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Curbstoners

BOARDMAN — Joe Cassese, director of athletic development at YSU, will be the guest speaker of the Curbstone Coaches Association when the group has its noon luncheon on Monday at the Blue Wolf Catering.

Track officials meeting

AUSTINTOWN — The mandatory OHSAA rules meeting for track officials and coaches will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Fitch High auditorium.

The meeting is a required for officials to maintain their certification and coaches or school representatives to be eligible for state competition.

Kehres to speak

YOUNGSTOWN — Mount Union College football coach Larry Kehres will be the speaker at the Mahoning Valley Coaches Association’s winter social.

The event will be held at the ITAM Club on Feb. 18. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

East-Chaney basketball

YOUNGSTOWN — A revised starting time for the East at Chaney boys basketball games on Feb. 13 has been announced.

The freshman game begins at 2:30 p.m., the junior varsity game starts at 4 p.m. and the varsity game will follow the JVs.

Advance tickets are available at the two schools. No tickets will be sold at the game.

Baseball Oldtimers

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Baseball Oldtimers will hold their monthly meeting Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Kramer Field. Food and refreshments will be served.

state

Szczerbiak to play

CLEVELAND — Cavaliers forward Wally Szczerbiak will play with a protective mask after breaking his nose in Wednesday night’s win at New York.

Szczerbiak, who has played multiple positions for the Cavs and started the past two games while Sasha Pavlovic was out with the flu, broke his nose in the third quarter of Cleveland’s 107-102 win but continued to play. He finished with 12 points and a season-high 13 rebounds — the second-highest total of his career.

Szczerbiak was fitted with the mask on Friday and practiced with it on Saturday as the Cavaliers prepared for their game against the Los Angeles Lakers today.

nation

Cross Country title

DERWOOD, Md. — Meb Keflezighi edged Tim Nelson at the finish Saturday to win the men’s title and Emily Brown easily won the women’s race at the USA Cross Country Championships.

Keflezighi, of San Diego, was competing in the 7.44-mile event for the first time since 2003. He also won in 2001 and 2002.

Whirlaway Stakes

NEW YORK — Haynesfield moved a step closer to a Triple Crown race, easily winning the $107,600 Whirlaway Stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday at Aqueduct.

The victory was the fourth straight for the New York-bred chestnut colt trained by Steve Asmussen. Haynesfield has yet to meet top-level competition, but the 61‚Ñ4-length win over Cellar Dweller suggests he is ready for more.

Haynesfield shot right to the front with Ramon Dominguez, who had five winners on the afternoon, aboard.

world

Chagaev beats Drumond on points

ROSTOCK, Germany — Ruslan Chagaev won a technical decision over Carl Davis Drumond on Saturday night in the Uzbekistan-born heavyweight’s first fight in more than a year.

The WBA’s “champion in recess,” Chagaev was ahead of Drumond on points when referee Gustavo Padilla stopped the bout after the sixth round. An accidental headbutt had opened a nasty cut over Chagaev’s swollen left eye, marring his vision.

Drumond, from Costa Rica, kept trying to worsen the cut over Chagaev’s eye but could not find a knockout opportunity.

Soccer economics

LOS ANGELES — The owner of the Los Angeles Galaxy says he’s rejected AC Milan’s initial offer for David Beckham. He wants the Italian club to make a higher bid or the English midfielder will return to Los Angeles next month.

The decision by the MLS team was first reported by the Los Angeles Times on Friday and confirmed by team owner AEG.

Sparkassen Cup

STUTTGART, Germany — Americans Lolo Jones and David Oliver swept the 60-meter hurdles at the Sparkassen Cup indoor meet Saturday.

Jones finished in 7.85 seconds, the fastest time this year.

“I am very surprised at how fast the time was,” she said.

Oliver, the Olympic bronze medalist, overcame a poor start to win in 7.45 seconds. His lunge at the finish was enough to edge Evgeniy Borisov of Russia, who had the same time.

Kotelnik defends title

ROSTOCK, Germany — Ukraine’s Andreas Kotelnik kept his WBA junior welterweight title Saturday with a split decision over Marcos Rene Maidana for the Argentine’s first loss.

Kotelnik improved his record to 31-2-1, with 13 KOs.

Miller slowed by fog

VAL D’ISERE, France — Bode Miller regularly talks about how weather changes create obstacles to success on the slopes.

When Miller competed in the downhill at the world championships on Saturday, the fog was so thick that he wasn’t visible on the jumbo TV screen for spectators at the finish. The screen just showed a blurry white.

Miller had the No. 19 bib, while winner John Kucera competed second under clear skies and good light. Miller matched Kucera’s time on the upper section before descending into the fog bank and finished eighth, 1.37 seconds behind the Canadian.

Vuitton Pacific Series

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Alinghi withdrew from its first scheduled meeting with Team New Zealand since their America’s Cup finals in 2007, forfeiting their race Saturday at the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series sailing regatta.

Team New Zealand sailed to the race course on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbor and went about its pre-start routine but Switzerland’s Alinghi was a no-show for apparent tactical reasons. The New Zealand yacht crossed the start line and was awarded the race on forfeit. Teams racing against Team New Zealand in the second stage of the regatta do not receive points counting toward overall standings, while Team New Zealand will progress directly to the series final against the strongest challenger.

Vindicator staff/wire reports