Jones Can’t Keep Up With Sturrup in 100

Marion Jones ran a sluggish 11.67 seconds in the 100 meters at the Grand Prix meet Wednesday in Milan, Italy, finishing second to Chandra Sturrup for the second time in four days.

Sturrup, of the Bahamas, won in 11.42 after having beaten Jones at the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands, on Sunday.

Jones false-started on the race’s first attempt, then was slow out of the blocks.

“It was difficult to recover. My race was kind of over from there,” Jones said. “I just sat there in the blocks and that was the difference. Once I came up running everybody was two, three steps ahead of me.”

Jones has struggled in recent events. She ran 11.29 in the Netherlands, and clocked 11.28 in her first 100 race of the year at Martinique on April 30.

“Sunday’s race I thought I had a better start,” she said. “Sunday’s race, the second part of the race, wasn’t as good as today’s race. So if I can put them together, I think I’ll be OK.”

The three-time Olympic gold medalist is trying to regain her form in time for the U.S. championships later this month at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Jones is planning to compete in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., this weekend before entering the U.S. championships, which begin June 23.

“I’ll run the 100 on Saturday, then I’ll see how I run there and decide if I need to go home and train or do one more meet,” she said of her plans before the trials.

Dorcus Inzikuru of Uganda broke the world record in the rarely contested women’s 2,000-meter steeplechase, which isn’t an Olympic event.

Inzikuru’s time of 6 minutes 4.46 seconds improved on the old mark of 6:11.84 -- by Russia’s Marina Pluzhnikova on July 25, 1994, at St. Petersburg, Russia.

Pro Basketball

Vickie Johnson had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and the New York Liberty used a late 16-6 run to beat the Washington Mystics, 77-68, in a WNBA game at Washington.

It was the Liberty’s first game against former coach Richie Adubato, who led New York for 5 1/2 seasons before he was fired last July. Adubato was hired by the Mystics in April.

Rookie guard Yolanda Paige, shooting free throws for an injured teammate, made one of two shots as the Indiana Fever held on for a 61-60 victory over the Sacramento Monarchs at Indianapolis.

Tully Bevilaqua was fouled hard by Ticha Penicheiro as she drove for a fastbreak layup with 52.4 seconds to play and the score tied 60-60. She left the game because of a knee injury.

Pro Football

Pro Bowl running back Brian Westbrook signed a one-year contract to remain with the Philadelphia Eagles through next season.

Westbrook led the Eagles with 1,515 total yards and was tops among NFL running backs with 73 catches for 703 yards and six touchdowns, despite sitting out the last two regular-season games.

Safety Mike Doss faces punishment from the Indianapolis Colts after his arrest last weekend on gun charges.

Team President Bill Polian said he is reviewing what happened before making an announcement.

Officers arrested Doss in Akron, Ohio, after estimating they heard five to six gunshots outside a restaurant early Sunday.

Wellington Mara, co-owner of the New York Giants, underwent surgery three weeks ago to remove cancerous lymph nodes from his neck and under an armpit.

John Mara, the 88-year-old Mara’s son, said that initial reports after the surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York showed that the cancer had not spread.

Boxing

The World Boxing Council stripped Javier Castillejo of his super-welterweight title for refusing to fight challenger Ricardo Mayorga.

Jose Sulaiman, president of the WBC, said the council considered a fight with Mayorga this summer a requirement for Castillejo’s keeping the title.

Castillejo instead signed a contract to fight two-time world junior-middleweight champion Fernando Vargas in August.

Miscellany

The World Anti-Doping Agency has told its accredited laboratories to modify testing procedures for the banned steroid nandrolone.

In the last several months, WADA said it has come across “very rare cases” of so-called “unstable urine,” which could produce a positive finding for nandrolone.

WADA has asked its labs to conduct “stability tests” if there is a positive nandrolone finding.

Bill Shumard will leave his position as athletic director at Long Beach State in August to take over as president and chief executive for the Special Olympics of Southern California.

Shumard, who was athletic director at Cal State Fullerton from 1991 to ‘94, served in that role for the 49ers the last 10 years.

Senior associate athletic director Cindy Masner was named to replace Shumard on an interim basis by university President Robert C. Maxson.

David Cutcliffe resigned as a Notre Dame assistant football coach, saying he hasn’t fully recovered from triple bypass heart surgery.

UCLA sprinter Monique Henderson and USC hurdler Virginia Powell are among the finalists for the Honda Award in track and field, which will be announced June 10.

Henderson, a senior who runs the 200 and 400 meters, and Powell, a junior who runs the 100-meter hurdles, are among the favorites to win their events at next week’s NCAA championships in Sacramento.