Celebration Costs Greene in Relay Loss

Maurice Greene pulled another surprise at the Texas Relays. In 1995, he was an unknown who upset Carl Lewis. On Saturday, Greene was the star who lost.

Running his first outdoor race of 2002, the world record-holder and 100-meter Olympic champion was overtaken by J.J. Johnson at the finish in a 400-meter relay.

Greene appeared to lose time by raising his hands in celebration too soon.

“You’re supposed to run all the way through and not fool around,” he told the crowd of 20,000 at the University of Texas at Austin. “I took a look, threw my hand up and he came by.”

Greene anchored a relay team of Jon Drummond, Terrence Trammell and Ken Brokenburr. Greene appeared to have a step on Johnson when he took the baton in the final turn.

Competing for a team that included Mickey Grimes, Gerald Williams and Darvis Patton, Johnson kept pace and squeezed past Greene at the line.

Johnson’s quartet finished in 38.34 seconds, 0.01 faster than Greene’s group. It’s the fastest time in the world this year.

Long Beach Poly and Long Beach Wilson dominated the relays in the girls’ high school division. Poly won the 4 x 200 relay in one minute, 36.11 seconds to become the fourth-fastest team of all time. The Jackrabbits also won the 4 x 400 relay in a nation-leading 3:39.80 with Wilson, the nation’s second fastest team at 3:42.70, taking second at 3:43.80. Houston Hightower won 4 x 100 relay in 46.74 with Wilson second at 46.82 and Wilson just nipped Poly for third in the 4 x800 relay, 9:16.78 to 9:16.90.

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College Sports

Grant Potulny scored on a power play 16:58 into overtime as Minnesota beat Maine, 4-3, at St. Paul for its first NCAA hockey title since 1979. Minnesota finished 32-8-4. Maine (26-11-7) wore green shamrock-shaped patches on their jerseys in honor of Shawn Walsh, the coach who died of cancer before the season began. Walsh led the Black Bears to titles in 1993 and ’99.

The two-time defending NCAA champion UCLA women’s gymnastics team won the NCAA South Central Regional at Tempe, Ariz., with 197.425 points to qualify for the NCAA championships, along with Arizona. Jamie Dantzscher, who won the all-around (39.7), vault (9.9, tied), bars (9.95) and floor (9.95), was named the West Region gymnast of the year.

Clay Strother of Minnesota repeated as champion on the pommel horse and floor exercise at the NCAA men’s gymnastics championships in Norman, Okla. Other winners were Marshall Erwin of Stanford on rings and teammate Dan Gill the vault, Cody Moore of California on parallel bars and Daniel Diaz-Luong of Michigan on the high bar.

Washington’s women had the top time, while defending champion USC failed to qualify for the Jessop-Whittier Cup final in the Crew Classic at San Diego. Washington, whose nine-year title run was ended by USC last year, won the first heat in 6 minutes 44.10 seconds. The top three crews advance in each heat. USC’s women placed fifth in its heat in 6:58.94.

Jim Foster left Vanderbilt to coach Ohio State’s women’s basketball team, ending an 11-year run with Commodores that included 10 NCAA tournament appearances.

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Pro Football

In an unusual move, the Green Bay Packers are allowing wide receiver Antonio Freeman to speak with other teams about a trade, his agent said. In a letter dated April 2, the Packers gave Freeman and his agent, Joel Segal, permission for the seventh-year pro to visit other clubs, undergo physical exams and talk about contract requirements. Packer Coach Mike Sherman has said he would like to keep Freeman, but not at his $4.3-million salary.

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Miscellany

In her third world-record race in three days, Sweden’s Emma Igelstrom won the 100-meter breaststroke at the short-course World Swimming Championships at Moscow. She finished in 1 minute 5.38 seconds, 0.02 seconds ahead of the mark set in 1999 by Penelope Heyns. Defending champion Sarah Poewe of South Africa was second and Luo Xuejuan of China was third. ... Britain’s Johnny Nelson retained the World Boxing Organization cruiserweight title for the ninth time, stopping Ezra Sellers of the United States in the eighth round at Copenhagen.