NEWSWIRE

Jurisprudence

Florida State safety Derrick Gibson was arrested and charged with soliciting an undercover policewoman for sex.

Gibson, 21 projected as a leading selection in the next NFL draft, was arrested Thursday night at Tallahassee. He is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 5.

University of Washington tight end Jerramy Stevens, who had been jailed overnight for investigation of sexual assault, was freed after prosecutors said they needed more time to investigate.

Stevens was not charged and was freed without conditions.

Track and Field

Trine Hattestad broke her women’s javelin world record at the Bislett Games at Oslo with a throw of 227 feet 11 inches.

Hattestad, twice a world champion, set the old mark of 223-10 at the Golden Gala meet in Rome on July 2.

Hicham El Guerrouj was more than three seconds slow in his attempt to break his record in the mile. The Moroccan was timed in 3 minutes 46.24 seconds in Friday’s last event. He set the mile world record of 3:43.13 a year ago at Rome.

Marion Jones’ drive for five Olympic gold medals can now shift into high gear.

The American sprint star has been named to both U.S. relay squads for the Sydney Games, officially making her dream of becoming the first female track and field competitor to win five golds at a single Games a possibility.

Tennis

Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova reached the semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Palo Alto.

The top-seeded Davenport got by eighth-seeded Chanda Rubin, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; No. 2 Williams defeated Amy Frazier, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (5); Seles defeated Zimbabwe’s Cara Black, 6-1, 6-2; and Russia’s Kournikova, seeking her first title, defeated France’s Sandrine Testud, 6-3, 6-2.

Alex Corretja of Spain beat ninth-seeded Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina, 6-3, 6-0, in the quarterfinals of the Generali Open at Kitzbuehel, Austria. . . . Alex Calatrava of Spain beat eighth-seeded Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the San Marino Open.

Miscellany

Tony Ayala Jr., undefeated in 22 bouts before his 1983 rape conviction and in five more since being released last year, was hurt too badly to come out for the ninth round of his middleweight bout at San Antonio against Yory Boy Campas.

Goalie Chris Osgood signed a three-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings, who avoided a salary arbitration hearing that was days away. Osgood compiled a 30-14-8 record and gave up 2.4 goals a game last season. . . . Center Chris Taylor re-signed with the Buffalo Sabres for one year. . . . Restricted free agent Rob Niedermayer signed a one-year contract to remain with the Florida Panthers.

The United States’ next qualifying game for the 2002 World Cup is against Barbados in Foxboro, Mass., on Aug. 16, but Barbados might have to cancel, its soccer federation said, unless it can come up with $150,000 to cover the cost of that game and another in Costa Rica on Sept. 3. The four-team qualifying group also includes Guatemala, with the top two advancing to the next and final qualifying round.

Already the highest-paid public employee in the state, Arizona basketball Coach Lute Olson received a $40,000 raise. Olson, whose team won the men’s NCAA title in 1997, is signed through 2005. He is earning $613,475 per year.

Christian Fittipaldi will miss the Target Grand Prix on Sunday after being knocked out briefly in a crash during practice at Chicago Motor Speedway.

A 5-year-old boy whose skull was broken when he was hit with a baseball at a minor league game at Moosic, Pa., was in serious condition Friday.

Brian Cwalinski was sitting behind the home dugout as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre hosted the Columbus Clippers on Thursday when he was struck by a ball off the bat of the Red Barons’ Fausto Tejero.