The Daily News Leader from Staunton, Virginia • 11

too Sports www.newsleader.com Inside Today Suction Sports Editor Hubert F. Grim III, 213-9131, hgrimiiinewsleader.com Sunday, September 26, 2004 Front-row starters need points boosts TIT to there," Newman said. It was embarrassing. He miscalculated the entrance to pit road and slid into a tire barrier. That brought out the caution flag that preceded the pileup.

Newman realizes he needs to avoid another disastrous finish, but won't label today's race a must-win situation. "I wouldn't use the words 'absolutely but we're here to win," he said. "If we come away with a top five, that's good. If we don't, we'll assess the situation." At least he's certain to be an early contender on The Monster Mile, where he won the pole for both races this year. "We're going to run hard and run up front," May-field said.

"That's all we can do." Newman, 136 points out after an engine failure in' New Hampshire, swept last year at Dover and was strong here in June, when he also started second to Mayfield. "We had a good car in the spring race, and everybody knows what happened The Associated Press DOVER, Del. Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman are badly in need of great finishes Sunday at Dover International Speedway after bad luck a week earlier made them long shots to win the Nextel Cup championship. That's the bad news. The good news is that they'll have a great chance to recoup lost points as front-row starters in the MBNA America Despite falling 142 points behind co-leaders MBNA America 400 When: 1 p.m.

today TV; TNT Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. because he crashed after Robby Gordon intentionally wrecked Greg Biffle in New Hampshire, Mayfield is approaching today's race as if nothing happened. "We're not worried about points now," he said. "Points are not even in our fir, The Associated Press A dejected Jeremy Mayfield sits Sept. 19 in his car in the garage area after crashing during the Nextel Cup race in Loudon, N.H.

Augusta County Cross Country Invitational Indians vq) A 1 log meet victo 5 i 1 fwW (' ru 1 inr: J.f--f A S. 'V- -i. is1 i K'u jt 'N i The Associated Press San Francisco's Pedro Feliz rounds the bases after his grand slam Saturday in San Francisco. San Francisco pulls closer in division and wild card Details on Page B3 NFL Insider: Vick shows he can play Details on Page B9 Auto Racing Points leader nabs Busch victory DOVER, Points leader Martin Truex Jr, bided his time, took the lead with 12 laps to go and drove to an easy victory in the NASCAR Busch series race Saturday at Dover International Speedway. The win in the Stacker 200 was the fifth of the year for Truex, tying him with rookie Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle for the most on the circuit.

It also was the fifth in the career of Truex and increased his points lead over Busch to 1 52 after 27 of 34 races. "Winning at Dover means everything to me," said Truex, a native of Mayetta, N.J. "I've got a lot of fans in the stands." He said the victory was not achieved easily despite his'. Chevrolet being the class of the field. He took the lead from pole-sitter Kasey Kahne, Nextel Cup rookie sensation, on the third of 200 laps at The Monster Mile and led the next 20 times around the high-banked concrete oval.

Kahne went back in the lead for 57 laps, but was no factor when his car faded in the second half of the $1 million race. After that, it was just a question of Truex slowly overtaking several cars attempting to stretch their gas until he moved within a few car lengths of Wallace, who promptly slowed as his car began to sputter on lap 189. "I didn't dream of running out of gas," said Wallace, who had been told by his crew he might go dry on the last lap. "I can't calculate the fuel mileage." NFL Brunell to start against Dallas ASHBURN Quarterback Mark Brunell has recovered sufficiently from his strained hamstring to start for the Washington Redskins in Monday night's game against the Dallas Cowboys, coach Joe Gibbs said Saturday. Brunell was injured In the third quarter of the Redskins' 20-1 4 loss to tfie New York Giants last week and at first was doubtful for the Cowboys game.

The hamstring Improved quicker than expected, and Brunell was back in pads on Friday. He took most of the snaps In practice Saturday, and Gibbs announced his decision after the midday practice. Brunell said the Injury had improved everyday. The decision means that i Patrick Ramsey will miss the chance for his first start of season. The Associated Press Fort individuals win five races; Gladiator sets course record By Danny Fink Sports Writer FISHERSVILLE Fort Defiance dominated the Augusta County Cross Country Invitational on Saturday at Wilson Memorial High School.

The Indians took five of the six individual titles up for grabs on the day and won both varsity team titles. The defending Group AA state champions took five of the top eight places in the boys' varsity race, scoring an impressive 23 points to 62 for runner-up Stuarts Draft. Riverheads' Chelsea Decker prevented a Fort sweep by taking the varsity girls' title in a course-record time of 20 minutes, 15 seconds. "It was good to be relaxed. I wanted to give it everything I had," Decker said.

"It could be the last time I run here. I wanted to enjoy it. I am really happy with the way Iran." Decker, Mariah Hag-adone of Buffalo Ga and Jennie Ott of Wilson, led the girls' race through the opening mile. Decker opened a 10-yard lead over Hagadone in the second mile with Fort's Jaclyn Wine overtaking Ott for third with about a mile remaining. Decker extended her Cave stuffs Lee Ladies Defending state champs finally find success against area team By Chris Lassiterstaff classiternewsleader.com STAUNTON Winning state championships hasn't been a problem for Cave Spring's volleyball team.

The Lady Knights are coming off back-to-back seasons as state champions in Group AA. Over the past two years, however, beating teams from Staunton and Waynesboro has proved tougher than winning states. Until Saturday. Cave Spring beat previously undefeated Robert E. Lee in straight sets, 25-16, 25-19.

25-23. Led by nationally ranked middle hitter Stacey Craighead, the Lady Knights looked to be on top of their game. "We've got a good group of hitters," said Cave Spring coach Tamalyn Tanis, whose team doesn't have a single senior. Tanis said she watched the tape of last year's Lee match to remind her girls about the scrappy Lee Ladies. It was also evident by the Knights' game plan they were intent on shutting down Lee's all-state player, Lindsay Rupert.

"It was frustrating, but they've got big girls, and you're going to get blocked," Rupert said. "I thought we were a step slow today, but we'll bounce back. We didn't give up. We just need to come ready to play." Rupert had 10 hard-earned kills. Whitney Santiago had 20 assists, and Kaylor Vaughn had eight kills.

Vaughn, who was able to consistently out-jump the Cave Spring blockers, continues to emerge for the Lee Ladies. The other bright spot for Lee (10-1, 7-0) was the rally at the end of the third set. The Lee Ladies almost forced a fourth set. "They're a very good team," Lee coach Molly Stinespring said. "They put a lot of pressure on you, but many of tho mistakes we made today were things we could have changed." Cave Spring (8-1) has only lost three matches since 2002, and two of those came against Grace Christian School and Waynesboro High School.

In the jayvee match, Cave Spring beat Leo 22-25, 25-19, 25-21. Lacey Van Housen had nine service points for the Lee Ladies, who dropped to 7-1 on the season, 4 i a Inside Southern Cal rallies to beat Stanford, B4 Sub QB helps Florida State top Clemson, B4 West Virginia downs James Madison, B5 State football roundup, B5 arm. He had a 59-yard touchdown run when forced to scramble and finished with 81 yards on six carries. Through the air, he completed 11 of 12 passes. The highlight came as he scrambled to his right and threw a laser back toward Please see CAVS, ries lead to 23 seconds at the finish.

Hagadone finished in 20:38. also breaking the old course record. "I had a pretty good race overall. I kind of wanted to catch people if they went out fast," Hagadone said. "Chelsea pulled away.

She ran a good race." Wine finished third in 21:06, while Ott held on to finish fifth in 21:36 to lead the Hornets. Amanda Rexrode paced Draft with her eighth-place finish in 22:09. Brittony Keefer in 11th led Waynesboro, while Hannah Von Oeyen in 27th place paced Robert E. Lee. The Indians' Matt Bailey took top honors in the boys' race with a time of 16:57.

A pack of five runners, all from either Fort or Stuarts Draft, led through the opening mile with several other runners still in contention. Bailey took the lead at about the two-mile mark and stretched his advantage to 12 seconds over the Cougars' Brandon Spalding at the finish. "I just wanted to run as fast as I could. I had some doubts during the race, I know it's wrong, but I doubted my ability against Spalding," Bailey said. "I told myself as I was in the finishing stretch, 'I'm finally doing I have never finished first before in a varsity race." Spalding backed up his Please see MEET, iB3 I can't tell you how happy I am." N.C.

State solidified its reputation as having one of the country's best defenses by sacking Tech quarterback Bryan Randall 10 times and holding tho Ilokles (2-2, 1-1) to 192 total yards. Randall scrambled and spun, but rarely had more than a second to look down-field before the Wolfpack was on him. He finished' Please see TECH, PageB4t fr fr ft ifri ft rfNi Ifr dlii Jl iih ft ifc ft Ken BossermanThe News Leader Riverheads' Chelsea Decker leads Buffalo Gap's Mariah Hagadone during Saturday's Augusta County Cross Country Invitational in Fishersville. Cavs' quarterback flashes fine form Virginia Tech boots its chance mi to escape 'Pack By Hubert F. Grim Illstaff hgrlmliinewsleader.com CILXRLOTTESVILLE Marques I lagans squelched any lingering doubts Saturday that he's firmly entrenched as Virginia's quarterback.

The multi-talentod junior showed his whole arsenal, running for two touch-downs'and passing for 202 yards, and led the No. 12 Cavaliers to a 3 1-1 0 rout of Syracuse at Scott Stadium. Three blowouts had kept Hagans under wraps, but the Orange offered Virginia (4-0) its stiffest test, and that brought out the best in him. Quite simply, Hagans was dazzling with his feet and ill' Jfcl AiiflTi An 1ttn lih jj The Associated Press Virginia Tech kicker Brandon Pace (46) is comforted by Lance Goff (13) after missing as time expired In Blacksburg. Jti hnfti ttli ii fc itln fci din Uti rffr frn lt Iffli 'hi W.

ft The Associated Press BLACKSBURG With three seconds left, North Carolina State tailback T. A. McLendon stared at the goal posts in disbelief. After gaining only 35 yards in three quarters, Virginia Tech came within a 43-yard field goal of wlni. ning.

But the kick sailed right, and the Wolfpack ran off the field with a 17-16 victory Saturday. "Man, it was like: if he kicks it, you're going home sad," McLendon said. "It just so happened he missed. Ai nti ilh Jfc itli i 4di irfh ilhidfc fc rffci jfciidl A iuA-M--A 1 ift i 'fci ft" ft'idfci irlii fc.