Whitfield Makes Rodeo History With All-Around Title

Fred Whitfield became the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Assn.’s first African American all-around champion at the National Finals Rodeo on Sunday at Las Vegas.

“It’s a great accomplishment to win in a predominantly white association,” Whitfield said. “There are tons of black cowboys out there, but none have really had the chance to be in the position a Fred Whitfield is in.”

Whitfield, of Hockley, Texas, also won his fourth calf-roping title. He had a 9.8-second run to finish out of the money in the final round, but it was enough to win the average bonus of $33,105 and jump from third to first in the standings with $191,727 in season earnings.

Whitfield is one of only 12 African American cowboys to have qualified for the National Finals Rodeo since its inception in 1959. The only other to win an event was bull rider Charles Sampson in 1982.

Whitfield had a season total of $217,818 in calf roping, steer roping and team roping. He only qualified for the nationals in calf roping.

Whitfield entered the final day behind Cody Ohl of Orchard, Texas, in the all-around, and behind Blair Burk of Durant, Okla., and Ohl in calf roping.

College Football

Wyoming Coach Dana Dimel has been hired by Houston to replace Kim Helton, fired last month with two years left on his contract.

Dimel, 37, was 23-12 in three seasons at Wyoming, including 7-4 this season. The former Kansas State lineman joined the Cowboys in 1996 after eight seasons as an assistant at his alma mater.

America’s Cup

America True’s crew chose not to race in bad weather, and that was bad news for the New York Yacht Club’s Young America in the America’s Cup challenger series off Auckland, New Zealand.

With America True out, all Le Defi Francais will need to do is sail the course alone Tuesday to collect nine points for a victory and qualify for the semifinals ahead of Young America. Bad weather postponed today’s races.

Soccer

Long a doormat in Mexican soccer, Pachuca advanced to the finals of the Mexican soccer championships with a combined two-game, 2-1 victory over favored Atlas. Pachuca won the first game, 2-0, in the state of Hildalgo, northeast of Mexico City, and Atlas managed only a 1-0 edge in the second game Saturday night at home in Guadalajara, giving Pachuca the overall victory. The other finalist was to be determined in a Sunday night matchup between Mexico City teams America and Cruz Azul, who played to a scoreless tie in their first game.

Brazilian star Pretinha scored four times and Australia’s Julie Murray had three goals as the World All-Stars defeated the U.S. women’s team, 11-2, at Tacoma, Wash.

Germany and England were drawn into the same group for next summer’s European Championship. Earlier in the week, the rivals were put in the same group for the 2002 World Cup. The 16-nation European Championship will be played in Belgium and the Netherlands from June 10-July 2.

Swimming

Michael Klim of Australia, the world champion in the 100-meter butterfly, lowered his world record in the event with a time of 51.81 seconds at Canberra, Australia. He set the old mark of 52.03 three days earlier. He first broke the record with a time of 52.15 at the world championship trials in Brisbane in 1997. . . . Swedish women swimmers set a new short course world record of 1:49.47 in the 200-meter medley relay at the European championships in Oeiras, Portugal. They broke the old record, set by Germany last year, by more than half a second.

Winter Sports

Janica Kostelic, 17, of Croatia, skiing on a bruised leg, beat Anja Paerson of Sweden by more than a second to win a World Cup slalom at Sestriere, Italy. It was Kostelic’s second victory and put her in first place in the World Cup overall standings. . . . A men’s World Cup giant slalom at Val D’Isere, France, was postponed when heavy snowfall reduced visibility and made skiing dangerous. The race was rescheduled for Dec. 22 at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. . . . Speedskater Monique Garbrecht of Germany wrapped up a four-win weekend at the Essent ISU World Cup at Innsbruck, Austria, with victories in the 500- and 1,000-meters. Her time of 38.41 seconds in the 500 was a track record. In the 1,000, she won in 1:19.70, .08 seconds ahead of American Becky Sundstrom.

Distance Running

Jimmy Muindi out-kicked fellow Kenyans Eric Kimaiyo and Mbarak Hussein to win the Honolulu Marathon in an unofficial time of 2:16:45. Irina Bogacheva of Kyrgyzstan repeated as the women’s winner in 2:32:36. Nearly 27,000 ran the course through downtown Honolulu and Waikiki to Hawaii Kai and back to Kapiolani Park.