The Odessa American from Odessa, Texas • 28

SUNDAY, APRIL 2006 BASKETBALLRUNNING ODESSA AMERICAN 5C COLLEGE BASKETBALL Duke's RedicK completes sweep with Wooden award LSU's repeats as women's winner CTs3 WW IT IT AP PHOTO Duke's J.J. Redick was named the. Wooden Award winner in Los Angeles on Saturday. Redick beat Gonzaga's Adam Morrison by 74 points in the third-closest vote. 2006 Dodge Magnum $29,320 MSRP $1,608 Sewell Discount $27,712 BY JOHN NADEL The -Associated Press 1 LOS ANGELES Duke's J.J.

Redick and LSV's Seimone Augustus capped their college careers by winning the John R. Wooden awards, presented Saturday to basketball's players of the year. i Redick, completing a sweep of the men's player of the year awards this spring, collected 4,646 points to edge Gon-zaga's Adam Morrison by 74 points in the third-closest balloting by the panel of more than 1,000 voters. Duke's Shelden Williams finished third Villa-nova's Randy Foye was fourth and Washington's Brandon Roy was fifth "I'm extremely honored to received this award," Redick said. "All the candidates were very deserving.

I never set out to win individual awards. To win is just a huge honor." The award is named for the former UCLA coach who. guided the Bruins to 10 NCAA championships in a 12-year span before retiring in 1975. UCLA's Marques Johnson was the first to win the award two years after Wooden stepped down. Redick, a 6-foot-4 senior, averaged 26.8 points this season second in the country behind Morrison and leaves Duke as the leading scorer in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

He is the sixth Duke player to win the award, joining Christian Laettner, Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Jason Williams and Alana Beard, who won two years ago to become the first woman so honored. Augustus, a 6-foot-l senior, C6003 Take an additional $1,000 Bonus Cash when financing through Chrysler Financial. With approved credit. 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 ST Wooden didn't attend either the award ceremony or the banquet honoring the winners and other nominees. The Wooden family said in August that he would not attend due to a trademark dispute concerning the use of his name.

The 95-year-old former coach was hospitalized earlier in the week following a bout of diverticulitis. "The club has no interest in having a voice in how Coach Wooden licenses his name," Wooden Award spokesman Chip Namius said. "It's the 30th anniversary of the award, and it certainly would be great if he could be with us. Hopefully the situation will be resolved and he can be with us again sooa" Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, honored as the Wooden Legends of Coaching winner, presented the men's award, and former Southern California player Cheryl Miller presented the women's award. has won the women's award each of the past two years to join Virginia's Ralph Sampson (1982-83) as the only two-time winner.

Augustus collected 298 points in the balloting of more than 200 voters to finish 83 points ahead of North Carolina's Ivory Latta. Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers finished third (135), Oklahoma's Courtney Paris was fourth (106), and Duke's Mo-nique Currie was fifth (96). Augustus was unable to attend the ceremony because she was traveling to Australia, where she is trying out for the U.S. senior Olym-pic team. "She doesn't know yet because she's on a plane," said Augustus' mother, Kim, who attended the ceremony with her husband, Seymore.

"It's really exciting" for us. Once she finds out, she's really going to be excited" For the first time since the award was first presented, $23,240 MSRP $2,025 Sewell Discount $3,000 Factory Rebate $18,215 Take an additional $1,000 Bonus Cash D630 when financing through Chrysler Financial. With Approved Credit RUNNING 2006 Jeep Wrangler 4x4 Failed prison break inspires Tennessee ultramarathon $21,965 MSRP $1,134 Sewell Discount $500 Customer Cash $20,331 D623 Take an additional $1,000 Bonus Cash when financing through Chrysler Financial. With Approved Credit. 2006 Jeep Commander 4x2 $30,790 MSRP $2,019 Sewell Discount $1,000 Customer Cash $27,771 T6006 Take an additional $1,000 Bonus Cash when financing through Chrysler Financial.

With Approved Credit King's murder, was found cowering under a pile of leaves. The prison's warden was quoted at the time as saying: "You might get over the wall, but you've got to get over a new wall and that's the terrain." The Barkley course starts in a campground in the park in Wartburg, about 40 miles west of Knoxville in the Cumberland Mountains. Racers might run in a few spots on the Barkley. Crawling and sliding is acceptable. Much of the course is up and down steep hills.

The entire 100 miles would total 100,000 feet of elevation change, the equivalent of climbing and descending Mount McKinley two and a half times. McKinley, the tallest peak in North America, is 20320 feet "You can't understand unless you've done it," Cantrell said. "There are hills you can actually stick your hand out and touch the ground without bending over." Cantrell said the origin of the marathon's name was rather prosaic Barkley is the last name of the man who provides chicken for the pre-race mcaL After Cantrell signals the start of the race by lighting a cigarette, the racers 35 are allowed each year start making their way with a topography map, compass and instructions to find the intended path, which often is overgrown with briars and downed trees. It gets tricky in the dark, even with flashlights. Unlike other ultramara-thons, there is no aid except two water drops.

If a person quits, he has to walk back to the start, where "Taps" is played on a bugle. Despite the difficulty, the participants share a sense of humor about their mission. "What we're doing is kind of absurd," Furtaw said. "We're crazy, and we know it" but within the sport it's even an odd kind of race because of the fact that it seems so difficult," said Don Allison, publisher of Ultrarunning magazine. "Those who do it seem to love it and embrace it.

Others kind of look askance on it." An ultra race is considered anything longer than a 26.2-mile marathoa People outside the sport may not even know longer races exist, but there are many variations held on roads and trails that last- for days or longer. "We do things that most people think are impossible," said 58-year-old Ed Furtaw, who recently ran in his 10th Barkley and was the first person to finish the "fun run" in 1988. "This event needs to exist Otherwise, people won't know what they can take." This year's race began, appropriately enough, on April Fools' Day and again had no 100-mile finishers. Only two participants out of 33 Nick Grade from England and Brian Robinson from California finished the "fun run," but they came in a few minutes over the 40-hour limit and were not allowed to continue for a chance at the 100. A temperature near 80 on the first day made it difficult for runners to stay hydrated, and 22 completed the first loop.

Five finished two loops. Four hours and 34 minutes into the race, the first four rac- -ers emerged from the crossed a curvy highway and hustled up a hill beside a small waterfall. Jim Nelson, who completed the 100 in 2004, had bloody cuts on his legs. About 30 minutes later, they crossed the road in another place and climbed a steeper embankment overlooking the old prison in Petros, where Ray made his daring escape. Ray, who died in 1998 while serving a 99-year sentence for BY ELIZABETH A.

DAVIS The Associated Press WARTBURG, TENN. A failed escape into East Tennessee's mountainous terrain by convicted assassin James Earl Ray in June 1977 gave Gary Cantrell an idea for a race that has become known as one of the world's most difficult ultrama-rathons. Set on an unmarked course through briar-infested woods, the Barkley Marathon is so difficult some runners don't consider it a real race. Only six people have finished the entire 100-mile journey five times around a 20-mile loop in Frozen Head State Park in the allotted time of 60 hours. Other participants choose the "fun run" of 60 miles, or three loops, in 40 hours.

Most people are just. happy com-' pleting one loop. Ray, the confessed killer of Martin Luther King was captured 55 hours after his escape 8 miles east of Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, which is bordered by steep hillsides and the state park. "In that length of time, I could have made 100 miles," Cantrell, a long-distance runner and hiker, recalls saying back then. "It turns out it's not that easy." Run since 1986, the Barkley has drawn the likes of athletes who hold speed records for the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails and made hobbies of running 100-milers such as the Western States Endurance Run in California, Hardrock 100 in Colorado and the Bad-water Ultramarathon starting 'in Death Valley.

Even military personnel including Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets have tried it And then they find out why the Barkley has become known as "the race that eats its young." "The whole sport is odd, Sewell CRANE I t-t RYSLER do oca i Pictures for Illustration Purposes Only.