Boldon Runs 9.89 in 100 Meters

Former UCLA sprinter Ato Boldon, who won two bronze medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, became the sixth man to break 9.90 seconds in the 100 meters with a time of 9.89 Saturday at the Modesto Relays.

Boldon’s time is only five hundredths of a second off the world record set by Donovan Bailey at the Atlanta Games.

“Not bad at all, when you set a personal record in your first meet,” said Boldon, who was running his first outdoor 100 of the year and first since hurting his back at the indoor world championships in Paris in March. “Last year, I had a couple of goals I didn’t accomplish.”

Bailey, Leroy Burrell, Carl Lewis, Frankie Fredericks and Linford Christie are the only other runners to run faster than 9.90. Burrell and Fredericks have done it twice. Boldon’s 9.89 tied Fredericks’ silver medal-winning mark at Atlanta for the seventh-fastest ever.

In the women’s pole vault, Stacy Dragila broke her American record for the fifth time by clearing 14 feet 1 1/4 inches. She missed three attempts at 15 feet, which would have broken the world record.

Motor Racing

Mark Martin held off Dale Earnhardt and recorded the fastest race in NASCAR history at 188.354 mph at the Winston 500 at Talladega, Ala.

Martin got his second consecutive victory--and second Winston 500 in three years--by holding off Earnhardt by .146 seconds.

They were followed by Bobby Labonte, John Andretti and Jeff Gordon, who were involved in an exciting five-car dash to the finish over the final nine laps.

Martin outlasted them all in the Winston Cup circuit’s first caution-free race since Oct. 15, 1992. It came one week after his win at Sonoma on a road course and helped reestablish Martin’s reputation as one of the circuit’s most talented and versatile drivers.

“This means that last week wasn’t a fluke,” Martin said. “It had been a long, long time since I’d won one and there were times we didn’t think we’d win another one. I don’t know if I’ll win another one now, but the car sure is running great.”

Heinz-Harald Frentzen toured the famed 2.093-mile Monaco street circuit in 1 minute 18.216 seconds, averaging 96.286 mph to gain pole position for today’s Monaco Grand Prix. Two-time series champion Michael Schumacher turned the second-fastest lap and will occupy the outside of the front row.

Brazilian Mauricio Gugelmin thrilled a partisan crowd by winning the first pole of his Indy-car career in qualifying for today’s Rio 400 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Warren Johnson took the NHRA Winston Pro Stock point lead by defeating his son, Kurt Johnson, in the final of the Pennzoil Nationals at Dinwiddie, Va. Other winners were Gary Scelzi in Top Fuel, Chuck Etchells in Funny Car and Matt Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Rich Bickle won his second consecutive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race by defeating Jack Sprague in the $312,000, caution-extended NAPACARD 200 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash.

Tennis

Mary Pierce defeated Barbara Paulus, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, to reach today’s final of the Italian Open in Rome.

“I started off just really slowly today. I felt tired and didn’t really get into the match at first,” said Pierce, who upset top-seeded Monica Seles in the third round.

Pierce will play four-time defending champion Conchita Martinez, who defeated Patty Schnyder in the semifinals.

Andrei Medvedev routed Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Felix Mantilla outlasted Tommy Haas to reach the final of the $2.3-million German Open in Hamburg.

Medvedev won the German Open in 1994 and 1995 and if he wins today he would join Eddie Dibbs as the only three-time champion in the open era. Dibbs won in 1973, 1974 and 1976.

Jonas Bjorkman, going three sets for the first time in the tournament, beat Steve Campbell, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, to move into the final of the Red Clay Championship at Coral Springs, Fla.

The top-seeded Bjorkman will face defending champion Jason Stoltenberg of Australia, who breezed past unseeded Johan Van Herck of Belgium, 6-3, 6-3.

Baseball

Calling small-market owners “semi-fools,” former commissioner Peter Ueberroth says the sport won’t recover from the 1994-95 strike until it gets a new leader.

Ueberroth, speaking on an edition of HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” that will air Monday, said the current leadership of Milwaukee owner Bud Selig and the 10-man executive council can’t succeed.

“When they get together, that’s a group that can’t organize anything,” Ueberroth said.

Troy Glaus set a school-record by hitting his 30th home run to help UCLA defeat Stanford, 13-8, in game two of a three-game series. The victory means today’s 1 p.m. game at Jackie Robinson Stadium will decide the Pac-10 Southern Division championship.

Pro Football

Barry Sanders is close to signing a contract for at least $5.3 million a season with the Detroit Lions, which would make him the NFL’s highest-paid running back, according to The Oakland Press.

Boxing

William Joppy retained his World Boxing Assn. middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Brazil’s Peter Venancio at Miami.

Also, Gussie Nazarov stopped Leavander Johnson in the seventh round to defend his WBA junior-lightweight title and Antonio Cermeno won a unanimous decision over Angel Chacon to defend his WBA junior-featherweight title.

Jurisprudence

Former Indianapolis Colt quarterback Art Schlichter faces 10 months in an Indiana prison and the prospect of additional time behind bars when he is sentenced later this month on another offense. Schlichter was sentenced for violating probation he received for a federal bank fraud conviction for writing $175,000 in bad checks to Las Vegas casinos.

Schlichter also faces eight to 16 years when he is sentenced May 28 after pleading guilty to taking $365,880 from Indiana residents and businesses.

Miscellany

The United States built a 7-3 lead midway through the third quarter, then held on for a 7-6 victory over Greece to advance to today’s championship game against Yugoslavia in the Newport Beach Invitational water polo tournament.

Walter Ray Williams Jr. beat top-seeded Amleto Monacelli, 237-184, to win the Brunswick Johnny Petraglia Open at North Brunswick, N.J. . . . Former University of Washington quarterback Shane Fortney will play next season at Northern Iowa.