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Sports briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2001

Blind runner breaks indoor 5,000 record

Marla Runyan, the first legally blind athlete to make a U.S. Olympic team, came to New York on a mission: break the American indoor record in the women's 5,000 meters.

Running the final 2,800 meters by herself Sunday, Runyan finished in 15 minutes, 7.33 seconds, more than 15 seconds faster than the mark of 15:22.64 by Lynn Jennings in 1990.

The 32-year-old shattered the American best for 3 miles, 14:56.0, that Jennings ran during her 5,000-meter race. Runyan was timed at 14:40.56 for 3 miles.

"My focus was going to be on the 5,000 this year," said Runyan, the eighth-place finisher in the 1,500 meters at the Sydney Games, the best by an American in that event at the Olympics. "With a new coach, we wrote (chasing the record) down as a goal in November."

MORE TRACK: Gabriela Szabo broke the world indoor record for the women's 3,000 meters. Szabo, running the last seven laps virtually alone, was timed in 8:32.88 in Birmingham, England. The mark of 8:33.82 was set in 1989 by Elly van Hulst of the Netherlands. ... Sydney Olympic marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi won the women's 30-kilometer Ohme road race in Tokyo in 1:41:57. ... Regina Jacobs, the American 5,000-meter record holder, charged the hills at Fort Vancouver, Wash., in 12 minutes, 37 seconds, for 4,000 meters, for her first U.S. cross-country title. ... American record-holder Jeff Hartwig won the pole vault at 18 feet, 91/4 inches in the International Superstars Invitational in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

NHRA: John Force earned to his 93rd career Funny Car victory, beating Bruce Sarver in the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals in Chandler, Ariz. Force had a quarter-mile run of 4.929 seconds at a top speed of 285.77 mph. Doug Kalitta took the Top Fuel (4.628, 309.84), and Warren Johnson earned his 82nd career Pro Stock victory (6.924, 199.20).

BASKETBALL: The Tampa Bay ThunderDawgs lost their sixth consecutive game, 107-104 to the Memphis Houn'dawgs in overtime. Darryl Wilson scored 26 points for the Houn'dawgs, who won after trailing 24-8 in the first quarter. Lonnie Harrell scored 21 points for Tampa Bay. John Strickland missed two free throws with 30 seconds left, and Memphis took advantage as Bryan Christensen's free throws tied it with a second left. Christensen's two three-pointers in overtime put the game away.

BOWLING: Ricky Ward won his fifth PBA Tour title, beating Jason Couch of Clermont 269-237 in the Tar Heel Open in Burlington, N.C.

BOXING: Erik Morales won the WBC featherweight title with a unanimous decision against Guty Espadas in Las Vegas.

COLLEGES: Mike Eylward's two-run double keyed a six-run eighth inning that allowed South Florida to beat visiting Jacksonville in baseball 13-8. ... Florida won at Florida State 6-5 behind Brian Rose's three RBI, ending a six-game losing streak against the Seminoles in baseball. ... Kevin Brown and Kevin Mannix homered as host Miami completed a three-game baseball sweep of Elon 7-4. ... The South Florida softball team improved to 6-9 with a 4-3 win against Maryland and 2-0 win against Hofstra. Jessi Kowal pitched her third shutout of the season. ... The Florida men's tennis team lost 4-1 at Washington. ... The Miami women's tennis team lost to visiting Texas A&M 4-3. ... Florida State's softball team won the Sunshine Tournament with a 5-4 win against Boston College. ... Eckerd's softball team swept St. Thomas 4-3 and 3-1 behind the pitching of Angie Altman and Lindsay Sivard. ... Miami's Patricia Pearson and Natalie Watson had the fastest times in the nation for a 1-2 finish in the 800 meters at the Big East Indoor Track Championships in Syracuse, N.Y.

TENNIS: Martina Hingis won the $170,000 Qatar Open with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Sandine Testud at Doha. ... Tim Henman beat defending champion Andreas Vinciguerra 6-3, 6-4 to win the Copenhagen Open. ... Amelie Mauresmo won her second title in less than a week, capturing the inaugural Terazura Open before her home fans in Nice, France, 6-2, 6-0 over Magdalena Maleeva. ... Yevgeny Kafelnikov celebrated his 27th birthday by beating Sebastien Grosjean 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to win the Marseille Open. ... Japan won two singles matches in Tokyo to beat Thailand 4-1 and advance to the second round of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania zone.

WINTER SPORTS: Pierrick Bourgeat won his second World Cup slalom in two days at Shigakogen, Japan. ... Cross-country skier Jari Isometsa flunked a drug test. ... Janica Kostelic won her 10th straight World Cup slalom title in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. ... Georg Hackl won the final luge title of the World Cup season in Lake Placid, N.Y. ... Gianni Romme won the 5,000 meters by almost three seconds in a World Cup speed-skating meet in Hamar, Norway.

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