Edwards Records His First NASCAR Busch Series Win

Carl Edwards drove to his first NASCAR Busch Series victory Saturday, holding off several Nextel Cup stars in the Aaron’s 312 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Edwards, who spent most of 2004 in the Craftsman Truck series, moved up to Roush Racing’s Nextel Cup team late in the season. He had five top-five finishes in 13 races.

Tony Stewart finished second and Jimmie Johnson third as Nextel Cup regulars claimed the top nine positions. Michel Jourdain Jr. was 10th, making him the top finisher among drivers who compete exclusively in the Busch Series.

In a race that featured 20 lead changes among seven drivers, Edwards took the lead in his Ford 12 laps from the finish. After getting new tires on his last pit stop, he went from fourth to first coming out of Turn 2.

Stewart appeared to be closing the gap, but he fell back at the end to finish 1.192 seconds behind in a Chevrolet.

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Yamaha’s Chad Reed rode to his second consecutive THQ AMA Supercross Series victory, beating Suzuki star Ricky Carmichael in front of 41,969 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

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Saturday night’s program of NASCAR super late model, pro trucks and mini stocks at Irwindale Speedway was canceled because of rain.

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Winter Sports

Nate Roberts and Hannah Kearney won the moguls finals at the freestyle world championships, giving the U.S. its first two gold medals in the competition at Ruka, Finland.

Jeremy Bloom, who had won six consecutive events en route to the World Cup moguls title this season, missed the landing on his second jump and finished 36th among 52 starters.

Roberts, fifth in qualifying, won with 26.90 points. Canada’s Marc-Andre Moreau was second with 26.83 points.

Kearney, fourth in qualifying, won the women’s gold medal with 26.40 points. Nikola Sudova of the Czech Republic took the silver with 26.31 points.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway won the overall World Cup biathlon title after finishing second to France’s Raphael Poiree at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, in the final 15-kilometer mass start race of the season.

Poiree finished in 40 minutes 31.9 seconds. Bjoerndalen, who was 14.5 seconds back, won the title with 923 points. Germany’s Sven Fischer was second with 912, followed by Poiree with 869.

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College Swimming

Georgia, which lost to Auburn by seven points in last month’s Southeastern Conference meet and was the NCAA Division I women’s runner-up three consecutive years, won the title at West Lafayette, Ind.

The Bulldogs finished with 609.5 points, the highest total in 12 years. Three-time defending champion Auburn was second with 492 points, followed by Arizona (440), Florida (355) and Stanford (313).

The Bulldogs capped three days of competition by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3 minutes 13.56 seconds, an American and NCAA record.

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Pro Football

John Fitzgerald completed 30 of 39 passes for 348 yards and six touchdowns to lead the Austin Wranglers to a 57-47 victory over the New York Dragons in an Arena League game at Austin, Texas.... Matt Nagy threw five touchdown passes -- three to Derek Lee -- to lead the Georgia Force to a 49-47 win over the Orlando Predators at Atlanta.... The Las Vegas Gladiators extended the Arizona Rattlers’ losing streak to seven games with a 66-63 victory at Phoenix.

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Miscellany

The USA Triathlon board of directors, meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo., voted to affirm the federation’s ties with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The federation had been buffeted in recent weeks by a range of controversies, including USOC funding and USOC inquiries into the federation’s governing structure -- sparking a resolution calling for USA Triathlon to cut its long-standing links to the USOC.

Instead, the resolution was withdrawn and the board moved to maintain its Olympic status.

Oklahoma State won all five of its final matches at St. Louis to easily win its third consecutive NCAA wrestling championship. The Cowboys tied the NCAA record of five championships set by Iowa in 1997.

Liz Johnson became the first woman to advance to the championship round of a Professional Bowling Assn. event, beating Richard Wolfe, 4-3, in the quarterfinals of the PBA Banquet Open at Wyoming, Mich. She won the final game, 248-200.

Robert Lansdorp will receive the USTA President’s Award today at a ceremony in La Quinta. Lansdorp has coached five different Grand Slam tournament champions in his 30 years of coaching tennis.