LOCAL

LOCAL
Lowellville tickets
LOWELLVILLE -- Tickets for Lowellville High's girls regional tournament game against Mansfield St. Peter's tonight will be on sale today from 9 a.m. to noon at the high school.
Lowellville plays Mansfield St. Peter's tonight at 7:30.
Hockey playoffs
CANTON -- The Mooney/Ursuline/Boardman club hockey team will play in the Inaugural Buckeye Cup this weekend.
The Buckeye Cup is the culmination of the first ever state championship tournament for high school club hockey teams. MUB qualified by gaining enough points, finishing with a 6-5-1 record and winning its first round game in the North Coast League playoffs.
MUB will play Villa-Angela- St. Joseph today at noon and Columbus-Pickerington-Reynoldsburg at 8 p.m.
Both games will be played at the Center Ice Arena in Canton.
REGION
Ohio State to hire athletic director
COLUMBUS -- Ohio State is hiring Arizona State's athletic director to take over a program trying to shake off a series of NCAA investigations and other public relations fiascos, the director of a membership organization for athletic directors said Friday.
Gene Smith, a Cleveland native who played football at Notre Dame before leading athletic departments at three universities, flew to Columbus on Friday to work out the deal, said Dutch Baughman, director of the Division 1A Athletic Directors' Association.
Ohio State said it would hold a 2 p.m. news conference today.
WORLD
Brecksville repeats as gymnastics champion
DUBLIN -- Tricia Stine scored 9.525 on bars and 9.65 in the floor exercise to lead Brecksville-Broadview Heights to its second consecutive state gymnastics championship Friday night.
Christina Lenny scored 9.4 on vault and Christine Abou-Mitri had a 9.575 on beam as the Bees racked up a state record 149.90 points to beat second-place Medina by 1.65 points.
It was the fourth championship in six years for Brecksville and their fifth title overall.
Rocky River Magnificat finished third with 144.2 points followed by Findlay (142), Cincinnati Turpin (141.8), Cincinnati Anderson (141.35), Columbus DeSales (140.375), North Royalton (139.725), Chardon Notre Dame Cathedral Latin (139.20), Miamisburg (136), Perrysburg (135.30) and Hilliard Darby (135.225).
The individual competition is Saturday.
NATION
Agassi loses, Roddick wins opening matches
CARSON, Calif. -- Andre Agassi stumbled in his return to Davis Cup play, then Andy Roddick stepped up to square things for the Americans.
Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic beat Agassi in straight sets in Friday's opening match. Roddick bounced back after a first-set loss to defeat Mario Ancic 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the second and final match of the day.
Ljubicic downed Agassi 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 in the match of Croatia's No. 1 player against the U.S. team's No. 2.
The first round resumes today, with twins Mike and Bob Bryan scheduled to face Ljubicic and Ancic.
Roddick will play Ljubicic in Sunday's first match, with Agassi slated to go against Ancic in the fifth and final match of the first-round competition.
Judge postpones Conte hearing
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge postponed a hearing on Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative founder Victor Conte's allegations that federal agents illegally searched his office and wrongly obtained statements from him and another executive.
Conte is accused of steroid-conspiracy charges for allegedly distributing illegal steroids that eventually made their way to as many as 30 baseball, football and track and field stars. Also indicted last year were Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' weight trainer; James Valente, BALCO's vice president; and Remy Korechemny, a track coach.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston approved the delay Friday for the March 16 evidentiary hearing a day after Conte fired his attorney and hired two San Francisco white-collar criminal defense attorneys, Mary McNamara and Ed Swanson. Illston did not set a new hearing date.
Outside the courtroom, McNamara told reporters her client obtained new counsel because Conte "wanted to make a fresh start and refocus his defense. We feel more can be done to oppose these charges."
Judge Illston asked Conte's departing attorney, Robert Holley of Sacramento, whether he would stay on for the March hearing, saying she was "concerned about moving the matter forward."
Holley replied: "I don't think it would be appropriate to represent Mr. Conte anymore." He added that "Mr. Conte and I have a conflict of interest."
WORLD
Renault's Fisichellasurprise leader
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Giancarlo Fisichella took the lead in qualifying for Renault before rain caused havoc Saturday at the Australian Grand Prix.
Fisichella had the fastest lap of one minute, 33.171 seconds during preliminary qualifying. A sudden downpour over Albert Park 35 minutes into the session made the track slippery for the last eight drivers, including defending Australian GP and series champion Michael Schumacher.
Vindicator staff/wire reports