U.S. Swimmer Moses Sets Two World Records

U.S. Olympian Ed Moses set short-course world records in the 50-and 200-meter breaststrokes in a World Cup swim meet Tuesday at Stockholm.

Moses was timed in 26.28 seconds in the 50, an impressive improvement on the previous record of 26.70, set by Mark Warnecke of Germany on Dec. 11, 1998.

Less than an hour later, Moses broke his 200 breaststroke mark by finishing in 2:03.28. He had set the previous record of 2:04.37 on Friday in a World Cup meet at Paris.

“I warmed down and stayed focused [between the races],” Moses said. “I’m surprised that I had both speed and strength tonight. The pool felt very fast and the crowd was very supportive. I was shocked when I saw the [200] time.”

Moses, 21, holds all three short-course records in the breaststroke. He set the 100-meter record of 57.66 nearly two years ago.

Winter Sports

Three-time Olympian Todd Lodwick and Bill Demong were among seven skiers selected to the U.S. Nordic combined team for next month’s Salt Lake City Olympics. Also selected were Johnny Spillane, Kristoffer Erichsen, Matt Dayton, Jed Hinkley and Carl Van Loan.

Eric Bergoust, who last weekend clinched his second consecutive World Cup aerials title, and moguls gold medalist Jonny Moseley will defend their Olympic titles at Salt Lake City.

Joining Bergoust and Moseley on the U.S. freestyle ski team are Brian Currutt, Joe Pack, Evan Dybvig, Travis Mayer and Jeremy Bloom, a scholarship football player who delayed his enrollment at Colorado for a shot at the Olympics.

Park City residents Brenda Petzold and Tracy Evans will join Emily Cook on the women’s aerials team. The women’s moguls team features Hannah Hardaway, Shannon Bahrke, Jillian Vogtli and Ann Battelle, a 34-year-old who made her fourth Olympics team.

Cook may not be able to compete, however, because she dislocated two bones in her foot last week.

If she can’t go, she probably will be replaced on the team by men’s aerialist Jeret Peterson.

Not making the team was 36-year-old Donna Weinbrecht, the five-time World Cup champion who was hoping to compete in her fourth Olympics.

American Bode Miller won his third slalom race this season, finishing with a combined time of 1:44.60 at Schladming, Austria.

Miller is third in the overall World Cup standings, with 820 points, and second in the slalom standings, with 480.

Austrian Stephan Eberharter leads overall with 1,032 points.

Baseball

Manager Tony La Russa, 57, agreed to a three-year contract and will return for a seventh season with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Angel right-hander Derrick Turnbow underwent surgery to have a pin permanently inserted in his broken right forearm. Turnbow, 23, had a 4.74 earned-run average in 20 appearances for the Angels in 2000 and was injured while pitching for double-A Arkansas last season.

First baseman Brian Daubach and the Boston Red Sox agreed to a one-year contract worth $2,325,000, avoiding salary arbitration. Daubach batted .263 last year with a career-high 22 home runs, 71 runs batted in and 28 doubles. Daubach had asked for $2.5 million in arbitration and had been offered $2.15 million.

Right-hander Jeff Weaver agreed to a $22-million, four-year contract with the Detroit Tigers. Weaver, 13-16 with a 4.08 ERA last season, had agreed Friday to a $2.35-million, one-year deal.

Tuffy Rhodes, who tied Japan’s season home run record with 55 last season for Kintetsu and was the Pacific League’s most valuable player, agreed to a one-year contract with the Buffaloes for about $2.2 million.

College Sports

The chairman of the NCAA board of directors opposes any suggestion that student-athletes be paid or unionized because it would violate the mission of colleges and universities.

William E. Kirwan, president of Ohio State, called pay-for-play proposals “a nonstarter.”

“It is a bad idea and it has nothing to do with cost,” Kirwan said. “Intercollegiate athletics were founded on the principle of students in extracurricular activity. That principle has worked well for the most part.

“To pay athletes puts universities in the position of hiring people to do a job, not to carry out the mission of the university.”

Kirwan supports stipends, perhaps $2,000 per athlete, for costs not included in traditional scholarships that cover only tuition, fees, books and board.

“It is something I will continue to work on,” Kirwan said.

There have been suggestions that college athletes might be unionized. Kirwan dismissed that suggestion.

“Unions are perfectly respected in American society, but they have no place in the university environment.” Kirwan said.

Quarterback John Rattay, a backup at Arizona last season, has transferred to Pasadena City College, Lancer Coach Tom Maher said.

Miscellany

Defender Marcelo Balboa of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, a five-time Major League Soccer all-star and three-time World Cup player, had arthroscopic surgery to remove torn cartilage from his right knee.

German forward Birgit Prinz, 24, who finished fourth in the voting for FIFA’s 2001 world player of the year, signed with the Women’s United Soccer Assn. and will play with the Carolina Courage.

Joseph Pastorello, 30, has been suspended for two years for failing a drug test and stripped of his second-place finish in the light-heavyweight division in the U.S. National Boxing Championships last March at Colorado Springs, Colo.

Safety Brandon Mascarro of Ventura St. Bonaventure committed to the University of Idaho, Coach Jon Mack said.