sports in brief

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, May 2, 2008

Local & state: Registrationfor the SSG is available online

The Sunflower State Games registration is on - that's online at www.sunflowergames.com.

The 2008 Games will be July 11-27 at sites throughout Topeka. There are some new sports and new wrinkles to the Games. Handball, pickleball, powerlifting and table tennis will be added to the competition - bringing the total sports to choose from to 40.

The Governor's Cup 5K/10K races will be moved to Friday, July 18 and will feature a new course starting at Hummer Sports Park. The races will follow the Athlete and Volunteer Festival and opening ceremony party on July 18.

SSG phone numbers are (785) 235-2295 or 1-888-774-7721.

The Kansas basketball team's senior Barnstorming Tour will be at Burlington High School with tipoff at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

KU seniors Russell Robinson, Sasha Kaun, Darnell Jackson, Jeremy Case, Brad Witherspoon and Rodrick Stewart will be available to sign autographs from 6 to 7:15 p.m. The KU seniors will play at team of BHS seniors and other area high schools. Tickets are $10 and are available at BHS, Hoover's Thriftway and State Farm Insurance of Burlington and Yates Center.

The Great Plains Rowing Championships will be contested Saturday and Sunday at Lake Shawnee.

There will be more than 70 events starting at 8 a.m. Saturday. The events will begin from Tin Man Circle on the east side of the Lake.

REGULAR POINTS RACES resume Saturday at Thunderhill Speedway with competition in the modifieds, factory stock and hobby stock. Gates open at 5 p.m., hot laps start at 7 and racing begins at 7:30. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for children 7-18 and 6-under are free.

Lynda Barnes rolled three strikes in the 10th frame to defeat Amy Stolz, 215-195, Wednesday to win the 2008 USBC Queens championship in Taylor, Mich. Barnes, the wife of PBA star and Topeka native Chris Barnes, won $30,000. She also won the Queens in 1998.

GARY WOODLAND shot a 5-over-par 77 and is tied for 141st after the first round of the Nationwide Tour's South Georgia Classic in Valdosta, Ga. Woodland ranked No. 1 in the field in driving distance, averaging 324 yards, but couldn't convert that length into birdies on the long Kinderlou Forest Golf Club. Woodland was just 1- over after 11 holes, but bogeyed Nos. 14 and 17 and double-bogeyed No. 16 to fall out of contention entering today's second round.

Football: Holtz electedto College Hall of Fame

Lou Holtz's first big break in his Hall of Fame career came when he got dumped by his girlfriend.

With no good reason to stay in Ohio, he left a job coaching high school football and became a graduate assistant at Iowa in 1960.

In the end, the scrappy, little coach with the lisp got the gig and the girl. Beth soon had a change of heart and she and Holtz have been married for 47 years.

The 15 newly elected College Football Hall of Famers were announced Thursday.

Joining the 71-year-old Holtz at the announcement in Manhattan were former Northwestern linebacker and current Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald and former Syracuse quarterback Don McPherson. Among the other 11 players chosen were: UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman; LSU tailback Billy Cannon; Texas Tech split end Dave Parks; and Oklahoma State running back Thurman Thomas.

Basketball: Vols' Loftonsays he was treated for cancer

Former Tennessee guard Chris Lofton underwent treatment for testicular cancer after a failed drug test at the 2007 NCAA tournament revealed he potentially had a tumor.

Lofton revealed to ESPN.com in a story posted Thursday that he underwent surgery in March 2007 and had four weeks of radiation starting in May.

According to the ESPN report, Lofton was randomly picked during the 2007 NCAA tournament for a drug test, which revealed high levels of hCG, a hormone that serves as an indicator of pregnancy in women, steroid use or cancer.

Freshman center Eli Holman threw another potential wrench into Indiana's rebuilding project Thursday, telling coaches he intended to transfer before apparently throwing a tantrum that required a call to the campus police.

The meeting, which coach Tom Crean described as cordial initially, certainly did not end that way.

Kevin Durant became the first Seattle player to win the NBA Rookie of the Year award - and perhaps the last.

Durant, the No. 2 pick last year, averaged 20.3 points for the SuperSonics. Durant and the Sonics could be moving to Oklahoma City next season.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman was arrested for allegedly hitting a woman at a Century City hotel.

He was arrested Wednesday night after officers answered a report of a domestic dispute, police said.

Golf: Toms, minus Tiger,takes one-shot lead at Wachovia

The picture of David Toms in his blue winner's jacket is just a few feet from Tiger Woods' smiling mug near the first tee at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C.

The Wachovia Championship gallery knew Woods wasn't around Thursday to defend his title because of knee surgery. Toms broke out with a 5-under 67 to take a one-shot lead over Phil Mickelson and Jason Bohn.