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A roundup of the sports information of the week
ARCHERY—JOE THORNTON, 53, of Tahlequah, Okla., the 1961 world champion, set an American round competition record on the final day to win the men's title at the National Archery Championship at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, scoring 796 out of a possible 810 for a four-day total of 2,811 points. Ed Eliason of Seattle, Wash. was second with 2,796 points, and Dave Baird of Detroit finished third with 2,763. In the women's competition, 1965 National champion NANCY MYRICK, of Pompano Beach, Fla., amassed 2,712 points to recapture that title; Ruth Rowe of Avondale, Pa. (2,683) and Linda Myers of York, Pa. (2,673) finished second and third, respectively.
GOLF—FRANK BEARD shot a conservative one-over-par 71 to pick up the $30,000 winner's check at the $150,000 American Golf Classic at Akron. He wound up with a 72-hole total of 276, four under par for the demanding 7,180-yard course and two strokes under Jack Nicklaus, Bruce Crampton and Tommy Aaron, all tied at 278.
Holding a 5½-3½ lead after the first round, U.S. women golfers wasted little time in pulling away to capture the Curtis Cup for the sixth straight time with a 11½-6½ victory over the Great Britain and Ireland teams (page 50).
HARNESS RACING—COLUMBIA GEORGE ($3.40), already the season's fastest pacer, registered the fastest mile in the 13-year history of Monticello Raceway in winning the George Morton Levy Pace for 3-year-olds in 1:58[1/5]. The time tops the track record 1:58[4/5] set by Rivaltime in 1965. Roland Beaulieu guided the winner to a¾-length victory over Truluck, who finished a neck in front of Shreik, driven by world champion horseman Herve Filion. Truluck and Shreik also bettered the old track mark, both timed in 1:58[3/5].
Roosevelt International winner Fresh Yankee, driven by Joe O'Brien, surged up from sixth place in the stretch, but GRANDPA JIM ($16.40), an 8-year-old owned by Jim and Marie Trainor of Hammond, Ind., Bob Farrington driving, hung on to win by 1¼ lengths and set a track record 2:00[4/5] for the mile in Canada's richest trotting race, the $49,500 Maple Leaf Classic at Toronto.
HORSE RACING—Bobby Woodhouse, 21 years old, guided Saul Nadler's JUDGABLE ($59) to a three-length lead over Meadow Stable's Hydrologist to win the $60,400 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Springs, clocking a 1:48[2/5] for the 1‚⅛-mile run. William Haggin Perry's Dewan finished a nose over last year's winner, Verbatim, to take third place in the field of 12.
At the $100,000 Monmouth Invitational Handicap, TWICE WORTHY ($6.40), John Ruane up, won by four lengths over Roman Scout in 1:48[2/5] for the 1‚⅛ miles, clipping two-fifths of a second off the track record set 14 years ago by Levee and equaled in 1961 by My Portrait. Kentucky Derby winner Dust Commander wound up third, three lengths behind.
PENTATHLON—PETER KELEMAN won the individual title with 5,220 points and led his Hungarian team to the modern world pentathlon team championship at Warendorf, West Germany. ROBERT BECK of San Antonio won the fencing, and CHARLES RICHARDS of Tacoma, Wash. took the swimming to give the U.S. a 19-point lead over West Germany going into the final event but the team lost it in cross-country to finish fourth. The Soviet Union placed second.
ROWING—The U.S. was represented in three finals but finished fourth in each as EAST GERMANY completely dominated the first world junior rowing championship at Ioànnina, Greece, winning all seven final races. The Vesper Boat Club of Philadelphia finished fourth in the fours with coxswain in 5:09.4 and clocked 5:57.1 in the singles sculls, while The Litchfield Rowing Association was timed in 4:45.6, fourth behind East Germany's winning 4:37.5 in the eight-oared competition.
SEESAWING—STEVE COOPER and GARY TURPEN, both 17, of Castro Valley, Calif., teetered and tottered to a world record for continuous seesawing, going 124 nonstop hours to surpass the former record of 115 hours, 33 minutes set last spring in Yorkshire, England.
SKIING—Italy's CARLO DEMETZ, ninth after the first run, whipped down the 63-gate slalom course on Australian Mt. Thredbo to beat Max Reiger of West Germany on the second dash, winning the Wills International Cup. Top American was Tyler Palmer of Kearsarge, N.H., fourth in the field of 33.
SOCCER—NORTH AMERICAN LEAGUE: Defending champion Kansas City took over the lead in the Northern Division by defeating the Rochester Lancers 6-2, with Manfred Seissler scoring four for the Spurs, bringing their total points to 89 against Rochester's 88.
Northern Division: Kansas City (7-8-6), Rochester (7-9-5), St. Louis (3-15-2). Southern Division: Washington (13-4-3), Atlanta (8-8-5), Dallas (8-9-4).
TENNIS—Australian Rod Laver appeared to be headed for his fifth straight U.S. pro title and sixth in seven years after three sets—but countryman TONY ROCHE came back strong after a 15-minute rest to make a shambles of Laver's service and score a 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory at the $50,000 U.S. professional tennis championship at Brookline, Mass. Roche picked up 11 Pepsi Grand Prix points along with his winner's check of $12,000.
TRACK & FIELD—Australia's Ron Clarke, whose 27:39.4 still stands as the world 10,000-meter mark, announced at an international meet in Oslo—where he originally set the record in 1965—that this would be his last race. He then ran a 29:00.4 for a dismal sixth while FRANK SHORTER of the Florida Track Club finished first in 28:32.6, followed by Mariano Haro of Spain, whose 28:34.2 set a Spanish record. In the 1,500-meters, Norway's ARNE KVALHEIM won in 3:40.1, with American Marty Liquori behind him by one-half second. KERRY O'BRIEN of Australia lost one shoe but still managed to finish first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, clocking a stadium record 8:31.2.
WATER SKIING—SALLY YOUNGER, 17-year-old self-proclaimed wearer of the "world's fastest bikini," averaged more than 56 mph in the 60.20-mile Grand National race from Long Beach to Catalina Island, finishing third overall and first among women in 1:11.40. Men's winner in the field of 43 was MIKE KENNEDY, 16, Pasadena, who clocked 1:09.06, an average of 57 mph.
MILEPOSTS—HIRED: As swimming coach and director of student employment at Portland's Lewis and Clark College, ex-Olympian DON SCHOLLANDER, who dominated the sport for years, winning, among other honors, four gold medals in the 1964 Games and a gold and silver in 1968.
RETIRED: New York Jet Middle Linebacker AL ATKINSON, citing the lack of "team unity" and the Players' Association's disregard for pre-1958 players in the new NFL pension plan.
DIED: JOHNNY GOODMAN, 60, who came out of obscurity as a 19-year-old from Omaha to beat Bobby Jones in the 1929 National Golf Amateur, then went on to win the National Open in 1933 and the National Amateur in 1937; in South Gate, Calif., of a heart attack.
DIED: JOE LAPCHICK, 70, one of basketball's Original Celtics and a Hall of Fame member, whose coaching career included the New York Knicks, from 1947-1955, and 20 years at St. John's University, during which he established a 335-121 record and guided the team to a record four NIT championships; of a heart attack; in Monticello, N.Y.
