Koznick Enjoys Her Night in World Cup Spotlight

Kristina Koznick, who grew up skiing at night in Minnesota, won a slalom in Are, Sweden, on Thursday for the first World Cup victory of her career and the first win this season for the United States.

She had two second-place finishes earlier this season. This time, she held off Hilde Gerg of Germany to win by 0.31 seconds.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Koznick said. “In this race I knew how to handle it.”

Koznick of Burnsville, Minn., felt at home racing on the illuminated Gastrappet course.

“This is how I grew up skiing,” she said. “I skied a little hill called Buck Hill and we skied from 7 until 9 o’clock at night under the lights. But the lights here are much better.”

Koznick, second behind Gerg after the opening run, had a two-run total of 1 minute 29.46 seconds in the last women’s gate race before the Nagano Olympics.

Koznick became the first American slalom winner on the tour since 1992, when Julie Parisien prevailed at Park City, Utah.

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Jennifer Botterill and Kathy McCormack scored second-period goals as Canada defeated the United States, 4-2, at Colorado Springs, Colo., Wednesday night to take the pre-Olympic women’s hockey series, 7-6.

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A snowstorm that dumped more than a foot of snow on Mammoth Mountain forced officials to reschedule the final Olympic halfpipe qualifying event.

The adjusted schedule calls for halfpipe today with giant slalom Saturday. The first Olympic snowboard team will be announced Saturday night.

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Two skiers left off the U.S. Olympic freestyle team asked an arbitrator to hear their appeal to be added to the squad.

Stacey Blumer, seven-time U.S. champion and defending overall World Cup champion, filed the appeal for herself and moguls skier Jim Moran.

Baseball

The Cleveland Indians signed designated hitter Geronimo Berroa to a $2.2-million, one-year contract. Berroa, 32, hit .283 with 26 homers and 90 RBIs last season with Oakland and Baltimore.

Dennis Martinez, 42, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since Seattle released him last May, agreed to a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves. . . . The Baltimore Orioles agreed to a minor league contract with longtime Chicago White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen. . . . Outfielder Pete Incaviglia, already invited to spring training by Detroit, agreed to a minor league contract with the Tigers.

A San Diego task force is recommending a downtown site for a new Padre ballpark, a warehouse district a few blocks from San Diego Bay.

The plan now goes to Mayor Susan Golding, who along with the city council and the Padres must negotiate how to pay for the ballpark, estimated to cost between $200 million and $240 million.

Miscellany

Former World Boxing Council light-heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr., bored and in search of a challenge, has found one. Jones will move up to the heavyweight division on May 2 when he takes on former undisputed heavyweight champion Buster Douglas in Atlantic City, N.J.

Jones, 29, is eight years younger than Douglas. Douglas weighed 235 pounds for his last fight, last July. Jones weighed 175 in August when he last fought.

Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, who set world records in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters last year, was named the winner of the 1998 Jesse Owens International Trophy Award.

Antwoine Womack, a freshman football player at Virginia, was convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery against a female student and given a 30-day suspended jail sentence at Charlottesville, Va.

Frenchman Yannick Dalmas broke the Daytona International Speedway qualifying record to take the pole for this weekend’s Rolex 24-Hours of Daytona.

Dalmas took his Team Scandia Ferrari 333 SP around the 3.56-mile road circuit in 1 minute 39.195 seconds, averaging 129.20 mph.

Mike Saffer, a 6-foot-6, 295-pound offensive lineman from Tucson Sabino High, has committed to UCLA. He was a Parade magazine All-American.

Scott Howard-Cooper, who covers the Lakers for The Times, was awarded first place in game story writing by the Professional Basketball Writers Assn. of America for his account of the John Stockton-led Utah Jazz victory over the Chicago Bulls in Game 4 of last season’s NBA finals.