Slaney Threatens Suit and Gives Ultimatum

Mary Slaney, cleared by USA Track and Field last week after having been suspended for having excessive testosterone in her system at the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials, said Tuesday she is giving the organization a month to change its drug-testing procedures and reimburse her for her lost season or she’ll sue.

“I think we’ll give them a month,” Slaney said in her first public comment since she was cleared. “After that, if I have to, I’ll go into litigation and I’ll take no prisoners.”

Slaney, 39, is also trying to learn who leaked the result of her drug test to the news media, which she says led to her suspension by the International Amateur Athletic Federation without a hearing.

“This is the most horrible experience I’ve ever been through,” she said.

USA Track and Field spokesman Pete Cava declined comment.

Pro Basketball

Orlando Magic forward Dennis Scott said he’ll skip training camp next month because of disparaging comments by team management, who ordered him to cancel a second party after two people were shot at a birthday party he threw for himself in suburban Washington.

“They keep threatening me, so I’m threatening back,” said Scott, in the final year of a three-year contract worth an estimated $3 million this season.

Scott said he expects to be traded to the Dallas Mavericks or the Portland Trail Blazers.

Detroit Piston forward Grant Hill signed an $80-million, seven-year endorsement contract with Fila, an athletic-wear company.

Iowa State center Kelvin Cato the 15th pick in the NBA draft, signed a three-year contract with the Trail Blazers. Portland also signed free-agent guard John Crotty, who played in Italy last season before joining the Miami Heat.

College Basketball

The Southeast Missouri State men’s program will be the subject of an “official inquiry” by the NCAA. University president Dale Nitzschke said the NCAA has already found potentially major problems involving former coach Ron Shumate and his staff. Shumate was fired in May after 16 seasons.

Philip Von Backstrom, a 7-foot-2 junior center from Western Nebraska Community College, has left USC’s basketball program and returned to Nebraska. Von Backstrom, a 7-foot-2, 245-pound center, was the only player on USC’s roster over 6-9 but was expected to redshirt.

Tennis

Greg Rusedski of England, who reached the U.S. Open final, beat Todd Woodbridge of Australia in the first round of the Grand Slam Cup at Munich, Germany, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.

French Open champion Iva Majoli of Croatia defeated Barbara Schett of Austria, 6-4, 6-2, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Leipzig Grand Prix.

Katrina Nimmers, 17, a longtime friend of Venus Williams who developed her game in South Central Los Angeles, was beaten by veteran Elizabeth Cameron, 7-5, 6-2, in her professional debut. The match in San Jose was a qualifier for a tournament in nearby Santa Clara next week.

Horse Racing

Woody Stephens, 84, the Hall of Fame trainer whose horses won five consecutive Belmont Stakes, has retired after 67 years.

Moon Lark, a quarter horse that won the world’s first million-dollar horse race at the 1978 All American Futurity, has died at 21.

Miscellany

British fighter pilot Andy Green became the first person to drive a car over 700 mph but he doesn’t own the land speed record because he was unable to make a second run. Green pushed Richard Noble’s jet-powered Thrust SSC to 719.137 mph across the Black Rock Desert 125 miles north of Reno, but overshot the end of the 13-mile course by 1.4 miles miles because the dual parachutes that slow the car failed.

On the other side of the desert, Craig Breedlove, hasn’t run since a 381-mph outing Sunday because of mechanical problems.

Two-time winner O. Gordon Brewer of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., defeated Canadian champion Patrick Suraj, 1-up, to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Senior Amateur at Bridgehampton, N.Y.

Forward Joe-Max Moore has been added to the U.S. national soccer team’s roster for its World Cup qualifying game with Jamaica on Oct. 3. Defender Martin Vasquez was cut. . . . Heart problems, not injuries sustained in the ring, caused the death of a 25-year-old kick boxer who collapsed in competition at Sugar Grove, Ill., Saturday.