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Miller, Rahlves Tie for Super-G Win

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Bode Miller tied for first with American teammate Daron Rahlves in the final super giant slalom of the season Friday at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, virtually wrapping up the overall World Cup title.

Miller increased his overall lead to 184 points over Benjamin Raich of Austria, who finished 11th. It was his first World Cup victory since taking a slalom at Sestriere, Italy, on Dec. 13.

The win also earned Miller the season’s World Cup super-G title in an upset over Austrian star Hermann Maier.

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Maier started the day with a 54-point lead on Miller in the super-G standings.

After Miller finished even with Rahlves in 1 minute 10.24 seconds, Maier needed a podium place to secure the title but finished ninth.

“I really had my heart set on that,” said Miller, who became the first American to win the super-G title since the discipline was introduced in 1986.

Miller beat Maier, 470-453, in the final super-G standings. In the overall standings, he leads Raich, 1,528 points to 1,344.

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Austria’s Michaela Dorfmeister won the final super-G of the season and in so doing, clinched the World Cup title in the discipline.

Sweden’s Anja Paerson extended her lead over Croatia’s Janica Kostelic in the overall World Cup standings with a third-place finish at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

Paerson was 0.58 behind and took an 89-point lead over Kostelic -- 1,333 points to 1,244 -- who finished 15th.

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Dorfmeister won with a time of 1 minute 12.38 seconds. She was 0.30 seconds ahead of another Austrian, Marlies Schild.

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Track and Field

Wallace Spearmon Jr. broke the American record in the 200 meters twice during the NCAA Division I Indoor track and field championships at Fayetteville, Ark., first in the prelims, then in 20.10 seconds in the final.

The Arkansas junior ran 20.21 in the preliminaries to break the U.S. and collegiate record of 20.26, set by Shawn Crawford of Clemson and John Capel of Florida in a dead heat in the 2000 NCAA championships.

In the final, Spearmon matched the second-fastest time in the event’s indoor history. Only Frankie Fredericks’ 19.92 world record is faster. Fredericks also ran a 20.10.

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Pro Hockey

NHL and NHL Player Assn. representatives talked for 1 1/2 hours in Toronto, with no progress reported.

The two sides met face-to-face for the first time since Feb. 19, three days after NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the season.

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Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Bob Goodenow were present at the meeting, but no proposals were exchanged. Another meeting is scheduled for next week “for further dialogue,” Goodenow said in a statement.

The league’s general managers have scheduled meetings on April 7-8 in Detroit, where they are expected to discuss rule changes to be implemented once the NHL resumes play.

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Soccer

Major League Soccer rejected a domestic record $5 million transfer offer from 33-time Portuguese champion Benfica for FC Dallas forward Eddie Johnson, a league spokesman said.

Weakened by the defections of captain Ramon Ramirez and projected starting forward Alonso Sandoval and injuries to goalkeeper Martin Zuniga (sprained knee) and defender Armando Begines (broken collarbone), Chivas USA signed defender Ryan Suarez.

Chivas had to give up a conditional pick in the 2006 SuperDraft to the Galaxy for Suarez, who was unemployed after a failed trial in England but had his rights still held by his former employer.

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Miscellany

The Times’ report Friday on a funeral service for former Army football star Glenn Davis was incorrect. A Mass of Christian burial will be said at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Francis of Assisi church in La Quinta, not Tuesday, as was reported.

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Gymnastics’ governing body extended the suspensions of three judges involved in a scoring error that called into question Paul Hamm’s victory in the all-around competition at the Athens Olympics.

American George Beckstead and Benjamin Bango of Spain were banned until the end of the year, and Columbia’s Oscar Buitrago Reyes was suspended until August.

The third-ranked Cal State Fullerton baseball team defeated top-ranked Tulane, 15-1, at New Orleans. Brett Pill had three hits and drove in five runs for the Titans (13-2). Tulane is 14-2.

Washington State running back Kevin McCall, the former Carson High star facing a third-degree rape charge, had his arraignment scheduled for March 25 during a brief appearance in Whitman County Superior Court in Colfax, Wash.

The Pacific 10 Conference will use instant replay in football next season. Pac-10 athletic directors, meeting at the conference’s basketball tournament, voted to experiment with a system similar to what the Big Ten used last season.

The UCLA football team will hold a scrimmage today at 10 a.m. at Drake Stadium on campus.

Australia’s Chad Reed won the Daytona supercross race in Daytona Beach, Fla., beating four-time champion Ricky Carmichael.

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