Sports: Sports briefs

Sports briefs

By Times wires and staff reports

UF's Halton quits team

Senior guard LaDarius Halton quit the Florida basketball team to pursue a professional career in Turkey, school officials said Monday.

Halton played in 91 games for the Gators, with 17 starts in his four-year career. He played 31 games as a freshman in 1998-99 before being redshirted the next season after knee surgery. Although he has a degenerative knee condition, Halton played in 30 games each of the past two seasons.

"Although we're surprised, we realize that LaDarius would like to pursue a career in professional basketball and we certainly wish him the best of luck," UF coach Billy Donovan said. "We've enjoyed having the chance to coach him for the past four years and wish him the best in reaching his personal and professional goals."

MORE COLLEGE BASKETBALL: The USF men's and women's teams open practice with Midnight Mania at 10:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Sun Dome in Tampa. ... UMass coach Steve Lappas received a one-year contract extension through the 2006-07 season. ... Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins is making progress in his recovery from a heart attack and is expected to be released from a Pennsylvania hospital by the end of the week. ... Bill Hyden, from Indiana-Purdue University-Indianapolis, was named an assistant to Tampa women's coach Tom Jessee.

COLLEGES: Florida freshman golfer James Vargas was named 2001-02 Golfweek/Titleist Junior Player of the Year. ... Tampa senior setter Gretchen Naruta had 145 assists in 11 games and was named Sunshine State Conference volleyball player of the week, and Elias Gonzales and Allison Mascas were cross-country runners of the week.

TENNIS: Martina Hingis was beaten by 169th-ranked Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. It was the first match for Hingis, who turned 22 Monday, since her fourth-round loss to Monica Seles at the U.S. Open. Hingis had ankle surgery in May and was sidelined three months. Also, French Open champion Albert Costa was eliminated by Nicolas Escude 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. ... Michael Chang defeated Francesco Clavet 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round of the Japan Open in Tokyo.

VOLLEYBALL: The United States upset Brazil 3-2 and advance to the second round of the World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Facing a deeper and more experienced Brazilian squad, the United States won 25-22, 20-25, 25-27, 33-31, 15-12.

GOLF: Defending champion Kemp Richardson lost 2 and 1 to Donald Cox in the first round of match play at the Senior Amateur Championship in Jacksonville.

SOCCER: In the largest trade in the WUSA's two-year history, defender Margaret Tietjen and midfielders Shannon Boxx and Sherrill Kester were sent to New York an Dan Diego obtained midfielders Jan Lalow and Wynne McIntosh. The teams also will swap picks in the 2003 draft, with the No. 1 going to San Diego and the No. 2 going to New York. ... Two women were killed and 13 injured when a van carrying a soccer club from Fort Lauderdale collided with two other vehicles on Interstate 75 in south Georgia. Sasja Odenyo, a former player for FIU, and Theresa Wint, a former athletic trainer at FIU, died in the collision Sunday night.

RUNNING: Teresa Wanjiku, the apparent winner in the women's division of the 10K Great Race in downtown Pittsburgh, was dropped to second for not following the course. Viktoria Klimina, who finished a close second on Sunday, was declared the winner.

AMERICA'S CUP: The San Francisco-based Oracle syndicate, Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes, Swiss syndicate Alinghi and Seattle's OneWorld Challenge won on the opening day of the challenger series off Auckland, New Zealand.

ARENA FOOTBALL: The Storm left offensive/defensive linemen Juaquin Feazell, Torry Epps, Keo Coleman and Donald Broomfield exposed for the Oct. 15 expansion draft to stock the new Denver franchise. For every player taken Tampa Bay can pull one back, meaning it can lose no more than two players.

-- ANTONYA ENGLISH, PETE YOUNG, FRANK PASTOR, TIMES WIRES