Penn senior
Jesse Carlin
advanced to the semifinals of the women's 800 meters at the NCAA track and field championships yesterday in Des Moines, Iowa, running a time of 2 minutes, 7.42 seconds in her first-round heat. Her time was 10th-fastest overall.
Three Villanova runners advanced to the finals of their distance races. Senior
Bobby Curtis
posted the fastest time, 14:10.24, in the men's 5,000-meter heats and junior
Frances Koons
ran the second-fastest time, 17:23.33, in her heat of the women's 5,000. Senior
Liz Haglund
grabbed the last berth for the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase final, finishing in 10:25.48.
Senior
Arusha McKenzie
of Villanova, who was clocked in 2:08.96, did not get past the first round. LSU sophomore
LaTavia Thomas,
a West Catholic High graduate, moved into the semifinals in 2:08.51.
Villanova senior
Marco Radocaj
threw 205 feet, 3 inches in the javelin, but did not advance to the final. Junior
Max Westman
of Penn was in 22d place with 3,466 points after the first day of the decathlon.
Nicole Leach
of UCLA (a West Catholic grad) ran the fastest qualifying time in the women's 400-meter hurdles, 56.75. Auburn's
Reuben McCoy
(Winslow Township) clocked 49.99 in the men's 400-meter hurdles to rank second overall. LSU's
Juanita Broaddus
(William Penn) advanced in the women's 100.
The Big East will start conference competition in men's lacrosse in the spring of 2010. The teams will include Villanova, NCAA champion Syracuse, Providence, Rutgers, St. John's, Notre Dame and Georgetown.
Elsewhere:
Former West Virginia football coach
Don Nehlen
was recuperating a day after having triple heart-bypass surgery.
Vancouver Canucks forward
Trevor Linden
retired from the NHL 20 years to the day after he was chosen second overall behind Dallas'
Mike Modano
in the 1988 draft.
Dallas Stars defenseman
Mattias Norstrom
also retired, ending a 14-year career.
Mike Babcock
signed a three-year deal worth about $4.5 million to remain coach of the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.
Babcock's former assistant,
Todd McLellan
, was named the San Jose Sharks' head coach, replacing the fired
Ron Wilson.
Elsewhere:
Minnesota defenseman
Erik Reitz
signed a one-year contract. . . . New York Rangers defenseman
Michal Rozsival
, who can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, had surgery to repair a tear in his left hip. . . . The Carolina Hurricanes signed goalie
Michael Leighton
to a two-year, $1.2 million deal.
NASCAR chairman
Brian France
denied that a former official complained to her supervisors about racial and sexual discrimination, claims that she said led to her eventual firing.
Mauricia Grant
filed a $225 million suit against NASCAR on Tuesday, alleging racial discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliatory termination. Grant, who is black, worked as a technical inspector for NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series.
Big Brown's
trainer is scheduled to testify next week at a congressional hearing examining safety issues in thoroughbred racing.
Rick Dutrow
was on the witness list released for the June 19 hearing by the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.