South African Swimmer Heyns Breaks 100 Breaststroke Mark

South African Penny Heyns broke the women’s 100-meter breaststroke world record Monday in Durban, South Africa with a time of 1:07.46 during heats at her national championships.

Heyns, who swims for the University of Nebraska, shaved 23 one-hundredths of a second off the previous 50-meter pool record, set by Australian Samantha Riley at the 1994 world championships in Rome.

The 21-year-old Heyns, who set the record during the final qualifying heat, predicted she could go even faster.

“Now it’s my record and I know if I try hard I can break it again, because I don’t feel I’ve done my best yet.”

Football

Middle linebacker Robert Jones agreed to a five-year, $10-million contract with the St. Louis Rams, becoming the fourth Dallas Cowboy defensive starter in the past two weeks to jump to another club. The contract includes a $3-million signing bonus. Jones’ departure leaves restricted free agent Darrin Smith as the lone returning starter at linebacker for the Cowboys.

The Chicago Bears signed wide receiver Curtis Conway to a four-year, $10-million contract, making him the third team member to receive a contract this year worth more than $2 million per season.

Safety Kevin Ross returned to the AFC West when he agreed to a two-year, $1.8-million contract with the San Diego Chargers. The 12-year veteran, who played previously for the Chiefs and most recently with the Falcons, will replace Bo Orlando at free safety. Orlando, a six-year veteran, is expected to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Milt Woodard, a former sportswriter who later became president of the American Football League, died in San Jose. He was 84.

Jurisprudence

Three basketball recruits at Arizona State--Tommie Prince, Rico Harris and George Gervin, all 18--were arrested in the alleged sexual and physical assault of a female student and another woman. Campus police said both victims allegedly were threatened with a gun, one said she had been raped and the other was “physically mishandled” in the dormitory room of one of the three athletes. Gervin is the son of NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin.

Former Nebraska football player Christian Peter was cited for third-degree assault after he allegedly grabbed a female by the neck in Kearney, Neb. No formal charges were filed.

Prosecutors dropped drug charges against Grambling guard Denise Goins and she will play for the Tigers in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament.

Tennis

Gilbert Schaller, an Austrian ranked 19th in the world, made an opening-round exit from his third consecutive tournament, losing, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), to Patrick McEnroe in the Franklin Templeton Classic at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Top seed Wayne Ferreira advanced with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, while UCLA student Justin Gimelstob, a wild-card entrant ranked No. 436, beat Karol Kucera of England, 6-4, 6-2.

Boris Becker and Michael Stich withdrew from the ABN AMRO tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Becker, who withdrew from the tournament for the fourth year in a row, sent a fax to say he was in bed because of a virus. Stich will be sidelined for two-to-three weeks after injuring his left ankle in a locker-room incident during last week’s Milan tournament.

Miscellany

The California State Games, the largest athletic competition for children in the state, will be played in Orange County this year.

The seventh annual event, featuring 20 sports, will take place Aug. 8-12 in 13 cities throughout the county. Event organizers expect participation from more than 5,500 athletes.

Rick Swenson, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race’s only five-time winner, could be out of this year’s race less than a day after it began under the race’s new “dead dog rule.” A 3-year-old female on Swenson’s sled died and the new rule would disqualify any Iditarod musher who loses an animal during the course of the race.

Olympics

The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, known as “Dream Team III”, will begin its Gold Medal quest on July 20 against Argentina. The men will also play preliminary round games against Angola on July 22, Lithuania on July 24, China on July 26 and Croatia on July 28. All of the USA’s games will be at the Georgia Dome.

The Olympic beach volleyball field trials will be in Baltimore at the Harborview Complex from June 5-9.

University of Georgia breaststroke swimmer Matt Buck withdrew from the upcoming Olympic trials after discovering that Prednisone, an asthma medication he took last week, is a banned substance, considered a performance enhancer by the IOC.

Names in the News

Olympic wrestler Bruce Baumgartner, a finalist for the fifth time, won the Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete of 1995. Baumgartner, 35, won gold medals at the World Freestyle Wrestling Championships, the Pan American Games, the U.S. National Championships and the World Team Trials during the 1995 season.

NASCAR fined John Andretti $2,000 for ramming the back of another car Sunday after the Pontiac 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Bill Mott, the trainer of Cigar, says he’s optimistic the 1995 horse of the year, recovering from injury, will run in the $4-million Dubai World Cup on March 27.

Following a nine-month search, American University in Washington named Cal State-Sacramento Athletic Director Lee McElroy Jr. as its new director of athletics, effective May 1.