Sports: Sports briefs

Sports briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

Cycling champ hits tree, dies

Nicole Reinhart, a two-time U.S. track-racing champion, was killed Sunday when she was thrown from her bicycle and struck a tree during the final lap of a race in Arlington, Mass. Race organizer Shawn McBride said a videotape showed that Reinhart, 24, of Mertztown, Pa., racing in the lead pack, was squeezed by other riders just before a turn.

"There were too many riders and too little space," McBride said. Reinhart was taken to Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, where she died.

"This cuts very deep through the whole cycling family," said Philip Milburn, the chief operating officer of USA Cycling, the sport's national and Olympic governing body.

The race was the final event of the 17-race Saturn Professional Tour, which Reinhart was leading. She had won the previous three races in this year's four-event BMC Software Grand Prix, a road-racing event. She would have received a $250,000 bonus if she had won Sunday's race.

The money instead will be used to establish a foundation in her memory, McBride said.

At the Olympic velodrome in Sydney, U.S. team officials didn't tell two of Reinhart's friends from Pennsylvania, Marty Nothstein and Tanya Lindenmuth, until they had competed in qualifying races Monday morning (Sunday night EDT).

"Nicole raced with us and knew so many of the Olympic team members. It really hit all of us very hard," said Sean Petty, director of the U.S. Olympic team.

"She was one of the top five to 10 cyclists in the country," McBride said.

MORE CYCLING: Spaniard Roberto Heras won the Tour of Spain despite a ninth-place finish in the final stage. Heras of the Kelme team finished 2 minutes, 33 seconds ahead of compatriot Angel Casero. Spaniard Santos Gonzalez of ONCE won the 23-mile time trial around Madrid, the final leg of the 21-stage Tour, with a time of 45:26.

BOXING: St. Petersburg's David Santos lost a unanimous decision to USBA super-featherweight champion Steve Forbes in a 12-round bout at the Motor City Casino in Detroit. Santos, 28, led early in the fight but was battered around the eyes near the end. The judges scored it 117-111, 118-110, 120-108. Santos, whose manager advised against facing the up-and-coming Forbes, is 37-4-0 with 25 knockouts; Forbes is 18-1-0 with four KOs. ... Middleweight champion William Joppy retained his title with a unanimous 12-round decision over Hacine Cherifi in one of three WBA championship bouts at Las Vegas Saturday night. Joel Casamayor, the super-featherweight champ, landed a barrage of punches on a bloodied Radford Beasley that forced the referee to stop their bout at 52 seconds of the fifth round. Also, Tharmba Mitchell retained his super-lightweight title against Felix Flores.

BOWLING: Parker Bohn III, the reigning PBA player of the year, won the Japan Cup, an annual U.S.-Japan tournament, for a record third straight year and fourth overall. Bohn, 37, of Jackson, N.J., defeated Yasuyuki Sadamatsu of Tokyo 235-206 in the title match at Tokyo Port Bowl to claim his second title of the year, the 24th of his career and a top prize of $50,000. The championship round started with Tim Criss defeating Ryan Shafer 247-208, Mike Miller beating Criss 213-203, and Sadamatsu knocking off Miller 213-184 and Chris Barnes 196-194.

COLLEGES: Siri Nordby scored four goals as the South Florida women beat host Memphis 7-0 in soccer. ... The USF men's soccer team fell to Furman 4-2 in the Umbro Invitational at Greenville, S.C. Jeff Thwaites and Matt Cavanaugh scored for the Bulls. ... The Tampa men and women posted respective 3-1 and 4-3 victories over West Florida in Pensacola. ... The Miami women's soccer team (5-3, 1-1) fell 2-0 to visiting Boston College (6-2, 1-0) in Big East play. ... Spencer Gloger, a 6-foot-6 sophomore basketball guard at Princeton, has left school and plans to enroll at UCLA when classes begin later this month, his mother told the Trenton (N.J.) Times. Gloger appeared headed to UCLA last year but changed his mind. He averaged 12.0 points last season and received All-Ivy League honorable mention.

RUNNING: Khalid Khannouchi, a newly naturalized American citizen who set the world marathon record last year while competing for his native Morocco, took his third Philadelphia Distance Run title, completing the 13.1-mile half-marathon course in 1 hour, 1 minute and 17 seconds. Kenya's Catherine Ndereba led the women's field in 1:10.01.

TENNIS: U.S. Open champion Marat Safin won another title before heading to the Olympics, beating Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 6-4 to capture the President's Cup in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Safin, 20, seeded second in the event, will be the No. 1 player for Russia at the Sydney Games. He has six career titles, five this year. ... Juan Balcells won his first ATP Tour title, beating Markus Hantschk 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1) in the $375,000 Gelsor Open at Bucharest, Romania. . . . Guy Forget, vowing to become more fit, proved it by defeating Pat Cash 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the title match of the Compaq Seniors tournament in Paris.

HORSES: Burning Roma, making his first graded stakes appearance, was declared the winner of the Grade I, $200,000 Futurity for 2-year-olds at Belmont Park after favored City Zip, ridden by Jose Santos, bumped him in the deep stretch and was disqualified from first to second. It was the first loss in the last five starts for City Zip. Rick Wilson was aboard Burning Roma. ... Schuyler Riley of Hobe Sound rode Carolus H and Ilian to clear rounds in the jumpoff to win first and second place in the $60,000 American Gold Cup grand prix for show jumpers at Devon, Pa. Riley, 29, and her two mounts beat a field of 35 horses and riders. ... Robert and Beverly Lewis paid a top price of $325,000 for a son of Maria's Mon during Sunday's session of Keeneland's September Yearling Sale in Lexington, Ky. Maria Mon was the champion 2-year-old colt of 1995. Keeneland sold 292 horses during the session for $10,685,400, an average of $36,594.

SOFTBALL: The Kids & Kubs, St. Petersburg's softball team for men 75 and older, will compete in the Softball Players Association National Championships Thursday-Sunday at Panama City. Each team will play three round-robin games, with a double-elimination series to determine the champion.

BASKETBALL: Bob Knight thinks he could return to coaching -- in college or the pros -- as soon as next month. "It isn't for sure I'm not going to be coaching by Oct. 15," Knight said, referring to the start of college practice. "I've got to see what commitment I can make." Knight, fired as Indiana coach, said he has offers from college and professional teams.

BOATING: Unlimited hydroplane driver George Stratton died from injuries sustained when his U-5 hydroplane flipped during a test run on San Diego's Mission Bay, the Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Association said in a statement. No details were available on his injuries. Stratton, 44, is survived by his wife and two children.