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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nadal named top seed for US Open

Rafael Nadal is the top seed in this year’s US Open.  (Associated Press)

Tennis: Seeking to complete the career Grand Slam, Rafael Nadal will be the top-seeded man when the U.S. Open starts next week, while Roger Federer will come to Flushing Meadows seeded second.

Nadal, who won the French Open and Wimbledon this year, is seeded first at the U.S. Open for the second time in three years. He has never made it past the semifinals.

Missing from New York will be defending men’s champion Juan Martin del Potro, who remains sidelined with a lingering wrist injury. Del Potro defeated Federer in last year’s final, ending his string of five straight U.S. Open titles. Federer, who won the Australian Open this year, is seeking his 17th Grand Slam tournament title.

Seeded third for the men is Novak Djokovic, followed by Andy Murray at No. 4. Robin Soderling, Nikolay Davydenko, Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco round out the top eight.

At No. 9, Andy Roddick is the highest seeded American man.

Course record 62 at first day of U.S. Am

Golf: Jeff Wilson shot the second lowest score in 110-year history of the U.S. Amateur to take a seven-stroke lead after the first day of play.

The 47-year-old Wilson, from Fairfield, Calif., closed his round with a pair of eagles for a course-record 62 at the par-72, 7,420-yard Home Course at University Place near Tacoma – one of two courses used for the championship.

He had seven birdies, two eagles and one bogey, recording a 29 on the back nine, which tied the lowest nine-hole score.

The Amateur features 312 players from 15 countries. The first two days are stroke play at The Home Course and Chambers Bay. Five days of match play will follow at Chambers, with a 36-hole championship match Sunday.

Nick Taylor, winner of this year’s Ben Hogan Award as the nation’s top collegiate golfer, is one of nine players at 3 under. Taylor, who is from Abbotsford, British Columbia and played four years at the University of Washington, shot a 3-under 69 on The Home Course.

FitzSimmons in Hall

College Football: The NAIA Hall of Fame Committee has named former Carroll College and Detroit Lions tight end Casey FitzSimmons as a member of the 2011 class.

FitzSimmons will be inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame on Jan. 9 during the American Football Coaches Association convention in Dallas.

Carroll football coach Mike Van Diest says FitzSimmons helped build the foundation for the success the team has achieved over the past decade.

FitzSimmons finished his college career with 244 receptions for 2,698 yards and 21 touchdowns.

• Police use stun gun on naked OSU player: Corvallis police responding to an early morning call about a naked stranger inside a home eventually resorted to stun guns to take Oregon State University football player Tyler Patrick Thomas into custody.

Police say the young man refused to comply with officers’ instructions to get down on the ground early Sunday morning. Instead, Sgt. Mike Mann says the nude man dropped into a “3-point stance, like football players do, like a lineman, and lunged at the officers.”

The newspaper reports Thomas was dismissed from the OSU team after the arrest. An offensive lineman, Thomas redshirted the 2009 season for the Beavers.

BSU receiver out: Boise State wide receiver Matt Miller is out for the season after tearing the Achilles tendon in his right leg.

Mexico boots Puerto Rico from LLWS

Little League: Puerto Rico had a sloppy exit from the series after committing seven errors. The go-ahead run by Mexico’s Aaron Juarez scored in the fifth after catcher Victor Valentin mishandled a throw to the plate with the bases loaded.

Eduardo Mata struck out 11 and pitched a five-hitter for Mexico.

Taiwan throttled Canada 23-0. Shao-Fei Huang drove in six runs and Hsun Hao Shih hit two long homers for Taiwan, which scored six in the first.

Huang has four doubles in the series. The 23 runs is the third most in a game by one team since 1992. Three Taiwan pitchers combined on a one-hitter.

In a consolation game, Kyle Foley scored the go-ahead run after reaching base on an overturned call to lift Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, past Plymouth, Minn., 2-1.

Foley was initially called out on a play at first in the fifth. Replay officials reversed the call after manager Gary Harrington challenged in a new wrinkle this year for the World Series replay system.

Two McMinnville HS players still in hospital

High school football: The McMinnville High School Grizzlies opened fall football practice on Monday while two of their teammates remained hospitalized and doctors tried to determine why 24 players developed a condition that caused intense pain and dangerous swelling in their arms.

Authorities say 11 players were treated in the emergency room last week, 13 were admitted and three required surgery to relieve pressure caused by the swelling.

Physicians still don’t know why so many players came down with the condition, called compartment syndrome, which is marked by high enzyme levels in the blood and can be caused by certain drugs or by strenuous exercise, dehydration or a combination of factors.