Redskins Get No. 3 Pick From 49ers

The Washington Redskins have two of the top three picks in the NFL draft after acquiring the No. 3 selection from the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday.

The 49ers, rebuilding and in need of youthful upgrade at several positions, received the 12th and 24th overall picks in return, plus a fourth-round selection (No. 118 overall) and a fifth-rounder (No. 148).

The Redskins already own the No. 2 overall pick, one of eight choices acquired on draft day last year from New Orleans. The Saints gave up the picks so they could move up and draft Ricky Williams.

The No. 12 pick was one of two first-round selections the Redskins obtained from Carolina in the Sean Gilbert trade two years ago.

Director of player personnel Vinny Cerrato had already said the Redskins will take either receiver Peter Warrick, defensive end Courtney Brown or linebacker LaVar Arrington with the No. 2 pick. Now it appears Washington, which signed center Cory Raymer to a two-year, $1.5-million extension, will get two of those three.

Cleveland has the first pick in the April 15-16 draft.

Motor Racing

Mark Martin got his final season of Busch Series racing off to a perfect start with an easy victory in the Alltel 200 at North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham.

Martin, who says he will concentrate on his Winston Cup career after the 2000 season, led 152 of 197 laps on the 1.017-mile oval.

Jeff Green tried to run him down late in the race, but never got close enough for a real challenge. Martin’s Roush Racing Ford crossed the finish line 0.793 seconds--about five car-lengths--ahead of Green’s Chevrolet.

Martin, who skipped the season opener in Daytona, earned his second consecutive victory and 11th in 24 starts on this track in the Busch Series. That extended his own record of career victories on the Busch circuit to 41.

Martin, who led the final 135 laps, averaged 123.334 mph in the race slowed only by two caution periods for a total of 15 laps. He won $38,150 from a total purse of $640,862.

The NASCAR circuit gets back underway today in the Dura-Lube/Kmart 400.

Andy Houston averaged 129.755 mph to win the Florida Dodge Dealers 400 at Homestead, Fla., his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory since 1998. Houston’s second career victory was worth $49,869. The race was slowed by only two caution periods that totaled 11 laps. Daytona 250 winner Mike Wallace was second, 4.505 seconds behind Houston. . . . Gary Scelzi in top fuel, Ron Capps in funny car and Kurt Johnson in pro stock were the top qualifiers for the Checker Schucks Kragen Nationals at Chandler, Ariz.

Winter Sports

Melanie Turgeon of Canada stormed to her first World Cup victory when she won a Super-G race at Igls, Austria, beating overall leader Renate Goetschl of Austria by .36 seconds. . . . Despite not attempting a quad, five-time U.S. champion Todd Eldredge outclassed a half-dozen quadruple jumpers and led the men’s short program at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships at Osaka, Japan. . . . Eric Bergoust of the United States captured his first aerials victory of the season with 257.21 points in a freestyle World Cup meet at Piancavallo, Italy. Australian Jacqui Cooper, the World Cup leader, picked up her fourth victory.

Germany’s Martin Schmitt snatched his ninth World Cup ski jumping victory when a gust of wind blew Austrian Rheinhard Schwarzenberger out of the lead and down to 25th place at Iron Mountain, Mich. . . . Jasey Jay Anderson defeated Nicolas Huet of France by little more than half a second to win the men’s giant slalom in World Cup snowboarding at Tokyo, and Margerita Parini of Italy won the women’s event.

Miscellany

Czech Tomas Dvorak broke the European heptathlon record at Ghent, Belgium, to win the European indoor title. The decathlon world champion had a total of 6,424 points, six points better than the eight-year-old mark of France’s Christian Plaziat. . . . Horse trainer Juan Serey received two 60-day suspensions by Aqueduct stewards for using Ergonovine, a prohibited substance that eases the breathing of horses.

Monica Seles beat Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the final of the IGA SuperThrift Tennis Classic at Oklahoma City. Seles, seeded second, will play Nathalie Dechy of France, who defeated Rita Grande of Italy, 6-4, 6-2. . . . Top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov tamed Greg Rusedski’s powerful serves to move into the final of the AXA Cup at London with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory. The Russian will meet unseeded Marc Rosset of Switzerland, who upset fourth-seeded Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.

With the Sydney Olympics only six months away, Morgan White finished second in the women’s competition and John Roethlisberger was third in the men’s at the American Cup gymnastics competition at Orlando, Fla. . . . The ninth-ranked USC baseball team got a pinch-hit single from sophomore Mark Prior in the bottom of the ninth to defeat No. 8 UCLA, 4-3, in a nonconference game at Dedeaux Field. . . . Arizona’s Lindsay Berryman and Ruben Vaca won the Pacific 10 diving championships at McDonald’s Swim Stadium at USC.