Sports in brief: Cheney Rodeo this weekend

Rodeo: Many of the top cowboys and cowgirls from the Northwest converge on Cheney this weekend for the 42nd annual Cheney Rodeo.

The three-day Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event has performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Bi-Mart Arena and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Big Bend Rodeo Co. of Ritzville is the stock contractor.

Although most national-caliber cowboys and cowgirls have to bypass Cheney because it conflicts with the lucrative Calgary Stampede, the best of the Columbia River Circuit have entered.

Leading the way is calf roper Brad Goodrich of Hermiston, Ore., who is leading the CR standings and is 16th nationally. The defending CR all-around champion is scheduled to compete Sunday.

Oregon cowboy Joe Meling, the CR bull riding leader, is up Friday, along with a pair of defending Cheney champions, bareback rider Ben Londo from Pendleton, Ore., and tie-down roper Kass Kayser of Ellensburg.

Barbara West of Oak Harbor, Wash., the defending barrel racing champion, competes Saturday along with defending champion steer wrestler B.J. Taruscio of Walla Walla.

Injured Casto returning home

Basketball: Washington State sophomore DeAngelo Casto’s sore right knee has turned out to be a torn meniscus, according to USA Basketball, and will force the Ferris graduate to leave the FIBA U19 World Championships early.

WSU assistant sports information director Jessica Schmick said Casto would return home from Auckland, New Zealand, in the next few days and would then be evaluated by team doctors.

Police: Girlfriend shot McNair

FOOTBALL: Former NFL star Steve McNair was shot dead in his sleep last week by a 20-year-old girlfriend distraught about mounting financial problems and her belief that he was seeing someone else, Nashville, Tenn., police said Wednesday.

Sahel Kazemi “was spinning out of control” when she shot McNair four times as he dozed on a sofa early Saturday, then turned the gun on herself, Police Chief Ronal Serpas said.

Police earlier had labeled McNair’s death a homicide, but waited for further tests and the revelations about Kazemi’s personal problems before concluding that she pulled the trigger of a 9mm semiautomatic pistol in a condominium McNair rented.

“We do know that she was clearly sending a message during the last five to seven days of her life that things were going bad quickly,” Serpas said.

Serpas said police believe McNair was asleep when he was killed because there were no defensive wounds.

McNair was married with four children.

Associated Press