The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 26

-40 Pes Mmne.c Scvday Rfotpttr Ar wr fi. 1 995 Sports Participating Is Part of the Excitement They're losing, still having fun low a Opens with UNI, ISU Hawks' schedule favorable, Fry says 3 Maple Leafs. Like his favorite play 't Auto Racing drag races at ir1 u. pit row Saturday Wallace finished A r.7.-,-v I. Joe Nemeeheck forces Rich BIckle's car into the afternoon at the Brickyard 400.

second to Dale Earnhardt. wall and slows down Rusty Wallace's exit from claim Brickyard 400 er, Mano Lemieux, he plays center. And like his favorite player, he likes to score a lot. "That's what makes it fun, when you score," he said. "I play soccer too, but I like roller hockey better.

Riley Wiles, 8, also plays center for the Stars. He said he likes roller hockey because it's so similar to his favorite sport ice hockey. "I like hockey, and this is sort of like ice hockey, lies said. It also gives him the chance to emulate his favorite stars on his favor ite team, Mark Messier and Adam Graves of the New York Rangers. "It's a pretty good sport; I like it," Wiles said.

"I like playing center a lot You re like the mam man of the whole shift" The West Des Moines Stars have only been together for three months. Saturday was Jacobs' first outing as the teams coach. "We kind of threw them together for the Iowa Games, Jacobs said. "We practice at Skate West Rink, and we've done some practices at Phoenix Elementary. But his team's enthusiasm for roll er hockey goes beyond the Iowa Gam's.

"They'd play in the street if they weren't here," he said. "It's a lot of fun; they love it And Tony Muse is their hero; they all know Tony from the rink. They like being here with him." Heavy medal More than 102 athletes participated in the weightlifting competition Saturday at the North parking lot of Cyclone Stadium, including a few of the sport stop lifters. World champion Wayne Hamas benched 460 pounds in the 242- pound weight class. Larry Toomey, the sport's Iowa Games commission er, is a national champion at 275 and benched 450 pounds to earn a gold medal.

Joe Thompson also turned in one of the day more impressive lifts, benching 410 pounds at 181 for a gold medal. "It was excellent," Toomey said. "We had beginning lifters here who had never lifted competitively before and we had a couple of na tional and world champion lifters out here. Toomey didn't have much time to talk. He had to rush to the AAU Ju nior Olympics to watch his son, Zachery, 13, compete in the 800 me ters and the 4 400 relay.

Going to the chapel Saturday saw another first for the Iowa Games a wedding. Greg Miller, 28, a professor of agri cultural education at Iowa State, and Dawn Hildebrandt, 28, a recent Iowa State graduate with a master's degree in the same subject, were married just a few yards from the Iowa Games roller hockey competition. The bride and groom may not have planned it that way, but they held their wedding and reception at Iowa State Keiman Gardens, which is right next to the South parking lot of Cyclone Stadium, where 297 kids and adults were hard at work trying to earn a medal in roller hockey. ByJAMALTXAUl Rkuimtk St rt Wkitkh i AjbMi la. You can have fun at the Iowa Games, even if you're get-fine pounded on.

iust ask the West De Moines fira'UolIer hockey team. These boys, who are ages 8 and under, lost rip by a combined 23-1 Saturday afternoon in the South parking lot at Cyclone Stadium. Te team thought it could win a iotd medal in the 8-under division, but was moved to the 1 1-under division because of a lack of teams in the vtmnger division. It wasn't pretty but it was fun. I tThe kids we're facing are a lot bigger than we thought they would tej' Coach Ron Jacobs, 33, of Des Moines, said.

"We tried everything. We even got in a scrum and tried to push the puck back, but we lost i-very one of them they just knocked us away. 'HVe tried screaming at them, then praising them, we tried whatever froukl work." didn't. we heard we were bumped dpi league, the kids didn't care," Ja-Coigt said. "They figured they'd win A medal in the 8-under division, Emi now they're happy just to take their licks here." IJaeobs said he didn't think the Star had much of a shot at a medal IfCfcf 9-1, to the Skatetown flyn'ot Marshalltown and 14-0 to the-Des Moines Buccaneers youth 'don't plan to be here for the medal ceremony this might be it," Jacob said.

"But they'll get a partic-(jsCtkm ribbon. "That's what it's all about" that's the point of the ninth JnfiuaJ Iowa Games. Most participant, aren't wOrld-class athletes, iii thty may get tossed around like th West Des Moines Stars, but more thQi 16,000 athletes are participating in 28 sports. I having a blast out said Tony Muse, champion hvfine speed skater, West Des Moines native and co-commissioner Of the roller hockey competition. "It Is the fastest-growing sport in the Unites States, probably the world, and these kids are just having a blast playing." And parents like it because it's safe; SThe nice thing about roller hock-eyjte that it is not a high-contact sporC! said George Wilson, 44, of De Moines, whose sons, Skip, 11, $nd Hunter, 7, are competing here.

vThere can be some hitting, but there's no checking or at least there's not supposed to be any checking. i haven't seen any severe injuries, and the kids just love it. they start playing they don't want to stop." Parents looked as involved in the games as their kids. rfh funny thing is they probably haven't seen their kids skate that tnuchJj said Muse, who helped officiate; "But you put a medal out there, and the parents are going to get excited." 5eorge Wilson got so excited about roller hockey that he joined an adult league. I f'l play whatever position the teara wants me to," he said.

"I'm pretty bad. f'i'm 44 years old. It's not a sport you're supposed to pick up at 44. But I have fun, too." I His son, Hunter, likes the NHL's I'ittsbUrgh Penguins and Toronto Soccer Playoffs Advance to Jacqueline day vJloetCrauer scored on a diving Decider late in the first half Saturday togiveihe Des Moines Menace soccer toara aJ-0 victory against Sioux City aCMetJrane Stadium. I The -victory gives the Menace the tournament championship in the i'hitfd Systems of independent Soccer- League Central Division.

They will play Friday in the national tournament in Richmond, Va. Four ama-' texteams will play. I Toy Jones maneuvered around a offender and passed to Crauer, who wji ear the right post of the goal. WUha diving header, Crauer put'the bag over Sioux City goalkeeper Doug -fctigle with a diving header with 8linljtcs 26 seconds left in the half. tl Just went for It," Crauer said.

was just kind of a natural work on it in practice all of the time, so it worked out. We had hopes" and aspirations, and we Worked hard. I guess it paid off." The Menace (12-8), seeded third, outshot the top-seeded Breeze, 113, in front of 669 fans. Menace co-coach Blair Reid said Menace post By RANDY PETERSON RuaSTKK STAFF WKITKH Chicago, 111. Iowa football coach Hayden Fry is cautiously optimistic about his team's schedule this Idll.

"We have a very favorable schedule," Fry said last week at the Big Ten Conference's annual preseason kickoff meetings. "It will be interesting. Yet at the same time, we feel like we have a chance to get off to a good start." Under NCAA rules, Iowa must win at least six games against its 10 Division I opponents to qualify for a bowl game; Northern Iowa, the Hawkeyes' opening opponent Sept. 9, is in Division 1-AA for football. "We play UNI for the first time since 1914," Fry said.

"They are outstanding in their league. Of course, they'll be 20 feet off the ground when they come into Kirmick Stadium for the first time." Iowa plays at Iowa State on Sept. 16. The Cyclones are under the direction of new coach Dan McCar- nev. who played at Iowa from 1972' to 1974 and is a former Fry assis tant.

The Hawkeyes have beaten the Cyclones 1 2 straight times. "We know that will be tough," Fry said. Iowa State has a brand new coaching staff, and we have to go to tlieir place." Next is a Sept 30 contest against New Mexico State at Kinnick Stadium. The Aggies, a member of the Big Wwt Cnnfomnnti haH a fl-S wnrl last season. "We've not played them, so it will be completely different preparation," Fry said.

The Hawkeyes then open the con-, ference season Oct. 7 at Michigan State, which also has a new coach, Nick Saban. "Michigan State also has an entire-, ly new coaching staff, so our first four ball games will be completely different preparation for us," Fry said. The Spartans open the season Sept. 9 against defending national champion Nebraska.

"Nebraska will be a big challenge; for us," Saban said. "It will give us a' chance to equate our program in comparison to one of the best programs in the country." Iowa does not play Purdue and Michigan, but replaces them with, games at Wisconsin and Ohio State. "Those will be very tough teams r- Knight-less Cornerback Tom Knight is likely to have limited practice time when Iowa's preseason" workouts begin Aug. 14. He is recovering from his second knee surgery.

"When he's healthy, he's our best back," Fry said. "But he's had two surgeries on the same knee. I don't know if he'll be ready to go with the rest of the guys or not" Expansion A few years ago, conference commissioner Jim Delany said there would be no more talk of expansion. Perm State and that was it for a while, he said. Wednesday, Delany said the expansion door may be partially ajar.

"We're studying the addition of another institution," he said. "But we have not found any institution that has made everybody totally comfortable, and until we do, we'il stay at 11." The Big Eight recently became the Big 12 and will play football for the first time in 1 996 with a two-division alignment and a playoff. "If we add a 12th institution, I envision two divisions, additional reve- -nue and a playoff," Delany said. Wacky While most of the coaches at the annual gathering stated their normal boring "we'll be good if refrains, Minnesota Coach Jim Wacker was just wacky. "Can you believe it," the coach told the large crowd at Wednesday's luncheon.

"We were the first team to finish 1 1th in this conference. I used to think it was mathematically impossible to finish 1 1th in the Big Ten Conference." A day after Disney purchased ABC television, he said: "I know right now that if we had Mickey Mouse as our quarterback, we'd get a lot more television exposure." Then he turned serious when discussing his summer visits of football facilities at Kansas State, Nebraska and Tennessee. "It was worthwhile seeing what they have done with video, their weight facility and their practice fa- cilities," Wacker said. "Our budget is at the bottom of tlw Big Ten for football. There is not anv other snort with a budget at the bottom of the conference at our school.

They're about in the middle, and we're dead last in football. "But you don't win with budget; you win also with players and coaches doing a good job." AssociATto Press NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt salutes the crowd from the winner's circle Saturday after winning the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis. Earnhardt Wallace to Dale Earnhardt won a drag race off pit road with Bnsty Wallace to daim the $4.5 million Brickyard 400 Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the richest event in NASCAR history. Wallace and Earnhardt came onto pit road for gas and tires with 32 laps remaining.

Wallace was the leader coming onto the service lane, but as he left his pit stall, he got trapped behind a two-car crash. That allowed Earnhardt to take the lead for the final 28 laps, beating a charge by Wallace and Dale Jarrett "I guess I not too old to win, Earnhardt said after climbing from his Chevrolet Monte Carlo. "We beat Rusty out of the pits on that last stop and that gave me the track position 1 needed." Wallace appeared to leave his pit stall before Earnhardt, but Joe Ne- mechek pulled away from his stop and plowed into the side of Rich Bkkle's car. Wallace had to stop behind the mishap, and Earnhardt, whose stall was ahead of the crash, was able to pull away for the most important pass of the day. Jarrett started 26th and finished third.

He mounted a charge in the final 25 laps that erased a 200-yard deficit to a car length. "I drove 10 different lines in the last 10 laps, just trying to make something work," Jarrett said. "I thought I might catch Dale and Rusty, but catching them is one thing; passing them is another." Bill Elliott wound up fourth, fol lowed by Mark Martin, pole-6itter Jeff Gordon and Sterling Martin The race was delayed 4 hours due to rain. Less than 15 minutes before NASCAR was set to announce that the event had been postponed until today, the sun broke through the i Track and Field U.S. sprinters falter The open ing day of competition in track and field's fifth World Championships at Goteborg, Sweden, was so distress ing for VS.

sprinters that it invited comparisons to the 1972 Olympics at Munich, Germany, when Eddie Hart and Rey Robinson arrived too late for their lOOwneter heats. Never before or since had the United States failed to send at least two sprinters to the 100 final of a major international meet until Saturday, when only one managed to advance as far as the semifinals. The three Americans at least showed up at the starting line, although the most decorated of them in the 100 meters, 1994 No. 1 Dennis Mitchell, did not get much farther down the track before pulling up in the first round because of a strained left quadriceps muscle. Maurice Greene, a Kansas junior college student, reached the second round before meekly bowing out, sixth in his heat in 10.35 seconds.

Left holding the flag for today's semifinal and he hopes to night final, is Mike Marsh, who ran the day's best time, a wind-aided 10.0J, in Ue second round. Marathon too short Embar rassed officials at the World Championships said late Saturday that the women's marathon was 400 meters too short. That means the time of winner Mannela Machado of Portugal a personal best will not count She remains the winner, but all posted race times were declared invahd. Indy, tops ture for sprint cars, and Steve Jackson won the feature for stock cars. The racing did not count toward points championships, which concluded the previous week.

The points title for sprint cars had been won by Danny Young, who died of injuries sustained when his sprint car crashed July 19 at Knoxville Raceway; Cooney won in late models; Dave Farren won in modifieds; Jackson won in stock cars; and May-nard Davis won in street stocks. Cooney had won five consecutive late-model races at the half-mile track. Darrel DeFrance finished third Friday night. Iowa Scene All-Star baseball Terry Ramsey of Wilton hit a two-run homer, and Andy Morris of Riceville drove in two runs as Small East beat Small West, 5-2, Saturday at the high school All-Star series in Carroll. The victory improved the Small East to 3-0 for the tournament and gave it a spot in today's final against Large West, which lost, 10-6, to Large East in Saturday's second game.

Brad Erickson of Linn-Mar of Marion knocked in three runs for the Large East. Because of a tiebreaker, Large East will play Small West today in the series consolation game. Large East, Large West and Small West all had 1-2 records after Saturday's games; Large West advanced because it allowed fewer runs. Friday, pitcher Aaron Lubach of Pella struck out 1 1 and knocked in the winning run to give the Small East squad a 3-2 victory against Large West. Lubach hit a sacrifice fly to score Matt Friedman with the winning run in the seventh inning.

In Friday's second game, Jeremy Bunkers had a two-run triple to lead Small West to a 7-2 victory against Large East. Iowa's top 16- to 18-year-old all-star squad defeated Ohio, 5-3, in eight innings in the Central Region Big League baseball tournament Saturday at Burbank, Calif. Iowa, which beat Indiana, 3-2, Friday night played Illinois Saturday. The winner of the tournament goes to the Big League'World Series in Fort Lauderdale, Ha. victory, clouds and the rain stopped.

ABC-TV canceled coverage because of the lateness, prompting a deluge of angry phone calls to some affiliates. The race was to have started at 12:15 p.m. CDT. By the time it started, ABC decided to skip the race to avoid interfering with local affiliates' programming. Cooney's streak ends in fair finale John Logue stopped Todd Cooney's winning streak in late models at the state fairgrounds by winning the season finale Friday.

Eric Lundstrom won the modified feature. Larry Pinegar won the fea Golf Sluman leads by one Jeff Slu- man rolled in a 15-foot putt on the 18th hole for a 67 and a one-stroke lead over Tom Bymm after three rounds of the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, on Saturday. Sluman completed three rounds at 16-under-par 200 to hold off Byrum, who was at 201 after a 65. Sluman, whose only career victory was the 1988 PGA Championship, started the day at 1 1-under, three strokes behind Payne Stewart. Fred Couples, Mike Brisky and Joel Edwards were two strokes off the lead at 14-under.

Couples and Brisky shot 67s and Edwards a 68. LPGA leaderboard crowded Dottie Mochrie and Pat Bradley shot 5-under-par 67s on Saturday to share the second-round lead in the Stratton Mountain, Vt, LPGA event. Mochrie and Bradley, who started the day two strokes behind Catrin Nilsmark and Allison Finney, had 8-under 136 totals. Amy Fruhwirth was one back after a 66. Nilsmark and Finney couldn't match their opening 67s.

Nilsmark got to 7-under before falling back into a four-way tie for third place with Rosie Jones, Colleen Walker and Vlcki Fergon at 138. Finney shot a 74 for a 141 total. Sigel tops seniors Jay Sigei sank an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 18 for a 4-under-par 66 Saturday and a one-stroke lead over Buddy Allin, Bob Murphy and Jack Kiefer after two rounds of the VFW Seniors Championship at Belton, Mo. nationals the defense was the key.

"I think we concentrated this week, talking about playing defense as a team and really getting organized, and we did that," Reid said. "We did that (Friday), and I think that's what frustrated Austin, and we did that all night tonight. We pretty much gave them their half of the field, and when they got into our half, we really tightened things down." Coeoach Doug Mello credited hard work. "We worked hard all year, and I think this is a culmination of just how hard we worked," he said. "We got that quick goal, arid then we held on.

"I think with a week's rest, we're going to pull some surprises in Richmond. We're definitely the Cinderella story going down there." Menace goalkeeper Casey Mann made five saves. At the start of the season, Mann said he didn't anticipate a tournament title. The Menace split two games with Sioux City, losing the April 29 season opener, and winning June 16 at home. The Menace defeated Aastin in the semifinals Friday, 3-2, in overtime..