Fast Break

AUTO RACING

Patrick on wish list for USF1

An American team will be racing in Formula One next year, and IndyCar driver Danica Patrick is a candidate to fill one of the seats.

USF1, which will be unveiled Feb. 24, will have a staff of at least 100, a working budget of $64 million and an aim to put two American drivers on the starting grid. The team is looking at several candidates, including Patrick.

“She’s great. She gets a lot of press,” USF1 technical director Ken Anderson told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. “(Indianapolis Motor Speedway president) Tony George would probably be pretty mad with me if I took her out of the IRL but we’ll see.

“I don’t know if it’s something she wants to do. We’d certainly love to test her and go from there.”

SWIMMING

Whit men, Turner, Woodward tops

Whitworth University won its seventh consecutive men’s Northwest Conference swimming championship and the University of Puget Sound edged the Whitworth women to claim its 12th overall title as the event concluded Sunday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.

Whitworth standout Natalie Turner won women’s swimmer of the meet for the third consecutive time. She won the 200-, 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle races, all in meet-record time.

Michael Woodward of Whitworth, who won three freestyle events in meet-record time, and Jay Jones of Pacific Lutheran, who won three events, shared men’s swimmer of the meet honors.

CYCLING

Armstrong’s bike stolen

Lance Armstrong’s time-trial bike has been stolen from the Team Astana truck.

It was taken during the night before Stage 1 of the Tour of California in Santa Rosa. Armstrong rode that bike to a 10th-place finish Saturday during the Tour prologue.

Armstrong persevered through a gloomy Sunday to finish near the front of the grueling 107-mile first stage. He led a chase group that never quite caught up to the race leaders, including surprise stage winner Francisco Mancebo of Spain.