College Sports
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt freshman pitcher Donny Everett drowned while fishing in Tennessee a day before the Commodores were to open the NCAA Tournament on Friday. He was 19.
The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Friday that Everett was with two teammates and two other people when he tried to swim across Normandy Lake near a bridge on Thursday. The lake is about 60 miles southeast of Nashville.
Everett was halfway across when he asked for help, but friends told Deputy Charles Taylor that they thought Everett was joking because he was smiling. One person went into the water and pulled Everett several feet before letting go, still thinking Everett was joking and struggling to stay afloat himself. When he looked back, Everett had gone under and did not re-surface.
IRVING, Texas – The Big 12 is bringing back its football championship game in 2017.
Commissioner Bob Bowlsby says the conference’s presidents and chancellors voted Friday to approve “in concept the re-implementation of a championship football game.”
How the 10-team conference will decide which teams play in the championship is still to be determined. The Big 12 currently plays a nine-game, round-robin schedule, with no divisions, but that could change even if the conference does not add members.
Cycling
CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Corben Sharrah headlines a seven-man field named by USA Cycling to the men’s BMX Long Team that will compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
The trials will take place June 11 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.
Sharrah, a top contender, was an automatic nomination to the trials, along with Jeffrey Upshaw and Jared Garcia.
Connor Fields, a 2012 Olympian, and Nic Long also received automatic nominations to the long team, but the contenders will not race in the trials.
On the women’s side, 2012 Olympian Alise Post has clinched an automatic bid to Team USA for finishing third at Worlds and winning the power rankings.
Golf
DUBLIN, Ohio – Matt Kuchar took advantage of another humid day with little wind for a 6-under 66 to share the early second-round lead with Brendan Steele at the Memorial.
Steele had a good tuneup for the Memorial. He played a few matches with Phil Mickelson at home near San Diego. He says the five-time major champion beat him badly, so he knew he needed to step up his game. He shot 67 and joined Kuchar at 12-under 132.
Soccer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Cristian Zapata scored his first international goal, James Rodriguez added a 42nd-minute penalty kick, and Colombia beat the United States 2-0 Friday night in the opener of the Copa America.
U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann spoke before this about the importance of a strong showing in the special edition 100th anniversary Copa to create buzz for a potential 2026 World Cup bid. Instead, the 31st-ranked Americans began the biggest tournament at home since the 1994 World Cup with a dud as FIFA President Gianni Infantino watched among the announced sellout crowd of 67,439.
The Americans will look to rebound on Tuesday against Costa Rica at Chicago, then close their group stage four days later against Paraguay at Philadelphia.
Associated Press
