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Show 6 Tuesday, October 31, 1995 The Daily Herald Hey wac! vviiu udies) about you? In ihe 1960s anti-wprotesters asked. '"W hat if they had a war and no one came?" The Western Athletic Conference has already had a partial answer to a similar question w hat if they conducted a championship and no one came'.' Admittedly, cross country isn't a e sport. Its participants labor in relative anonymity. But the NCAA District 7 races (which will this year) at be run on Nov. Rose Park Golf Course usually draw several hundred participants and warrant coverage in the four major newspapers along the V'aalch Front. Not so the WAC Championships in San Diego last weekend. All the league schools gathered Saturday at Balboa Park. BYU ran away with both championships. Sunday 's San Dicvj) featured plenty of football, some basketbaSII. a feature on ar high-profil- Union-Tribun- Tulsa's top rusher to miss By DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press Writer average of 150 yards a game in four starts, and the Golden Hurricane ) began to that of offense play the style Rader loves. But Williams felt a twinge in his hamstring Wednesday during practice, and it popped on Thursday. He missed Saturday's game, a 10-- 7 loss at Memphis, and almost certainly won't play Saturday at BYU (4-3- ). So bad is the hamstring injury that Rader said it was a "possibility" and Williams could be lost for the season. Rader says Solomon White, who lost the starting job to W illiams and responded w ith 129 yards rushing last week, and third-strin- g tailback John Mosley. a true freshman, will have to pick up the slack. "You lose a runnim: back that ... what (4-4- Even without its best TULSA. Okla. running back. Tulsa will need some help from the offense to defend Brigham Young. The Cougars average 310 y ards passing game and haven't been shut out in 20 years. Tuka coach Dave Rader figures the only way to slow quarterback Steve Sarkisian is to keep the ball aw ay "We need to stay on the field a long time so an offense like this can't get a lew passes that will get a bunch of yards." Rader said Monday at his weekly news conference. With Reggie Williams, that might not have been asking too much. The redshirt freshman had rushed for an . ball-contr- rv"T" JdZZ sli contest BYU was he averaging. 150 a game? Thai's half of your offense, Rader said. "He and Solo complemented each other. They were just a good duo. "The whole deai is, we're best w ith both of those guys having good games. That's when we can really, really get after it on offense. It doesn't look like that will be available this week." The Cougars have the type of explosive offense that can give Tuisa fits. Even so. Rader likes the way his team matches up. For the four games that Williams carried the load for Tuisa. the Hurricane's passing offense has steadily improved. Quarterback Troy DeGar is now over 50 percent in completions, and the Hurricane got two big plays out of its passing offense against Memphis. Improvement, yes. The ability to play catchup against BYU? Rader hopes it doesn't come to that. "If that would happen, we would have enough confidence in our throwing game," Rader said. "But it wouldn't be beneficial for us to spot them some points. We're working hard on our passing game and w e're better at it. But we're better off having a good mixture." "The Hurricane will be playing its third Western Athletic Conference in four games, having previously beaten UTEP and Wyoming. BYU leads the conference with a 4-- record. 1 Tulsa will join an expanded WAC next year. names enter free agent derby Big " 1 by Bucks e By ANTON GARRITY Special to The Daily Herald By RONALD BLUM AP Sports Writer SALT LAKE CITY - In a surprisingly tight and exciting final preseason game, the Utah .la slipped past the visitint: Bob Hudson Bucks Milwaukee lis?! 113-11- Jose Canseco. NEW YORK Roberto Alomar and Rickey Henderson left their teams on the first day of baseball's free agent market. Whether they and the other free agents will find the market to their liking remains to be seen. Industry revenue dropped bv between $300 million and $500 million this year following the 232-da- y strike, and the sides are operating under the collective bargaining agreement that expired in December 1993. "I reserve judgment, but I do expect that the premier free agents will receive top dollar." agent Randy Hendricks said. Randy Levine, the owners' new negotiator, starts work Thursday. The teams, according to several sources, are formulating a new proposal, their first since March 28. Flowever, it's unclear when any offer would be made. 0 Monday at the Delta Center. Utah finished the preseason with a record while the Bucks dropped to Once again, the replacement officials made everyone realize how much the regulars are missed. There were SO tree throws shot Tjr 4-- 4 Asst. Sports Editor officials continually impeded the flow of the game by making questionable calk. Despite the fouls, fans were able to enjoy a competitively close game. Ja fans may also have gotcoach ten a glimpse at how Ja Jerrv Sloan is going to handle his guard rotation this season. As usual. John Stockton started the game at the point, but instead of veteran Jeff starting at the two guard, newly acquired Chris Morris started at that position. then came in the game in relief of Stockton at the point. Hornacek can play either guard position and that may be what the Ja have in mind as they now have one of the best three-guar- d rotations m the NBA. The Bucks stayed close for most of the game in large part because of then three-poin- t shooting. As a team, they were from dow ntow n. includin the thud period ing We've always been good at allowing the opposition good three-poin- t shots. I'd like to find the defensive coach who taught our guys how to defend the three." Sloan said. will probably start Morris Friday and bung Hornacek in off the bench. Utah's Karl Malone and with Adam Keete led the Ja IS Stockton each while points and Hornacek added 17 and lb respectively. Morris added 15 Hor-nace- k Owners Hor-nace- k 5-- n ' 71 I Set Z. Page .1 Utah guard Chris Morris, right, not only blocks this by Milwaukee's Glenn Robinson, but steals it i('7i shot L. at y IJ El. . f t r,L . W . w w, 2-- By DENNE H. FREEMAN AP Sports Wnier "l't's pro-activ- e 0 . 1 Mac-farla- Both Floyd and Jones were 7 loss to injured in Sunday's New Orleans, which left San Francisco's precision offense reeling after its lowest point output since a 10-loss to Houston in 1993. "Some years you have all the luck go your way. Some years, things like this are going to hap7 pen." center Jesse Sapolu said Monday. "That's the ebb and flow in this business we're in. "You've got to take it and put it in the right perspective. You can't hang your head. We aren't going to worrv about what anvbodv about how unimpressive we were against New Orleans. We're going to be a better team because we're going to start concentrating even better now." The loss of Floyd, who underwent surgery Monday evening to repair the damage from a knee dislocation, was particularly distressing to the 49ers. The second-year-pr- o out of Florida State was a big part of the offense as a runner, receiver and blocker, and he was also its spiritual leader. savs. (See49ERS, Page C7) Suspensions may cause Cowboys concern (KXi-an- wrong The meet can prov ide a good lesson for the WC Next year the league will expand into new markets which traditionally have m ignored the league This meet showed what can a league city happen if WAC off icials aren't in promoting their more product. 113-11- 11-- v ... 5, ....... .. during Monday's preseason finale at the SANTA CLARA. Calif Ever, as the San Francisco 49ers trv to put their team back together, injuries keep taking it apart. While Steve Young said he hoped to return to practice this week and play Sunday against Carolina, the team learned Mon-dafullback William Floyd would miss the rest of the season with a severe injury to his right knee. Tight end Brent Jones is expected to miss 4 weeks with a sprain of his rieht knee and ankle. m: . J. well Delta Center. The Jazz won By DENNIS GEORGATOS AP Sports Writer to ry- - as considering Injuries Seave 49ers reelin V. i need to be more proactive in promoting our programs and the WAC offve should do the same "If it were done right, there would be thousands ol people at the WAC cross country championships ." Shane said As it was. the course was icndly The tew (airily and friends who traveled to San Dico could see the start, the finish and about 2(H) meters of the K.000-mete- r races not blame someone eke." Shane said "Let's H'e u hat's and let's fix it " mi AP Photo 5 "'-is- are whether to have a meeting Nov. 14. but acting commissioner Bud Selig hasn't made a decision. In addition to labor, owners must consider their unsettled television situation for next year, the proposed sales of the Pittsburgh Pirates and California Angels and the possible sale of the Houston Astros to a group in northern Virginia. players filing Among the Monday were Rene Gonzales and John Habyan of California. Tom Gordon of Kansas City, Rob Dibble Charlie of Milwaukee. O'Brien of Atlanta, Ron Gant of Cincinnati, Bryan Harvey of Florida and Dave Magadan of Houston. Players may file through Nov. 2. and as many as 155 could be eligible. Boston catcher Mike became eligible Monday when the Red Sox declined to exercise an option for S2.3 million and instead paid a $150,000 buyout. Seattle said it will exercise a $3.5 million option on AL batting champion Edgar Martinez, a move that must be made by Tuesday. 1 10-2(- follow mg year. "We chose San Diego for several reasons." said BYU women's coach Patrick Shane. "It's a cheap tlight. easy to gel into and there are lots of things for the kids to do afiei their races " But are those pluses worth the minus ol no interest whatsoever'.' Stalling Wednesday, ihe V C women's soccer tournament will be hi San Diego li will be interesting to see w hat happens u nh the !ecs expected to win the title. The courses at Balboa Park were harder than expected, a fact that didn't please anyone But everyone had to run them so hat wasn't a maior problem. Deputv commissioner Marge McDonald was on hand to present the awards, so the league did wh.it it needed to San Diego Slate, howevei. didn't do any tiling more than the basics "It's the attitude that there's no interest so why promote it." said Shane. "And that's a myth We the as and two inches of small rodeo type (known in the business as agate) listing the team scores, the top three runners in each race and SDSU's finishers in the women's race. The Atecs don't have a men's team. The his Annelid Tina s had the Big agate results on the Pac-1West and the American West (which includes Southern Utah), hut nothing on the WAC. Needless to say. that didn't excite the coaches or athletes. "That's terrible." said Utah coach Mike Jones. "That's not " light "That's ridiculous." agreed BYU men's coach Sherald James. ()er the last doen or so years, the WAC has conducted its cross country championships .is part ol the district meet at Rose Park. That meet has drawn all the WAC schools, all the Big Sky schools and a handful of others. The Big Sky will again decide its league champion at Rose Park. Next year, when the WAC expands, it w ill be necessary to conduct a separate meet because teams will be in five different NCAA districts. Coaches decided to take the meet to a warm weather sea level course each year, starting with this one. They will go to either Dallas or Houston next year, then possibly return to San Diego the 16-tea- m (5-3- ). Coach Barry IRVING. Texas is uncertain whether he'll have either of his starting defensive tackles or a reserve corner-hacduring a stretch of key games that lie ahead for the Dallas Cow- Switcr k . ' 'f' ' i- - boy s t... i tk -- y AP Pholf San Francisco quarterback Steve Young throws the ball as his backup Elvis Grbac watches during a practice Monday afternoon. There is a chance Young may return for this week's game vs. Carolina. Ihe Cowboys are w 7-- and tied ith the Kansas City Chiefs lor San Francisco Philadelphia ) Oakland and Kansas Citv. Most ominous are reports that Pro Bowl defensive tackle Leon Lett and reserve cornerback Claya starlet until Deion ton Holmes Sanders returned to the club face suspensions for up to six weeks for violating the league's rule against steroids, illegal drugs and alcohol abuse. Also, defensive tackle Russell Maryland spumed a knee when Atlanta iiiiiiini" back Craig Hey- (5-3- the best record in the NFL. but all is not well as the club prepares lor L'amcs the next tour weeks against ). (0-2- ward him on the final play of Dallas' 28-1victory over the Falcons on Sunday. 3 Switer said Monday that Mary land might miss some prac- tices and would almost certainly be limited in others. Maryland had a magnetic resonance imaging tesi Monday that revealed he spraiwhi a medial collateral ligament. Lett and Holmes didn't come to the practice facility on Monday, w hich w as a day off for the Covt (Sit COWBOYS. Page (C7) |