Sports Briefing
USPS to end its sponsorship of Armstrong at end of year

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The U.S. Postal Service is ending its sponsorship of celebrated cyclist Lance Armstrong, winner of five consecutive Tour de France races.

The agency has sponsored Armstrong's pro cycling team for eight years and will do so through the end of 2004.

Armstrong said he was disappointed, but not surprised, by the USPS decision.

• Armstrong maintained his overall lead over Jens Voigt after the fifth stage of the Tour de Georgia.

Armstrong raced from Dalton to Dahlonega in 5 hours, 41 minutes, 9 seconds, finishing ninth in the stage and keeping his lead over Voigt at 24 seconds. The seven-stage event ends tomorrow.

Track and field

A check for $7,350 from the bank account of Olympic champion Marion Jones was written to the man at the center of the BALCO drug scandal, The New York Times reported, citing two sources familiar with bank records in the case.

Jones' lawyers, while not disputing that it came from her account, said she had not signed or authorized the check to Victor Conte Jr., one of four men indicted on charges of distributing illegal drugs to elite athletes.

College baseball

Senior Johnny Spencer of Bacone College in Muskogee, Okla., struck out 25 in a 4-0 victory over Jarvis Christian on Thursday, one strikeout shy of the NAIA record.
 
Cary Spain of Belmont (Tenn.) fanned 26 in 1979 in a 15-inning game for the NAIA mark.

College basketball

Miami guard Armondo Surratt will transfer after he was granted a release from his scholarship.

College football

Some women who work in the Colorado athletic department are concerned about off-color comments and a "good old boys network," according to a survey.

The university — under fire for its recruiting practices — released the survey to a Board of Regents panel investigating the football program, including whether sex and alcohol were used to entice recruits.

Soccer

Columbus midfielder Frankie Hejduk, already fined $250 and suspended for a game for hitting a player during a match, has been fined an additional $500 by Major League Soccer's disciplinary committee.

Hejduk, who hit Kansas City's Alex Zotinca in the mouth last Saturday, can't play today in Los Angeles.

• Doctors removed former Argentina superstar Diego Maradona, 43, from a respirator, but he remained in intensive care in Buenos Aires for a sixth consecutive day battling severe heart and lung problems. Doctors said he is making progress.

Tennis

Marat Safin beat Alberto Martin 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 at the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco, advancing to a semifinal matchup with Guillermo Coria.

Coria defeated David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-3.

In the other semifinal, Rainer Schuettler will meet Carlos Moya.

Ski jumping

Art Devlin, a former U.S. Olympian and a sports broadcaster for CBS and ABC, died of cancer Thursday in Lake Placid, N.Y. He was 81.

Horse racing

Five jockeys scheduled to ride in next Saturday's Kentucky Derby, including Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey, sued the state racing authority for the right to wear advertising during the Derby. Jose Santos, Alex Solis, Shane Sellers and John Velazquez are the other jockeys who sued.

— Times news services

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company