New York Met outfielder Kevin McReynolds failed...

New York Met outfielder Kevin McReynolds failed to report for jury duty in a murder trial in Little Rock, Ark., on Wednesday, and a judge ordered deputies to find him.

Television station KARK said Wednesday night McReynolds reportedly was duck hunting.

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The Mets acquired 30-year-old right-handed reliever Doug Henry from the Milwaukee Brewers for two players to be named.

Hockey

Negotiators for the NHL and its players’ union will meet today in Chicago, where the union is expected to respond to owners’ proposals on a rookie salary cap, free agency and salary arbitration. Those issues must be resolved before they revive discussions about a payroll tax, which owners proposed as a way to slow salary escalation. Players, who say they have already made major concessions, oppose the tax. The meetings are expected to continue Friday and perhaps into the weekend.

In a move that will keep International Hockey League teams from signing more locked-out NHL players, IHL Commissioner Bob Ufer instituted a temporary ban on signing players not already on teams’ 23-man rosters.

College Football

Penn State offensive coordinator Fran Ganter interviewed for the Michigan State coaching job and university President Peter McPherson reportedly is ready to offer Ganter the job.

Ganter, 45, has been on the Nittany Lions’ staff for 24 years. Penn State set Big Ten records this year with 71 touchdowns, 526 points and a 47.8-point scoring average.

Senior All-American offensive tackle Tony Boselli was named USC’s most valuable player at the team’s awards banquet.

A barroom brawl involving as many as eight Tennessee football players that left a pub “looking like a disaster area” is being investigated by both police and Coach Phillip Fulmer. . . . Mississippi is challenging sanctions levied by the NCAA, especially a reduction in scholarships over the next two years from 25 to 13. . . . All the offensive coaches at Georgia Tech were fired by new Coach George O’Leary.

College Basketball

Further tests have revealed that the stress fracture suffered by UCLA freshman forward Kris Johnson will sideline him for a minimum of four weeks, team physician Gerald Finerman said.

Johnson’s left leg will be protected with a walking boot, and he will be able to participate in non-contact conditioning work while he recuperates, Finerman said.

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee said it wouldn’t try to withhold tournament credentials from newspapers that publish daily betting lines on college games as it had been considering.

Swimming

The Chinese national Olympic committee said it was “shocked and upset” to learn that 11 athletes, including a reported seven swimmers, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs at the Asian Games in October.

Germany’s swimming federation announced that it will boycott the World Cup in Beijing Jan. 7-8 and other events in China to protest the country’s doping record.

Miscellany

Prize money for the Nissan/Los Angeles Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades has been increased to $1.2 million with a $216,000 first prize. The golf tournament will be played Feb. 23-26.

Warm weather and lack of snow in Italy caused postponement of a men’s World Cup downhill skiing event next week in ValGardena and jeopardized the giant slalom at Val Badia on Dec. 11 and a slalom at Madonna di Campiglio on Dec. 13.

Names in the News

The German track and field federation suspended long distance runner Martin Bremer for using the performance-enhancing hormone testosterone.

Lothar Matthaeus, captain of the German national soccer team, was fined $16,000 and banned for one game for insulting a referee in a Bundesliga game.

Bill Toomey, who won the gold medal in the 1968 Olympic decathlon, will be the featured speaker Friday at a U.S.A. Volleyball fund-raiser in La Jolla. For information: (619) 625-8200.