Street Escapes Major Injury in Super-G Fall

Downhill champion Picabo Street threw a scare into spectators but escaped serious injury Thursday when she fell at high speed while trying to match the winning time of Katja Seizinger in the women’s super-giant slalom race at the World Cup finals in Bormio, Italy.

Street, of Sun Valley, Ida., the first American woman to win the World Cup downhill title, suffered only a bruised right shoulder.

Seizinger won the race by beating Austrian Renate Goetschl by 0.20 seconds and clinched the women’s super-G title. She also moved atop the overall women’s standings when Vreni Schneider skied off the course.

In the men’s super-G, Italy’s Peter Runggaldier won the season title after finishing second, 0.42 seconds behind the 1:37.37 of Richard Kroell of Austria.

Golf

In a tournament expected to be a shootout among golf’s foreign stars, Texan Mark Brooks opened up a two-shot lead over mostly Americans in the first round of the Nestle Invitational at Orlando, Fla.

Brooks shot a seven-under-par 65 on the surprisingly docile Bay Hill Club course that left the vast majority of the game’s leading lights well back.

Steve Stricker, Rick Fehr, Billy Andrade and Jesper Parnevik of Sweden, whose greatest claim to fame was his unsuccessful run at the British Open last year, shared second at 67.

Mark McNulty of Zimbabwe scored two eagles in a 68 that put him in a tie with John Daly, Fuzzy Zoeller, defending champion Loren Roberts, Jim Carter and Fred Couples, making his first start after missing two tournaments with a bad back.

Defending champion Laura Davies and Beth Daniel are among six players tied for the lead after one round of the LPGA’s Standard Register-Ping tournament in Phoenix.

Wendy Ward, an Arizona State senior who won the U.S. Women’s Amateur title last August, and pros Carolyn Hill, Lauri Merten and Tina Barrett also shot four-under-par 69 in the $700,000 event.

Jurisprudence

In his closing argument, prosecutor John Rayburn told a Santa Ana federal court jury that Ram cornerback Darryl Henley used fame and fortune as an alleged financier of a cocaine trafficking ring.

Defense attorneys who started their closing arguments said the government has failed to prove there was a drug conspiracy.

Football

Dallas, Arizona and the New York Giants got the maximum of four compensatory picks in next month’s draft for their losses during last year’s free-agent signing period. A total of 27 extra picks were awarded, all between the third and seventh rounds.

Dave Widell, a seven-year offensive lineman with the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos, has signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The deal is reported to be three years for $2.7 million.

Miscellany

David Fox and Lauren Thies won their second national titles of the Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships when pool records were set in four of six races at Minneapolis.

Fox, of Raleigh, N.C., won the men’s 200-meter freestyle in 1:51.88; Thies, of Portland, Ore., won the women’s 200 freestyle in 2:01.15. Both won their first titles in the 100 freestyle Wednesday.

Jennifer Parmenter of Granada Hills, who celebrated her 14th birthday Monday, turned in the ninth fastest time in U.S. history in the women’s 400-meter individual medley at 4:46.36, a pool record.

Goalkeepers Bruce Grobbelaar and Hans Segers will probably play in this weekend’s Premier League soccer matches in England after being cleared to rejoin their teams by the English Football Assn. after questioning about match-fixing allegations.

Tim Middleton beat Andrei Cherkasov of Russia, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, for his second upset in the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.

The NCAA put Morgan State on probation for three years and banned the school from postseason play for one year for allowing ineligible players to practice and compete in eight sports.

Names in the News

Mark (Stormy) Eaton, a 45-year-old former gymnast who became a nationally known gymnastics coach, was killed when a small plane in which he was a passenger crashed in Winslow, Ariz.