Sports briefs
Negaunee sets athlete intros
NEGAUNEE – A Meet the Miners program is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Negaunee High School Auditorium.
All winter sports athletes are expected to attend with at least one parent or guardian.
Team introductions and team meetings will take place, as well as a signup for booster club concession workers for winter home athletic events.
Meet the Patriots on Nov. 30
ISHPEMING – Westwood High School will hold its winter sports Meet the Patriots event at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 30, in the high school gymnasium.
Parents or guardians of winter sports athletes are encouraged to attend and the public is invited as well.
Snow postpones playoff game
JACKSON, Mich. (AP) – Heavy snow and less than optimum field conditions have forced the postponement of a Michigan high school football state semifinal game.
Michigan High School Athletic Association spokesman John Johnson said the Division 3 match between Coldwater and Chelsea was moved from Saturday to today at Jackson High School.
Johnson says Jackson school officials determined they couldn’t make the surface playable Saturday.
Meteorologist Nathan Jeruzal said five to eight inches of snow is expected along a corridor from Battle Creek toward Port Huron. Jackson is in that corridor.
Gordon can go out on top
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) – It’s a Hall of Fame career that includes four championships, 93 victories and more than $150 million in winnings. He’s got a beautiful family, a reputation as one of the good guys and a popularity that transcends NASCAR.
Now Jeff Gordon has a chance to write the ultimate Hollywood ending to what’s already an illustrious career.
Gordon will retire after today’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he pushed aside a season of mediocrity and clawed his way into the championship picture. A win this month at Martinsville Speedway – the only victory of his 23rd season – put Gordon in the field of four who will race for the Sprint Cup title.
In this winner-take-all format, Gordon simply has to finish higher than reigning champion Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. to capture the fifth title that has eluded him for 14 years.
Sports briefs
MSHS?grad Davis skates to 3rd
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Russia’s Pavel Kulizhnikov broke the world 500-meter record for the second time in a week Friday, finishing in 33.98 seconds in a World Cup speedskating event.
Kulizhnikov set the previous mark of 34.00 on Sunday in Calgary, Alberta, breaking the record of 34.03 set by Canada’s Jeremy Wotherspoon in 2007.
The Netherlands’ Kjeld Nuis won the 1,500 in 1:42.14. American Joey Mantia was second in 1:42.45, and teammate Shani Davis third in 1:42.90. Davis trained earlier in his career at the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University in Marquette and is also a Marquette Senior High School graduate.
Forest Park bows out in semis
BATTLE CREEK – Forest Park’s run at a Class D state championship in volleyball run ended Thursday in the MHSAA semifinals at Kellogg Arena.
The Trojans (39-2-3), unbeaten since its season opener, bowed to Leland in four sets, 23-25, 27-25, 25-18, 28-26.
Hoping to reach its first state final match, the Trojans led 23-20 in the first set as two of Libby Shamion’s five kills in the first set finished it off.
In the fourth set, Forest Park reeled off six straight points to erase an 11-8 deficit and move ahead 14-11. But Leland answered with six straight points to deadlock it 20-20. The Comets snapped a 26-26 tie by scoring on a Trojans’ miscue and Allie Martin kill.
Sports briefs
NMU women nab exhibition win
MARQUETTE – The Northern Michigan University women’s basketball team opened up the 2015-16 season with an exhibition win over Wisconsin-Superior on Saturday afternoon.
Redshirt freshman Chloe Tompkins led NMU with 17 points, while Bre Gaspervich chipped in 14 and Kendall Martenet grabbed seven rebounds. Northern scored 39 points off turnovers.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back. Superior made things interesting in the third quarter, part of the change in college women’s basketball to quarters this season, as it pulled within three points of the Wildcats by the end of the period.
However, NMU outscored the Yellow Jackets 26-9 in the fourth to close out the win.
Northern starts its regular season on Saturday when it takes on host Quincy at the Great Lakes Valley Conference/GLIAC Challenge in Quincy, Illinois.
Kitto named junior tennis rep
MARQUETTE – Josh Kitto of Ishpeming has been appointed as the junior team tennis coordinator for U.S. Tennis Association’s Midwest Northern District.
Kitto is a tennis professional and runs various programs around Marquette County. He is an instructor at the YMCA, serves on the USTA Junior Development Committee and is director of the Marquette County Start-Restart tennis program.
For information about tennis-related questions in the area, call Kitto at 250-0669 or email him at crossbone1976@gmail.com.
Ex-Sun leads Pistons in Phoenix
PHOENIX (AP) – Marcus Morris, who said he was looking to “disrespect” his former team in Phoenix and was booed every time he touched the ball early in the game, scored 20 points to help the Detroit Pistons open a six-game road trip with a 100-92 victory over the Suns on Friday night.
Morris’ twin brother Markieff had 18 points for the Suns.
Reggie Jackson scored 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter for Detroit and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 18.
Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight scored 22 points apiece for the Suns, who trailed throughout after the game’s early moments. Bledsoe fouled out with 1:47 to play.
Andre Drummond had 12 points and 16 rebounds for the Pistons but was 2 of 13 from the free throw line.
The victory put Detroit at 4-1 for the first time since 2008.
American Pharoah draws big fee
(AP)?- Triple Crown winner American Pharoah will stand at stud for $200,000, among the highest prices for a horse in his first year as a stallion.
The fee was set by Ashford Stud, Coolmore’s American breeding facility in Versailles, Kentucky. The farm purchased the colt’s breeding rights from owner Ahmed Zayat for an undisclosed amount earlier in the year.
American Pharoah capped his spectacular career with a victory in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland in Lexington on Oct. 31. Two days later, the 3-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile was sent to Ashford.
A stallion typically books up to 200 mares in a year, which means American Pharoah’s first-year worth could be $40 million. The colt earned $8,650,300 on the track with nine wins in 11 races.
The breeding season at Ashford Stud begins Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.
Keselowski wins Xfinity race
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – Brad Keselowski won the NASCAR Xfinity race at Texas, leading a race-high 62 of 200 laps and wrapping up a third consecutive owners’ championship for Roger Penske.
While Penske got a title Saturday, the Xfinity drivers’ championship is still undecided with two races left.
Points leader Chris Buescher finished 11th and has a 24-lead over defending champion Chase Elliott, who finished eighth. Regan Smith was 31 points behind after finishing ninth.
Keselowski has two series victories this year and 34 overall. He had an average speed of 139.607 mph in the No. 22 Ford to finish ahead of Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon and Erik Jones.
Sports briefs
St. Norbert honors Gwinn’s Wells
GWINN – Gwinn High School graduate Jacob Wells of St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, has been saluted for his academics.
The senior linebacker has been named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Division III Football Academic All-District IV team.
Wells holds a 3.82 grade-point average in business administration.
On the gridiron, he is the Green Knights’ third-leading tackler with 44 tackles. Wells has 5 1/2 tackles for loss, a sack and an interception this season at linebacker after playing as a defensive back his first three seasons.
He’s a dean’s list student.
Lidstrom, Fedorov bound for Hall
(AP)?- The NHL has been transformed from a North American league to a truly international one over the last couple of decades. Sweden’s Nicklas Lidstrom and Russia’s Sergei Fedorov had a lot to do with that.
“Those guys were in the first wave,” said Dallas Stars president Jim Lites. “Twenty-five years ago, Europeans were extras in the league. Those guys were once-in-a-generation superstars. And, the NHL hasn’t been the same since because every team has players from all over the world.”
Two-plus decades after the duo arrived in Detroit – in much different ways – they are set to be inducted Monday into the Hockey Hall of Fame along with Phil Housley, Chris Pronger, Angela Ruggiero, Bill Hay and Peter Karmanos.
The Red Wings drafted Lidstrom in the third round and Fedorov in the fourth in 1989.
Logano confident at Texas track
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – Joey Logano arrived at Texas with a clear conscience, an easy smile and a new focus after being intentionally wrecked by Matt Kenseth last weekend.
Kenseth’s two-race suspension begins this Sunday after his appeals were rejected. Logano said the incident at Martinsville when he was leading might not have been such a bad thing.
“Our team is more fired up than ever, I’m more focused than ever, I’m pretty pumped up about being here at the race track,” Logano said Friday. “We’ve still got plenty of confidence.”
Logano is last among the eight drivers still in contention for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. He had won three consecutive races and was leading with 47 laps left when he was wrecked by Kenseth as payback from an incident three races earlier.
NASCAR suspended Kenseth, putting Erik Jones in the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing for Sunday’s race. Kenseth’s probation was reduced from six months to the end of the year, but he remains suspended and promised Thursday to race as he always has going forward.