Raich’s Win Closes Gap on Miller in World Cup

Austria’s Benjamin Raich won a super-combined ski race Friday to significantly close the gap on overall World Cup leader Bode Miller, who was disqualified.

Raich posted the fastest time in the opening slalom portion and held his lead in the afternoon downhill at Wengen, Switzerland, finishing in a total time of 2 minutes 28.37 seconds. Norway’s Lasse Kjus was next, 0.32 seconds behind, and Switzerland’s Didier Defago finished third, 1.40 back.

Miller straddled a double gate midway down his slalom run and didn’t earn any points, leaving him at 988 in the overall standings, 198 ahead of Raich.

Miller’s teammate, Daron Rahlves, will not compete in today’s downhill because he is still in pain after a crash in a giant slalom Tuesday in Adelboden.

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Austria’s Renate Goetschl won her second straight super-G World Cup race, covering the course at Cortine D’Ampezzo, Italy, in 1 minute 13.98 seconds.

Lindsey Kildow of the U.S. was second, only 0.08 seconds behind.

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College Football

Less than a month after he was passed over to become Pittsburgh’s head coach, Matt Cavanaugh was hired as the Panthers’ offensive coordinator by Coach Dave Wannstedt.

Several players announced they have made themselves available for the NFL draft.

Among them were defensive end Justin Tuck, Notre Dame’s career sacks leader; linebacker Darryl Blackstock of Virginia, who led players at his position with 11 sacks last season; linebacker Matt McCoy of San Diego State; and wide receiver Steve Savoy of Utah.

Memphis tailback DeAngelo Williams said he would return for his senior year.

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Tennis

Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt won the Sydney International for the fourth time in six years today by defeating Ivo Minar, 7-5, 6-0, in an event that is a tune-up for the Australian Open.

Top-ranked Roger Federer completed preparation for defense of his Australian Open title next week after defeating Andy Roddick, 6-4, 7-5, to win the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament at Melbourne.... Fifth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez won his fifth ATP Tour title today, beating Olivier Rochus, 6-4, 6-2, in the Heineken Open at Auckland, New Zealand.... Ana Ivanovic, 17, won her first WTA Tour title today, beating Melinda Czink, 7-5, 6-1, in a qualifying-round rematch in the Canberra Classic in Australia.

Tickets for the Davis Cup matches involving the U.S. and Croatia at the Home Depot Center on March 4-6 will go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m.

The prices range from $90 to $375 for all three days and can be purchased by calling (888) 484-8782.

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Baseball

Designated hitter Erubiel Durazo avoided arbitration with the Oakland Athletics, agreeing to a one-year contract worth $4.7 million.

Aaron Rowand and the Chicago White Sox agreed to a contract that guarantees the center fielder $8.5 million over the next three seasons.... First baseman Nick Johnson agreed to a $1.45-million, one-year contract with the Washington Nationals.... As expected, former Dodger Raul Mondesi signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Braves.

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Miscellany

A King County (Wash.) Superior Court judge threw out part of former Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel’s wrongful termination lawsuit, saying he was not entitled to pursue his claim of defamation against the NCAA. Neuheisel’s central claims -- that the university wrongly fired him and that the NCAA wrongly meddled in the case -- will be allowed to go to trial later this month.

It will be announced Tuesday that middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins (45-2-1, one no-contest, 32 knockouts) will defend his World Boxing Council middleweight title Feb. 19 at Staples Center. His opponent will be Howard Eastman (40-1, 34), the mandatory challenger.