U.S./World Sports category, Page 174
Olympic champ Jepchirchir wins 50th women’s Boston Marathon
BOSTON — Reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir capped the celebration of a half-century of women in the Boston Marathon with a finish to top them all. The 28-year-old Kenyan won a see-saw sprint down the stretch Monday, when the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon returned to its traditional...
Yough grad Nicole (Sleith) Schaffer playing role in success of Duke softball teamVideo
Since joining the Duke softball staff as a volunteer assistant coach, Yough grad Nicole (Sleith) Schaffer has become popular with the players. Although her popularity wanes when she steps on the mound to throw batting practice. The players found out quickly why she graduated from Robert Morris as the softball...
Kyle Busch steals Bristol win as Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe crash
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch backed into the record book by stealing a win at dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway. That’s what he’d say if it had been anyone else, right? Busch won his first race of the season Sunday night by sliding past the leaders as Tyler Reddick and Chase...
Perfect spring weather greets Boston Marathon’s April returnVideo
BOSTON — The daffodils have sprouted, the fall foliage has all been raked away, and the Boston Marathon is back in the spring where it belongs. The world’s most prestigious marathon will return to the streets from Hopkinton to Copley Square on Monday, three years after the last Patriots’ Day...
Spieth beats Cantlay with playoff bunker shot to 7 inchesVideo
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Thinking he might have a chance for a playoff, Jordan Spieth rolled in a 10-foot birdie on the 18th hole in regulation. He made an even bigger shot at Habour Town’s signature hole in a playoff to win the RBC Heritage. Spieth’s 56-foot shot from...
Stefanos Tsitsipas successfully defends title in Monte CarloVideo
MONACO — Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first repeat champion at the Monte Carlo Masters since Rafael Nadal in 2018 with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win against unseeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Sunday. “It’s a great feeling because we had the crowd this year,” the third-seeded Greek said after winning the...
Willie Green, upstart Pelicans get top-seeded Suns in 1st round
PHOENIX — Willie Green’s time as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns taught him quick improvement can happen with the right mix of talent, desire and steady leadership. Turns out that blueprint can travel. Green, the first-year New Orleans Pelicans coach who was Phoenix’s top assistant last season, leads...
Steelers’ John Mitchell honored as Alabama’s 1st Black player
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Pittsburgh Steelers assistant head coach John Mitchell and Wilbur Jackson already had their place in Alabama football history. Now, the Crimson Tide’s first Black players also share a prominent spot outside Bryant-Denny stadium. The university unveiled a plaque honoring Jackson and Mitchell on Saturday in a ceremony...
Harold Varner III shoots 63 to take RBC Heritage lead
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Harold Varner III shot 8-under 63 to take a one-shot lead in the RBC Heritage on Saturday in pursuit of his first PGA Tour victory. Varner had eight birdies in a bogey-free round to match Cameron Young’s opening score as the lowest at Harbour Town...
Zippy Chippy, horse racing’s lovable loser, dies at 31
Zippy Chippy, horse racing’s lovable loser for never winning in 100 races, has died at the age of 31. The bay gelding was living at the Bobby Frankel Division of Old Friends Thoroughbred Farm at Cabin Creek near Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York since 2010. The farm said...
NASCAR chases holiday TV audience with Easter dirt race
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kevin Harvick was on his annual family beach vacation when he was forced to cut it short early by three days to return to work for the first time in his career on Easter Sunday. NASCAR since its 1949 inaugural season deliberately used Easter as an off...
FedEx Cup champ Cantlay takes RBC Heritage lead into weekendVideo
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay birdied the final four holes Friday for a 4-under-par 67 and take a two-stroke lead over Robert Streb halfway through the RBC Heritage. After dropping back with bogeys on the 11th and 14th holes, Cantlay turned it around on the...
Too dusty: NASCAR working on visibility at dirty BristolVideo
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch took a long pause to carefully choose how to describe visibility Friday in the first practice on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. “So far better, I guess?” Busch said. “But second half of that practice, you couldn’t see. You put one car in front...
Hoffman misses RBC Heritage cut but happy to be back after muscular dystrophy diagnosisVideo
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Morgan Hoffmann left the RBC Heritage feeling like a winner, even if he didn’t make the cut. Hoffmann played his first PGA Tour event after being sidelined in 2019 by muscular dystrophy. He had not teed off on tour since the Shriners Hospital for Children...
NBA playoffs are here, with many eyes on favored Phoenix
Devin Booker does not take having another chance at an NBA championship lightly. Over his first four years in Phoenix, among players who appeared in at least 200 games spanning the 2015-16 through the 2018-19 seasons, nobody in the NBA experienced more losing than Booker did. He appeared in 272...
Cameron Young shoots 8-under-par 63 in RBC Heritage debutVideo
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Cameron Young showed it doesn’t always take years of practice to go low at Harbour Town Golf Links, shooting an 8-under-par 63 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in his RBC Heritage debut. The 24-year-old PGA Tour rookie had eight birdies in a bogey-free...
Sex abuse case in snowboarding exposes flaws in reporting systemVideo
DENVER — When former members of the U.S. snowboarding team wanted to report sex-abuse allegations against a longtime coach, they received conflicting information that left them unsure of where to turn — or whether they wanted to pursue the cases at all. An Instagram post during the Olympics by a...
Cameron Smith putting Masters behind him at RBC HeritageVideo
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Cameron Smith has put his bad swing at the 12th hole in the final round of the Masters behind him and is ready to continue a strong season at the RBC Heritage. Smith was in contention much of the way at Augusta National and was...
Mark Madden: Scottie Scheffler should be the story of the Masters, not Tiger Woods
Scottie Scheffler won the Masters. He finished 23 strokes ahead of Tiger Woods, who finished 47th but was somehow the story. Skip Bayless of Fox said that as far as he’s concerned, Woods won the Masters. Bayless referred to Scheffler as “the bland leading the bland.” That’s wrong and unfair....
Joey Logano watches Ty Gibbs scrap with veteran bemusementVideo
Joey Logano has had his share of conflict during a career that began with his appointment as “Sliced Bread” upon arrival. He was 18 and overhyped, evidenced by a nickname that likened him to the “greatest thing since … sliced bread.” Eager to prove himself and determined not to be...
Jimmie Johnson plans to keep driving despite fractured handVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jimmie Johnson doesn’t intend to let a fractured right hand keep him off the track. On Tuesday, the seven-time NASCAR champion who has become an IndyCar Series regular announced on Twitter he had surgery Monday night in Charlotte, N.C., to repair the injury he suffered in a...
Column: Scheffler’s dominant stretch illustrates parity on PGA TourVideo
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Start with Scottie Scheffler winning four times in two months. Now consider the money. His PGA Tour earnings in his past six tournaments — dating to his first victory in the Phoenix Open on Feb. 13 — come to $8,872,200. With consideration to purse increases and the...
Support for Brittney Griner at WNBA draft as Rhyne Howard goes to Atlanta
NEW YORK — Moments before Rhyne Howard went to Atlanta with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league is working very hard to help bring Brittney Griner back to the United States. Griner, one of the league’s biggest stars, has been detained in...
Column: IndyCar rich in drama as Indianapolis 500 looms
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Through just three races, the IndyCar Series already is building enough dynamic storylines to be worthy of its own Netflix program. Speculation has been mounting that IndyCar, just like NASCAR and any motorsports series with a finger on the pulse of pop culture, is trying to...
Alexander Bublik cuts short Stan Wawrinka’s return to tour after injuryVideo
MONACO — Alexander Bublik cut short Stan Wawrinka’s return to the tour, defeating the Swiss 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Monday in his first singles in 13 months. Wawrinka started off confidently against the Kazakh, winning the first set with ease. He...
