Arizona St. wins NCAA women’s track title

Jessica Pressley and Sarah Stevens finished first and third in the shotput Saturday at Sacramento State to clinch the first outdoor team title for the Arizona State women at the NCAA track and field championships.

The team’s title hopes had faded when Pressley and Stevens failed to make it to the finals during discus qualifying on Wednesday. Pressley won the shot with a put of 59 feet, 3/4 inch. Stevens was third at 57-1.

“Amazing,” Pressley said. “I knew what I had to do and went out and did it.”

The Sun Devils, the reigning NCAA indoor champions, had 60 points to Louisiana State’s 53. Michigan was third with 36, Texas A&M; fourth with 34 and UCLA fifth with 30. USC was seventh with 27.

“There have only been three schools to win indoors and out,” Sun Devils Coach Greg Kraft said. “LSU and Texas are storied programs. For us to be mentioned in the same breath as them is huge.”

In all, Arizona State had three event winners -- Pressley in the shot, Jacquelyn Johnson in the heptathlon and April Kubishta in the pole vault.

In one of the day’s best races, Alysia Johnson of California held off Michigan’s Katie Erdman to win the 800 meters in 1:59.21. Erdman was second at 1:59.35. They were the second- and third-fastest collegiate times ever in the event. They rank fifth and sixth in the world this year.

South Carolina’s Nastasha Hastings bettered her world-leading time to 50.15 seconds while running away with the 400-meter title. She was only .05 of a second off Monique Henderson’s collegiate record.

UCLA’s Nicole Leach concluded an unbeaten season by winning the 400-meter hurdles in a personal-best 54.32. Her previous best was 55.35.

Florida State’s Walter Dix completed a triumphant week by repeating as 200-meter champion and leading the Seminoles to their second consecutive men’s title.

Dix won three events -- the 100, 200 and 400-meter relay -- the first man to accomplish that since John Carlos of San Jose State in 1969.

Dix eased to victory in the 200 in 20.32, well off the collegiate record and world-leading 19.69 he ran two weeks ago at the East Regional. With his 9.93 in the 100 on Friday, he holds the world’s best times in both events.

Florida State picked up another 10 points in the 400 when Ricardo Chambers leaned into the tape to edge USC’s Lionel Larry by .02 of a second. Chambers won in 44.66 to Larry’s 44.68.

Lopez Lomong of Northern Arizona, one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” who spent 10 years in a Kenyan refugee camp before coming to the United States in 2001, won the 1,500 meters in 3 minutes 37.07 seconds.

USC’s Noah Bryant won the men’s shotput with a put of 65-9.

Florida State won the men’s title with only six men entered, all but one in the sprints. The Seminoles had 54 points to LSU’s 38. Auburn was third with 34, Tennessee fourth with 30 1/2 and USC fifth with 27. UCLA was ninth with 21.

SOCCER

Beckham starts in Real Madrid’s tie

Real Madrid rallied for a 2-2 tie at Zaragoza to keep alive hopes for its 30th Spanish league title.

David Beckham started for Madrid despite not being 100% after spraining his ankle while playing for England on Wednesday and needed treatment in the 83rd minute.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored both goals for Madrid, his second coming in the 89th minute. He has a league-leading 25 goals.

Madrid and Barcelona lead the league with 73 points, though Madrid wins on head-to-head should they remain tied in the standings. Madrid can clinch its first title since 2003 if it beats Mallorca next Sunday.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Nebraska suspends Purify indefinitely

Receiver Maurice Purify was suspended indefinitely from the Nebraska team after his arrest on suspicion of drunk driving, his second run-in with law enforcement in five weeks.

A State Patrol trooper stopped Purify at 12:25 a.m. Friday at the intersection of Cornhusker Highway and North First Street in Lincoln. He was observed driving 53 mph in a 40-mph zone and failing to use his turn signal, patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said.

The 21-year-old Purify was taken to the Lincoln Detoxification Center after being ticketed on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Purify, from Eureka, Calif., was Nebraska’s second-leading receiver last season as a junior, catching 34 passes for 630 yards and seven touchdowns.

ROWING

Yale ends Harvard’s seven-year streak

Yale narrowly won the 142nd Harvard-Yale Regatta at New London, Conn., ending the Crimson’s seven-year winning streak with the closest finish in 93 years. The Bulldogs finished the four-mile men’s heavyweight crew race in 19:57.5, half a second in front of Harvard.

Yale trailed by nearly two boat lengths with about half a mile remaining, but a late push allowed the Bulldogs to overcome Harvard at the finish line. The Crimson, who had edged Yale in the Eastern Sprints on May 13, had led the race virtually from the start.

PRO BASKETBALL

Nuggets’ Smith is injured in accident

Denver Nuggets player J.R. Smith and another man were seriously injured when the sport utility vehicle Smith was driving collided with a car in Millstone Township, N.J.

Smith and the unidentified passenger were ejected from the SUV in the crash, which occurred around 5:30 p.m., according to a police spokesman.

The passenger, who had serious head wounds, was airlifted to Jersey Shore University Hospital in Neptune, N.J., and Smith was taken there via ambulance.