National sports

Hughes contemplating return to competitive ice skating

Olympic skating champion Sarah Hughes is considering a return to competition.

Needing a break from skating, Hughes left the sport last year to attend Yale. But she said Wednesday she hasn’t decided whether to return to school in the fall or try a comeback.

“It was a great year and I was happy to have a break,” Hughes said at a book signing. “I needed a break from everything. Now, it is summer and I have some time to see what I will do. If I decide to skate, I probably won’t go back to Yale.

“I really missed just the skating and jumping and challenging myself to be the best I can be every day. But when I was training, I did not have as much time to experience other things and needed that time to grow as a person. The performance aspect is what I miss and the chance to express myself on the ice.”

After her upset victory at the Salt Lake City Olympics, where her free skate was among the best in skating history, Hughes briefly stepped away from her sport. She returned to classes in high school, appeared at various awards ceremonies and didn’t resume serious training until several months passed.

Although Hughes finished second at the 2003 nationals, she struggled at the world championships, falling to sixth. She then left skating, a move many observers expected would be permanent.

College basketball

Knight agrees to extension

Bob Knight agreed to a three-year contract extension that will keep the basketball coach at Texas Tech until 2009.

Athletic director Gerald Myers told the Associated Press the agreement probably will be signed next week. Knight’s contract pays him $250,000 a year and runs through May 2006.

Knight needs 48 victories to overtake Dean Smith (879) as the winningest coach in Division I. He has led Texas Tech to three consecutive season of at least 20 wins and taken the Red Raiders to postseason play each year.

He will begin his fourth season at Tech – his 39th overall – with 832 wins. He is the victory leader among active coaches following the retirement of Jimmy Phelan of Mount St. Mary’s in 2003.

“The NCAA has determined that infractions in Rhode Island’s basketball program were either isolated or inadvertent, the university said.

The NCAA accepted the corrective and punitive measures Rhode Island has taken – most prominently the loss of one scholarship for three years. It said it won’t require any further action.

The violations occurred between 1997 and 2000 during the coaching tenures of Jim Harrick and Jerry DeGregorio. The NCAA called them “secondary,” meaning in addition to being inadvertent or isolated, they provided only minimal advantages.

Track and field

No world record for Dragila

When Stacy Dragila pole vaulted higher than any woman ever had at an outdoor meet, she celebrated what she believed was a world record.

Not so fast.

The International Association of Athletics Federations said that while it acknowledged the feat as the best outdoor mark, it shouldn’t count as a “world record.” The IAAF recognizes the best indoor or outdoor performance as the record.

Dragila, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist, cleared 15 feet, 10 inches at Tuesday night’s Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva cleared 15 feet, 11 1/4 inches at the world indoor championships in Budapest, Hungary, in March.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said the federation changed its world record rule “some years ago” to take into account both indoor and outdoor performances.

Olympics

NBC expanding coverage

NBC’s blanket coverage of the 2004 Olympics in Athens just got a little thicker.

The network said it was planning an additional 399 hours of Olympics programming this summer for a total of 1,210 hours, or more time on the air than the last five Summer Games combined.

Most of the extra hours are accounted for by a limited number of sports that will be shown in high-definition television on the network’s digital affiliates. Swimming, diving, gymnastics, track & field and medal games in men’s basketball and soccer will be shown on HDTV in a 24-hour tape loop. This is available to less than 10 percent of homes with TVs.

Baseball

Cuban player defects

First baseman and outfielder Kendry Morales, considered by some to be Cuba’s top young player, has defected to the United States.

U.S. immigration officials in Miami confirmed that Morales had arrived in the United States and was allowed to stay.

Morales, a switch-hitter, is said to be 20.