents would prefer an earlier sunrise and less daylight in the evening or changing to standard time. About one in five (21%) said they would prefer to keep the current system of switching between standard time and daylight saving time, which is set to begin Sunday, March 12 at 2 a.m.

“Daylight Saving Time was adopted for hypothesized energy savings during World War I,” said Dr. Daniel Hall, economist and dean of the Phillips School of Business. “The energy savings benefits have been difficult to prove and the United States has become less energy-intense per dollar of GDP. Tenuous benefits have diminished while the coordination and switching costs have increased, and national conversations on daylight saving are taking place. For example, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida has reintroduced a bipartisan supported bill that will keep most of the health, safety, leisure, productivity and consumer benefits of daylight saving by making it year-round while removing the coordination and switching costs if it passes nationwide.”

Founding Dean of HPU’s School of Nursing Dr. Racquel Ingram adds that the shift in time for daylight saving can impact the body’s natural cycle.

“Switching between daylight saving time and standard time can impact the body’s circadian rhythm, altering both physical and mental health,” said Ingram. “Specifically, there is an increased risk of sleep pattern disturbance leading to fatigue, depression, heart attacks and other issues. These health concerns are typically more prominent during the first few weeks of the time change. Therefore, advance preparation is highly recommended to adjust physically and mentally.”

NC residents – Daylight Saving Time (March 2023)

Currently in most of the country clocks are set forward by one hour in the spring, called daylight saving time, and are set back by one hour in the fall, to standard time. Which of these do you prefer – change to year-round daylight saving time (later sunrise, more daylight in the evening), change to year-round standard time (earlier sunrise, less daylight in the evening), keep the current system?

Change to year-round daylight saving time – 46%

Change to year-round standard time – 20%

Keep the current system – 21%

Unsure – 13%

The most recent HPU Poll of 1,010 respondents was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Feb. 27 through March 4, as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata. Dynata sent invitations to its panel of N.C. respondents and the SRC collected responses on its Qualtrics platform. The SRC did all data analysis. The online sample is from a panel of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.1 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.2 (based on the weighting). The data is weighed toward population estimates for age, gender, race/ethnicity and education based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls.

Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past surveys can be found at the Survey Research Center website. The materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.

The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative.

You can follow the HPU Poll on Twitter.

Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and associate professor of political science, serves as the director of the HPU Poll, and Brian McDonald is the associate director of the HPU Poll.

Florida Times-Union

Ponte Vedra's Sam Ritchie is the Florida Times-Union's 28th Northeast Florida Athlete of the Week for the 2022-23 high school sports season, covering the week of Feb. 27-March 4.

Ritchie scored a career-high 34 points, including 6 for 6 from 3-point range before halftime, to lead the Sharks to victory in the Florida High School Athletic Association boys basketball Class 6A semifinal.

He placed first in a vote of top performers that included Cheyenne Cruce (Middleburg girls wrestling), Gabrielle Ellis (Clay softball), Billy Girgis (Ridgeview baseball), Brianna Henderson (White flag football), Faith Kennedy (Bishop Snyder beach volleyball), Elisabeth Lewis (Atlantic Coast girls lacrosse), Jayce Paridon (Fleming Island boys wrestling), Keshawn Porter (Westside boys track), Adriah Tongkhuya (Tocoi Creek girls tennis), Matthew Weidle (Fletcher boys lacrosse) and Presley Wolfe (Bolles girls track).

Scoring, rebounds and more: See Northeast Florida's 2022-23 girls basketball stats leaders

First Coast Varsity Weekly: Play ball! Heritage Classic, Walk Off Charities open baseball

Rivalry on the River lacrosse returns to Jacksonville in March: What you need to know

‘It’s a new era’: Ribault unseats Jackson for Gateway Conference title in OT thriller

This week's vote

It's time to vote for Florida Times-Union's Athlete of the Week for the week of March 6-11, 2023.

The Times-Union gathers nominees from scores, stats and nominations e-mailed to the sports desk during the week by coaches across Northeast Florida. Coaches can e-mail these stats and scores to preps@jacksonville.com.

This week's voting begins Monday morning and closes at 10 a.m. Thursday. Votes are restricted to once per device per hour.

To see the poll, click here.

Here are the nominees for March 6-11:

Peyton Bass, West Nassau softball

The senior pitcher earned wins in the Warriors' wins over Fernandina Beach and Trinity Christian, including three doubles and five runs batted in at the plate.

Ryann Frechette, Bartram Trail girls lacrosse

The junior attacker got 14 goals, one assist, five ground balls and three caused turnovers while tallying her 400th career point in the Bears' wins over Creekside and Oviedo.

Mya Griner, Stanton girls tennis

The senior led the Blue Devils from No. 1 singles and doubles to victories against Fletcher and Wolfson.

Maddox Johnson, Ponte Vedra boys lacrosse

The senior scored eight goals in Friday's 16-14 victory over Virginia power St. Stephen's & St. Agnes.

MyKayla Maddox, Fleming Island flag football

The senior passed for 133 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 71 yards and two scores in a 40-0 win over Mandarin, then gained 233 total yards with five touchdowns in a 32-0 win over unbeaten White.

Tyrone Summerall, Trinity Christian boys track

The junior won the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes while leading the Conquerors to a 4x400 relay victory at the Bishop Snyder Mini Meet.

Cooper Whited, Sandalwood baseball

The senior pitcher threw a no-hitter with nine strikeouts in a 2-0 win against Fletcher at 121 Financial Ballpark, and went 4 for 5 at the plate with two doubles in a 16-5 win over First Coast.

Destiny Williams, Palatka girls track

The eighth-grader won the high jump and triple jump at the Raider Invitational.