6A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
V
THURSDAY,NOV.1,2001
French star skier dies after accident
The Associated Press
VIENNA, Austria — Regine Cavagnoud, a champion skier who feared motorcycle crashes more than spills on the slopes, died yesterday, two days after slamming into a German coach while training on a glacier.
With her family gathered at her bedside, Cavagnoud's respirator was disconnected after tests showed her brain had ceased to function, said Wolfgang Koller, head of the trauma intensive care unit at the Innsbruck University Clinic.
The 31-year-old speed skier had
just cleared a slight hump on the Pitzal glacier and was hurting down the mountain at about 40 mph when Markus Anwander, a coach from the German team, crossed into her path, witnesses told authorities.
Though Cavagnoud suffered severe head injuries, her brain was functioning when she was admitted to the clinic. Koller said. Her condition worsened as brain swelling compounded the existing injuries, he said.
"She could not turn," said Rudolf Koll, a spokesman for the state attorney's office in Innsbruck.
"One cannot say whether he will recover," Norbert Mutz of the Innsbruck hospital told the Austria Press Agency. "He is a seriously injured patient."
Both sustained severe head injuries in the collision and Cavagnoud went into cardiac arrest. Her coach performed CPR before emergency officials airlifted her and Anwander to the Innsbruck hospital.
Anwander underwent spinal surgery yesterday.
German and French ski officials said the accident was caused by communication problems between their teams, which both were practicing on the Pitztal glacier but were operating on different walkie-talkie frequencies.
Jean-Luc Cretier, the French downhill Olympic champion at the 1998 Nagano Games, told RTL radio that Cavagnoud was a great champion whose death came as a result of her dedication to skiing.
"She died for her work, because of her work," he said. "It is always the best who go first."
Yankee's clutch hitting in ninth ties Series
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Tino Martinez made his first hit of this World Series count.
With New York down to its final out in Game 4, Martinez connected for a game-tying, two-run home run in the ninth inning off Arizona closer
Byung-Hyun Kim to help the Yankees beat the Diamondbacks 4-3 in 10 innings last night.
Martinez had been hitless in nine at-bats in the series against Arizona's
tough pitching and the Yankees had scored only four runs before his big shot helped turned the momentum and tied the Series at two games aniece. New York didn't win it until
Derek Jeter's solo shot in the 11th.
"With two strikes, you just try to get a hit, get a runner on," Jeter said. "We always
feel as though we have a chance to win a game."
Yankees manager Joe Torre has come to expect late-game heroics from his offense.
"When you think about it, it does
n't surprise you, because this ball-club never quits. I know it's a cliché, but I've lived it the last six years," he said.
The celebration wouldn't have been possible without Martinez, who made sure his career with the Yankees will last at least until a Game 6 in Arizona.
Martinez is in the final year of his contract and his future in New York is in doubt. The Yankees have been grooming top prospect Nick Johnson to take over at first base and also might be interested in signing reigning AL MVP Jason Giambi.
uenet. With the tricky, side-arming Kim on the mound, their chances didn't look good even after Paul O'Neill's soft single with one out to left field.
Trailing 3-1 entering the ninth, the Yankees were looking at a 3-1 Series
After Bernie Williams struck out, Martinez walked to the plate. He didn't wait to deliver, hitting Kim's first pitch deep to center field over a leaping Steve Finley and tied the game, sending Yankee Stadium into a frenzy.
O'Neill wildly pumped his fist when the ball cleared the wall. The rest of the Yankees leaped out of the dugout in excitement and greeted a smiling Martinez after he touched home plate with the tying run.
La Russia on McGwire: 'I don't expect him back'
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said yesterday he expects slugger Mark McGwire to retire.
"I don't expect him back," La Russa told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from his California home. "Until it's official, he can change his mind. But I believe he's sincere in this. And he's earned our trust."
The Associated Press
McGwire recently referred to him
self kiddingly as La Russa's "former
first baseman." He strongly hinted of retiring several times this time, when he battled just.187 with 29 home runs.
This spring, he agreed to a two-year, $30 million extension, but La Russa said McGwire never signed the document. The extension technically would pay McGwire $14 million next year and $16 million in 2003, with much of it deferred.
"He's got it in a drawer at home," La Russia said. "I don't think some of the owners even know about this."
La Russia said he had been in
touch with McGwire as recently as Tuesday. La Russa said McGwire didn't mention retirement but instead spoke of his belated birthday celebration. He returned 58 on Oct. 1.
La Russia said he believed McGwire would make his decision public in the next month.
"But who knows what he goes through better than him?" La Russa said. "Nobody deals with the frustration he does. Nobody deals with the rehabilitation and nobody deals with the expectations that he does."
La Russa, who has managed McGwire for all but one year since McGwire broke into the major leagues in 1986, is among those who believes McGwire still can play.
McGwire has 583 career home
runs, fifth on the career list.
McGwire labored through the 2000 season with a bad right knee, missing virtually all of the second half of the season.
He had surgery to correct patella tendinitis but again struggled with the knee this season.
Pacers' second-half drive stupefies young Bulls
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Ineffective in the Indiana Pacers' season opener a night earlier, Jermaine O'Neal decided it was time to just play his game.
O'Neal scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half last night as the Pacers ruined Chicago's season opener, defeating the Bulls 98-73.
"I got frustrated last night and let them take me out of the game and it was happening again tonight in the first half," said O'Neal, who managed just nine points in a loss to the Nets on Tuesday.
Against the Bulls in the first half, he had three fouls and just five points before dominating during a 17-2 second-half run.
He had 12 points in the spurt, twice starting three-point plays with dunks — one over Chicago rookie Eddy Curry — as Indiana went ahead 82-66 with just over six minutes left.
"I can't let the refs or the other guys do that. I tried to prepare myself physically over the summer, but the mental part has been the weakest part of my game." O'Neal said.
"We need him producing." Pacers coach Isiah Thomas said. "I told him to let us take care of the officials and to concentrate and make them pay at the free throw line. That's pretty much the way he played in the preseason. He started dominating in the paint at the end of last year."
O Neal shot 9-of-15 — 8-of-10 in the second half—and also had 10 rebounds. Jamaal Tinsley added 12 points and 13 assists for the Pacers.
Jalen Rose added 19 points after he scored a career-high 43 points against the Nets on Tuesday night when the Pacers lost after blowing a 17-point lead. He didn't play in the fourth quarter.
Brad Miller scored 24 for the Bulls, who managed just 29 second-half points and nine in the final quarter. Ron Mercer added 22.
Curry, hoping to become a successful pro after entering the NBA straight from high school, scored two points on a basket in the final minute. He shot 1-for-6, including an airball on his first attempt.
Tyson Chandler, another prep-to-pro, got in the game in the fourth quarter for Chicago and sank a
PLAY IT AGAIN
SPORTS
We Buy, Sell & Trade USED & NEW Sports Equipment
Male Revue!!
Mon, Nov.5
9pm-11pm
$2 Wells
$2 Beer
913 N. 2nd St. Lawrence, KS • 785-841-4122
841-PLAY
1029 Massachusetts