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By DEBI JONES, Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 2, 2001
World hockey event test for U.S. women
Angela Ruggiero is missing two years of college. A.J. Mleczko sees her husband twice a month. Natalie Darwitz is finishing high school via the Internet.
Every woman on the U.S. hockey team has a story like that. They are training together for two years for the 2002 Olympics.
A year of togetherness produced a close-knit team that won the inaugural women's Olympic gold medal, in 1998. So the United States is doing it again to prepare for Salt Lake City.
This week it gets a test at the world championships in Minneapolis. Competition begins tonight. The gold medal game is Sunday. The United States opens against Germany tonight.
Canada has won all six world championships, beating the U.S. team in the final every time.
BOXING: David Reid, a former WBA super-middleweight champion, easily outpointed Urbano Gurrola in a 10-round unanimous decision Sunday at Las Vegas. ... Plodding and slow but very resilient, 43-year-old Tim Witherspoon earned a majority decision over Eliecer Castillo in a 10-round heavyweight bout at Atlantic City, N.J., late Saturday.
BASKETBALL: The ThunderDawgs won their ABA 2000 regular-season finale 122-117 over host Indiana. Ace Custis had 35 points and 10 rebounds.
COLLEGES: Florida starting fullback Rob Roberts, from Pasco County High, injured a knee during Saturday's scrimmage. UF officials could not say how serious the injury is. ... In baseball, Blair McCaleb went 2-for-3 and scored two runs as host Florida State completed a sweep of Wake Forest with a 6-5 win. Cal State-Fullerton swept its three-game series with host Miami, winning 9-2. Memphis scored 10 runs in the seventh inning to defeat host South Florida 15-8. Eddie Rojas (2-0) pitched a career-high seven innings to help UF extend its winning streak to 10 with a 9-5 victory over host Vanderbilt. Barry defeated host Eckerd 13-10. ... In softball, visiting FSU swept Georgia State 10-0 and 9-1, both in five innings. Alabama-Birmingham shut out host South Florida 1-0. Visiting Tampa swept FIT 1-0 and 5-1. Host Eckerd lost a doubleheader to Rollins, 10-1 and 2-0. ... In men's tennis, USF lost to host South Alabama 6-1. Visiting FSU lost to Duke 7-0. ... In women's tennis, host UM lost to South Alabama 5-2. ... In women's golf, UF won the Florida Women's Collegiate Championships with a three-day total of 895 at Miami Lakes. USF was third (903), UM fifth (909) and FSU sixth (911).
FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE: The Cheltenham Festival, Europe's biggest horse jump race meet, was canceled when the outbreak came within five miles of the course in England.
SOCCER: U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller sustained a concussion in Rayo Vallecano's 3-1 win over Valladolid in the Spanish League. Doctors said the injury was not serious. Keller, the United States' starter at the 1998 World Cup, had X-rays at a hospital. He was released and rejoined Rayo Vallecano for the trip home to Madrid, said Javier Rodriquez, a spokesman for Valladolid's stadium. ... Maldives, a tiny Indian Ocean archipelago of 280,000, routed visiting Cambodia 6-0 in the opening game of its World Cup qualifying group, sparking nationwide celebrations. It was the first Cup qualifying win for Maldives.
SWIMMING: Erik Vendt won his second event of the U.S. championships, the 1,500-meter freestyle at Austin, Texas. Ian Crocker won the 100 butterfly on the final day of competition. Diana Munz won the 800 freestyle, Jamie Reid the 200 backstroke and Tammie Stone the 50 free.
WINTER SPORTS: Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States won two gold medals on the final day of the world short track speed skating championships at Chonju, South Korea. The 2001 World Cup overall champion won the men's 3,000 meters and the 5,000 relay, teaming with Ron Biondo, Rusty Smith and Daniel Weinstein. China's Yang Yang won three more gold, giving her four for the competition. ... The American women extended their unbeaten streak to four matches at the Curling World Championships at Lausanne, Switzerland. The Americans were the only women's rink to remain undefeated, downing Russia 7-4 and Switzerland 7-5.