Ely, Baez Lead The Way For Tennessee

A lot of wide receivers know what to say when they get asked about the dirty work that is usually an afterthought for a glamor position. Of course, blocking is important. Yeah, we take pride in it. A big block can be as consequential as catching a touchdown. Josh Reynolds? The glint in his eye when the subject comes up during organized team activities gives away two things simultaneously: First, this isn’t just lip service.

Hey, if it worked for Uga XI, it’ll fly for Ralphie VI, right? Fun fact: The Georgia Bulldogs started a redshirt freshman, Earnest Greene III, at left tackle last fall. So Geoff Schwartz will concede that Jordan Seaton might be ready to kick tails and flip pancakes for the CU Buffs only a half-year or so removed from the prep ranks.

OMAHA, Neb. — Tennessee, the Southeastern Conference regular-season and conference tournament champion and the consensus No. 1 team in the country for a month, on Monday was awarded the top national seed for the NCAA Tournament. The 64-team tournament opens Friday with 16 double-elimination regionals. Winners advance to eight best-of-three super regionals.

A sore arm has detoured a career run for Austin Gomber. The Rockies’ left-hander was scratched from his Monday afternoon start against Cleveland at Coors Field. Right-hander Anthony Molina, a Rule-5 draft pickup, was called on to fill in for Gomber. The preliminary plan calls for Gomber to skip Monday’s start and pitch this weekend against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. “I felt really good after my last start in Oakland, but then we flew back here and there was a little bit of swelling and inflammation near the back of my triceps where it meets the elbow,” said Gomber, adding that his arm was at about 85%.

Two years ago, Aidan Reed ran the Bolder Boulder for the first time but chose to take it easy and jog throughout the 10K race. On Monday, he came to win. The Helena, Mont., native who has lived in Boulder for nearly three years won the men’s citizen’s race at the 44th Bolder Boulder.

Molly Grabill wasn’t too thrilled with how she’s been running lately. Monday was a different story. At the 44th Bolder Boulder, the Superior resident and San Diego native won the women’s citizen’s race for the second consecutive year. A former six-time All-American at Oregon, Grabill, 31, is the first repeat champion — men or women — since Lilly Guerra won the women’s races in 2002-03. Grabill said she came in with the intent to win, but added, “I mean, there was Laura (Thweatt) and Gwen (Jorgensen) in the race and I’ve just kind of been in a little bit of a slump since the (U.