It’s Another Downhill Victory for Eberharter

Stephan Eberharter won a World Cup downhill Saturday at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, for this third victory this season, edging Austrian countryman and Olympic champion Fritz Strobl.

Eberharter, the defending overall World Cup champion, was timed in 1 minute 58.70 seconds on the Kandahar course to extend his lead in the downhill standings. Strobl finished in 1:58.79. Alessandro Fattori was third in 1:59.15.

Daron Rahlves of Sugar Bowl, Calif., who was second on Friday, finished 14th in 2:00.34 after a mistake on the upper half of the course.

“When you are tired, you tend to make mistakes,” said Rahlves, who has been fighting a cold. “It’s not always smart to take too many risks. When you don’t have a lot of physical energy, especially on a hill like this, it’s difficult to do anything.”

Eberharter, who finished third in Friday’s downhill, leads the downhill standings with 591 points. Rahlves is second at 453.

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Isolde Kostner won a downhill at Haus Im Ennstal, Austria, for her first World Cup victory in more than two years. Renate Goetschl finished second and took the lead in the overall standings.

Kostner, who was second Friday in the first of consecutive downhills on the demanding Krummholz slope, finished in 1 minute 39.31 seconds.

Goetschl was 0.35 seconds behind, and Fraenzi Aufdenblatten was third in 1:39.90. Goetschl has 1,033 points, 35 more than Anja Paerson, who doesn’t race in downhill events.

College Football

Betsy Hoffman, Colorado’s president, said that she wants to create a special committee to investigate allegations the school has used sex parties to lure football recruits, and urged the state legislature to stay out of the matter.

The regents scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday after the release last week of a deposition in which Boulder District Attorney Mary Keenan said the university ignored warnings she made in 1997 to put an end to sex parties for football recruits.

Hoffman, Coach Gary Barnett and other university officials have denied using sex to lure recruits.

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Tennessee running back Troy Fleming rushed for two second-half touchdowns to rally the North to a 35-31 victory over the South in the Gridiron Classic at Lady Lake, Fla.

The game was played at The Villages, a massive retirement community 60 miles northwest of Orlando. More than 12,300 fans -- including many alumni from the schools that sent players -- packed a temporary stadium on a converted polo field.

Motor Racing

NASCAR stars Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. combined with sports car driver and three-time Daytona winner Andy Wallace to hold the lead in a heavy rain nearing the halfway point in the Rolex 24 endurance race in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Miscellany

Ed Moses swam the fastest 100-meter breaststroke in the world this year to extend his undefeated streak in World Cup races to 12 at a meet in East Meadow, N.Y. Moses finished in 57.96 for his third victory in the two-day competition at the 25-meter pool at the Nassau County Aquatic Center. Jason Lezak of Irvine won the 50 freestyle in 21.42, his second victory of the meet.

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Chris Singleton, who spent part of last season as the Oakland Athletics’ starting center fielder, agreed to a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Singleton, 31, would make $550,000 if he is added to the 40-man roster.

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Berhane Adere of Ethiopia broke the indoor world record in the women’s 5,000 meters at the Sparkassen Cup in Stuttgart, Germany. She finished in 14 minutes 39.29 seconds, bettering the mark of 14:47.35 set by Gabriela Szabo of Romania in 1999.