National Merit Semifinalists named: Baylor's Manning top scorer in state.

Byline: Susan Pierce

Sep. 16--The National Merit Scholarship Corp. recognized the academic excellence of 37 area high school seniors this week by naming them semifinalists in its National Merit Scholarship program.

Twenty-nine Chattanooga private-school students qualified along with one from Cleveland High School and seven from North Georgia schools, according to the NMSC.

Locally, Baylor School had 11 students qualify, although one of them, Robert Alex Copeland, is now a student at Darlington School in Rome, Ga. Darlington also had two other students named semifinalists. Baylor's Rick Manning claimed the double distinction of being named a …