A roundup off the week August 13-19
BOATING—In the most tragic race in yachting history, CONDOR OF BERMUDA, skippered by Bob Bell of Bermuda, set a course record for the Fastnet leg of the Admiral's Cup. The 77-foot sloop finished in 71:25:23, nearly eight hours faster than the old mark. TENACIOUS, with Ted Turner of Atlanta at the helm, won on corrected time in 79:52:22. Fifteen sailors died and 23 of the 306 boats in the race either sank or were abandoned when heavy rains, 75-knot winds and 40-foot waves battered the southwest coast of England (page 16).
BOWLING—WAYNE WEBB defeated Steve Westberg 237-199 to win the $75,000 Greater Buffalo Open.
BOXING—MATTHEW SAAD MUHAMMAD retained his WBC light-heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over John Conteh in Atlantic City (page 24).
DIVING—GREG LOUGANIS of Mission Viejo, Calif. became the first diver in 15 years to sweep the one-and three-meter springboard and the 10-meter platform events at the AAU Outdoor Championships, in Decatur, Ala. In the women's competition, KELLY McCORMICK and KIT SALNESS, both of Mission Viejo, won the one- and 10-meter events, respectively, and MICHELE HAIN of Dallas triumphed in the three-meter.
GOLF—JERRY McGEE shot a final-round 65 for a 17-under-par 267 to win the rain-delayed $300,000 Greater Hartford Open by one stroke over Jack Renner.
Firing a three-under-par 70 on the final day for a 288, JUDY RANKIN successfully defended her title in a rain-delayed $100,000 PGA tournament at Jericho, N.Y. Beth Daniel was second, two strokes back.
Carolyn Hill of Placentia, Calif. defeated Patty Sheehan of Reno, Nev. 7 and 6 to win the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in Memphis.
A birdie on the final hole gave JACK RENNER a seven-under-par 277 and a one-stroke victory worth $72,000 in the $400,000 Westchester Classic in Harrison, N.Y., his first triumph on the PGA Tour. Howard Twitty and David Graham tied for second.
HORSE RACING—GENERAL ASSEMBLY ($8.80), Jacinto Vasquez up, won the $134,750 Travers Stakes at Saratoga by 15 lengths over Smarten. The 3-year-old son of Secretariat covered the sloppy 1¼-mile course in a track-record 2:00 (page 45).
POCKET BILLIARDS—MIKE SIGEL of Towson, Md. beat Joe Balsis of Minersville, Pa. 150-31 to win the World Open title in New York City.
SOCCER—NASL: Paced by Forward Hugo Sanchez, who scored twice in each game, San Diego swept California out of the playoffs. Also advancing to the semifinal round in the American Conference were Tampa Bay and Chicago. The Rowdies took two straight from Detroit, and the Sting did the same to the Strikers, shutting them out both times. Chicago Goalie Tony Chursky has now gone more than four games without allowing a goal. In the conference's only surprise, Philadelphia, which had the fewest points of any playoff team, upset regular-season champion Houston 2-1 to take a 1-0 lead in their series. New York and Vancouver moved into the National Conference semis by sweeping Toronto and Dallas, respectively. They were joined by Los Angeles, which did not clinch its spot until 97:17 of its second game against Washington. Johan Cruyff scored the deciding goal in the 4-3 overtime victory. David Nish's goal at 94:06 lifted Tulsa to a 2-1 overtime defeat of Minnesota and eliminated the Kicks from the playoffs.
ASL: The New York Eagles won two of three to take over first place in the Eastern Division from idle Columbus. Third-place Pennsylvania virtually assured itself of the division's final playoff berth with a 1-0 win over Indianapolis and a 3-1 defeat of the New York Apollo. In the West, Los Angeles closed to within three points of Sacramento in the race for second place in the division and the home-field advantage in the first playoff round. The Skyhawks beat Las Vegas twice, while Sacramento split a pair of games with California, which has already clinched the division title. Sacramento won the second game 3-0, with Anselmo Vicioso booting in all the Golds' goals.
SWIMMING—MARY T. MEAGHER, 14, of Louisville, Ky. twice broke her own world record in the women's 200-meter butterfly at the National AAU Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Her time of 2:07.01 in the finals was 2.76 seconds better than the mark she set at last month's Pan-Am Games and 1.40 faster than the record she had set in a heat nine hours earlier. On the final day of the meet KIM LINEHAN of Sarasota, Fla. broke the world record in the women's 1,500-meter freestyle with a time of 16:04.49, 2.14 seconds faster than the mark Australia's Tracey Wickham set earlier this year. The FLORIDA AQUATIC TEAM defeated the Mission Viejo (Calif.) Nadadores 827-713 for the overall team title.
TENNIS—JIMMY CONNORS beat Mike Cahill 6-0, 6-1 to win a $75,000 Grand Prix tournament in Stowe, Vt.
Martina Navratilova defeated Kathy Jordan 6-1, 6-3 to win a $75,000 tournament in Richmond.
TRACK & FIELD—SEBASTIAN COE of England, who had broken the world 800-meter and mile records within 12 days in July, added the world record in the 1,500. His time of 3:32.1 at Zurich was .1 second faster than the record Filbert Bayi set in 1974.
VOLLEYBALL—IVA: The playoffs began with Santa Barbara defeating Seattle three games to two in the opening match of the Western Conference finals. The turning point came during the tight fourth game when Ed Skorek, Seattle's best hitter-blocker, went down with a sprained ankle. Fortunately for Tuscon, all of its front-line men made it through the first match of the Continental Division finals. The Sky escaped with an 11-9 tie-breaker victory over Denver despite having only one reserve, an inexperienced female defensive specialist.
MILEPOSTS—AWARDED: By a Houston federal jury to Houston Rocket Forward RUDY TOMJANOVICH, $3.3 million in damages for injuries he suffered when Los Angeles Laker Forward Kermit Washington punched him in the face during a game in Los Angeles on Dec. 9, 1977. The amount, for which the then-owner of the Lakers, California Sports, Inc., is liable was $600,000 more than Tomjanovich had asked for. His injuries, which included a fractured nose, jaw and skull, a concussion and leakage of spinal fluid from the brain cavity, caused Tomjanovich to miss 58 games.
TRADED: By the New England Patriots, two-time All-Pro Tackle LEON GRAY, 27, to Houston for the Oilers' first- and third-round draft choices in 1980.
