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Canfield teamswin MAC/TAC titles
CANFIELD -- Canfield's seventh- and ninth-grade girls basketball teams won their brackets of the 2005 MAC/TAC Tournament.
Canfield's freshmen squad defeated Hubbard in the title game while the seventh-grade team defeated Salem. In the eighth-grade game, Howland defeated Salem.
In the boys tournament, Alliance's freshman and eighth-grade teams won.
The Aviators' ninth graders defeated Champion while the eighth graders defeated Salem. In the seventh-grade game, Poland defeated Girard.
IBL seeksreferees
YOUNGSTOWN -- The International Basketball League is seeking referees with college experience for Youngstown Wild Cats home games.
League play begins on April 8. Anyone interested in refereeing should call the IBL at 1-866-IBL-GAME.
Titans earnPAC honors
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Westminster College junior point guard Mark DeMonaco of New Castle has been named to the Presidents' Athletic Conference first team for basketball.
Senior guard Ed Pagley of New Castle was named to the second team while freshman guard Craig Hannon (New Castle/Union High School) was an honorable mention selection.
DeMonaco, who earned all-conference first team recognition for the second consecutive year, leads Westminster in scoring (18.3), assists per game (5.36), three-pointers made per game (3.8) and free-throw percentage (83 percent). He leads the PAC in assists per game and three-pointers made per game.
Pagley earned All-PAC second team laurels for the second straight year. This season, he is averaging 14.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Pagley ranks second in the PAC in three-pointers made per game (3.58), seventh in scoring and eighth in steals per game.
Hannon averaged 13.6 points (third on team), 1.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.8 steals in his rookie campaign for Westminster.
NATION
Daytona 500ratings are up
NEW YORK -- FOX's broadcast of the Daytona 500 tied the highest overnight rating ever for a NASCAR race, Nielsen Media Research said Monday.
Jeff Gordon's thrilling victory Sunday received an overnight rating of 10.9 with a 23 share, matching NBC's broadcast of the 2002 Daytona 500. The race was seen by 18.7 million viewers, second only to the 18.8 million who watched the same race in 2002.
FOX's 10.9/23 was up 3 percent from last year's broadcast on NBC (10.6/24).
Giambi returnsto cheers
TAMPA, Fla. -- Jason Giambi quickly had his first signature moment of 2005.
A little more than 2 hours after arriving at spring training Monday, he walked to the outfield end of the New York Yankees' dugout and stepped onto the field.
How was he welcomed after an offseason filled with steroid allegations?
With cheers and outstretched pens.
There were several hundred people in the stands, and the line of fans waiting for his autograph snaked up through 16 rows of blue seats, then turned back toward home plate on the walkway dividing the lower and upper sections of Legends Field.
For 27 minutes, Giambi signed baseballs, pictures and jerseys. Then he went to the other end of the dugout and spent 8 more minutes giving autographs for a line of children.
"We love you Jason!" yelled Nicole Kyle, 13, of Gloucester, R.I.
Dressed in a black T-shirt and blue jeans, Giambi smiled, posed for fan pictures and seemed at ease. It starkly contrasted his appearance at Yankee Stadium on Feb. 10, when he was dressed in a business suit and fidgeted as he repeatedly apologized, without specifically admitting that he had used steroids.
"It's pretty humbling, pretty incredible, to have the support from the fans," Giambi said as he walked back toward the clubhouse. "It's pretty awesome."
Sprinter Whitedisputes report
SAN FRANCISCO -- Disgraced sprinter Kelli White, one of several athletes at the center of the BALCO scandal, claims a doctor publicly stated she had narcolepsy to cover up her use of a banned stimulant -- even though she never had the sleep disorder, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday.
The paper also quoted grand jury transcripts in which world champion sprinter Tim Montgomery testified that Dr. Brian Goldman wrote a steroids prescription for him under a false name so it wouldn't be traceable.
White told the newspaper that Goldman publicly stated she had a sleep disorder, but that was part of a false story devised by Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative head Victor Conte to cover up a positive drug test.
In August 2003, White tested positive for modafinil after winning gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter sprints during the World Track and Field Championships in Paris. Last year, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency suspended White from competition for two years.
Vindicator staff/wire reports