JurisprudenceJose Mesa, the Indians’ relief pitcher who...

Jurisprudence

Jose Mesa, the Indians’ relief pitcher who set a record with 46 saves in 48 chances in 1995, was indicted on a charge of raping a 26-year-old woman he met at a Cleveland nightclub.

Mesa, 30, also was indicted on two counts of gross sexual imposition, one count of felonious assault and one count each of theft and carrying a concealed weapon related to a complaint by two women Dec. 22, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Stephanie Tubbs Jones said.

The county grand jury also indicted Mesa’s friend, David F. Blanco, 34, of Solon, Ohio.

Mesa and Blanco were arrested Dec. 27 on charges of fondling two women. The additional charges were lodged after a grand jury probe.

UCLA running back Skip Hicks, who scored a school-record 20 touchdowns in 1996, has been charged with joyriding and driving without a valid license in connection with a Nov. 12 incident in Westwood in which a man claims Hicks--whom he identified from a picture in a Bruin media guide--took keys from a valet box and drove away with the car, which was found two blocks away.

His attorney, Ron Poole in Wichita Falls, Texas, said Hicks was innocent and speculated that he was the victim of mistaken identity. He said that Hicks has his own vehicle--a 1993 pickup truck--at UCLA and a valid Texas driver’s license.

Nina Shahravan, 23, charged with filing a false police report implicating two Dallas Cowboys, turned herself in at the Dallas County jail Thursday and posted $500 bond on a misdemeanor charge of perjury.

Southland Report

Quarterback Dylan Aquino and linebacker Rosco Zamano, both freshmen at UCLA, will no longer play football because of medical conditions.

Aquino has a congenital brain formation problem, and Zamano has a dislocated knee suffered in a September game at Michigan.

Both will retain scholarships to continue academic work.

Eighteen UCLA volleyball alumni, including 1996 Olympians Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel, are scheduled to appear at the annual UCLA alumni match Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Wooden Center.

The first Los Angeles Women in Sports Awards will be presented to an outstanding female athlete, sports journalist and coach at a ceremony before the Laker-Clipper game at the Sports Arena on Feb. 4.

The deadline for nominations for the awards is today, and they should be faxed to the L.A. Sports and Entertainment Commission at (213) 624-9746.

The Orange County coroner has ruled that severe head and neck trauma killed a 17-year-old high school football quarterback in a September game against Costa Mesa High.

Adrian Taufaasau, who played for Coronado High, never regained consciousness after being tackled by Costa Mesa players Sept. 20 at Newport Harbor High.

The nearly four-month investigation ended speculation that Taufaasau died of a preexisting heart condition or seizures.

Miscellany

The Arizona Diamondbacks were put in the National League and Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the American League during a nine-hour meeting of owners in Scottsdale, Ariz., that may prompt an eventual baseball realignment.

Michael Johnson and Canadian Donovan Bailey will race in a special 150-meter event at SkyDome in Toronto on May 31. Johnson, the first man to sweep the Olympic 200 and 400 meters, has won the Jesse Owens International Award Trophy for the second year in a row.

Jackie Stiles, a high school senior in Claflin, Mo., and one of the top women’s basketball players in the nation, will be allowed to play for Southwest Missouri State after the NCAA ruled that a person who had placed a newspaper advertisement urging her to go to the school was not associated with its women’s program.

Austrian Ludwig Gredler, making up for a two-minute penalty for errors in shooting, won the 20-kilometer cross-country skiing event of the men’s World Cup biathlon competition in Anterselva, Italy.

Paul Tanner, a Texas businessman with plans to build a 110,000-seat, $750-million domed stadium in Las Vegas, told civic leaders there that he is negotiating to bring in six to eight college football and basketball games annually and will offer “more than 125 events.”

Nebraska placed in the top 10 in four fall sports and took the lead in the race for the Division I Sears Directors’ Cup, presented annually to the top college athletic program.

Officials of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City said they expect to produce a record $800 million in commercial sponsorship.