area

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Prep cross country

ERIE, Pa. — The Boardman High girls cross country team finished with 237 points for eighth place on Saturday at the Erie McDowell Invitational.

Katie Heney led the Spartans by finishing eighth out of 170 runners with a time of 20:15.

Boardman’s other runners were: Lauren Agnew, 36th, 21:25; Becca Muntean, 46th, 21:49; Julia Beck, 72, 22:33; Colleen Kratofil, 75th, 22:42; Lauren DeLuca, 76th, 22:43; and Lindsay Basile, 115th, 24:30.

Union City won the meet with 110 points. Lauren Zarger of Harbor Creek finished first with a time of 18:45.

Correction

Boardman High graduate Steve Vallos is a second-year guard with the Seattle Seahawks. A story in Sunday’s edition incorrectly said the former Wake Forest lineman was released by the Seahawks. He spent the 2007 season on the Seahawks’ practice squad.

nation

Sun tops Storm

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Jamie Carey hit a jumper with 2 minutes left and a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to lift the Connecticut Sun to an 80-76 victory over the Seattle Storm in a battle of conference leaders on Sunday.

The Sun (19-10) got their sixth straight win to take a 11‚Ñ2-game lead over Detroit in the Eastern Conference. They also tied San Antonio for the best record in the league. Asjha Jones led Connecticut with 20 points, Amber Holt had 15, and Tamika Whitmore and Carey added 12 apiece.

Sky win in overtime

CHICAGO — Candice Dupree had 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to help the Chicago Sky win their third straight game with a 82-81 overtime win over the Detroit Shock on Sunday night.

Detroit’s Katie Smith scored 23 points to become the third player in WNBA history to reach 5,000 points.

Smith, who earned her third Olympic gold medal earlier this month, now has 5,022 points, trailing only Lisa Leslie (5,853) and Tina Thompson (5,281) on the all-time scoring list.

Hamilton on top

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Tyler Hamilton edged Blake Caldwell by two-thousandths of a second Sunday to win the USA Cycling Professional Road Race championship.

Hamilton and Caldwell finished in 4 hours, 38 minutes, 19 seconds. From the chase group of three riders, Caldwell’s teammate Danny Pate took third place, 4 seconds back.

Of the 108 athletes who started the race, 44 completed the course. Temperatures remained in the 80s all afternoon, but humidity made it feel like 94 degrees on the road.

Lincoln Handicap

RUIDOSO DOWNS, N.M. — Peppers Pride’s bid for a North American-record 17th win in 17 starts has been put on hold after the horse was scratched from the Lincoln Handicap on Sunday.

Trainer Joel Marr scratched Peppers Pride after the Ruidoso Downs track turned sloppy due to rain over the previous day and a half. The thoroughbred mare has never raced on a wet track, the track said in a news release.

“It took four years to get here and I wasn’t going to chance it in a two-minute race,” Marr said.

Spinaway Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Mani Bhavan raced to her third victory in three career starts, beating Jardin by 11‚Ñ4 lengths Sunday in the $250,000 Spinaway Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga.

Mani Bhavan, ridden by Alan Garcia and trained by Steve Klesaris, ran seven furlongs in 1:25.23 and paid $3.40, $2.50 and $2.10. She earned $150,000 for Puglisi Racing and the TYB Stable.

Mani Bhavan won the Aug. 14 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga by seven lengths.

world

Spanish Vuelta

JAEN, Spain — Alejandro Valverde took the overall lead of the Spanish Vuelta on Sunday after winning the second stage.

Caisse d’Epargne rider Valverde timed his final sprint perfectly to distance himself from the pack and finish the 103.9-mile ride from Granada to Jaen in 4 hours, 23 minutes, 0 seconds. He finished 2 seconds ahead of Italians Davide Rebellin of Gerolsteiner and Alessandro Ballan of Lampre.

Vindicator staff/wire reports