Bird, Johnson join shrine

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Bird, Johnson join shrine

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Larry Bird and Magic Johnson have been linked since their epic 1979 NCAA title game. Yesterday, they entered college basketball's hall of fame together.

Bird and Johnson were inducted into the National Collegiate Hall of Fame in Kansas City. The honor came 30 years after Johnson's Michigan State team beat Bird and Indiana State in a game that reshaped college basketball.

Johnson was joined by his coach, Jud Heathcote, and late Oklahoma star Wayman Tisdale was represented by his wife, Regina.

Travis Grant, college basketball's career scoring leader, longtime coach Gene Bartow, former NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers and USA Basketball Executive Director Bill Wall also were inducted.

TRACK AND FIELD

Bolt, Richards named top athletes

MONACO -- Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and 400-meter runner Sanya Richards of the United States were named IAAF world athletes of the year for the second time.

Bolt retained the honor by winning the 100and 200-meter finals in record times at the World Championships in Berlin, matching his 100-200 double from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He won a third gold in the 400-meter relay.

Richards, the 2006 winner, got her first major individual gold medal at the worlds in August. She also won at all six Golden League meetings in Europe to claim a share of the $1 million jackpot given to athletes who swept their event.

RUNNING

Virginia native is Philadelphia victor

PHILADELPHIA -- John Crews became the first U.S.-born man to win the Philadelphia Marathon since 2000, racing to victory by more than six minutes. Crews, 25, completed the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 17 minutes, 15 seconds, an automatic qualifying time for the 2012 U.S. Olympic marathon trials. Brian Clas of New York was the last U.S. man to win the race.

"I thought if I had a good day I would be up there," said Crews, a native of Lexington who lives in Raleigh, N.C.

Jutta Merilainen won the women's event in 2:46:44. She beat Doreen McCoubrie of Malvern, Pa., who finished in 2:49.09.

GOLF

McPherson leads by one

RICHMOND, Texas -- Kristy McPherson finished a 5-under 67 in fading sunlight to take a one-stroke lead in the LPGA Tour Championship before the second round was suspended because of darkness.

McPherson was 8 under, one shot ahead of Jiyai Shin -- the South Korean star who had two holes to play. Lorena Ochoa, dueling with Shin for the player of the year title, was two strokes back in a tie for third with one hole to play.

Heavy rain swamped the course Friday and Saturday, forcing tournament officials to cut the tournament to 54 holes. The fairways were still water-logged yesterday, so players were allowed to lift, clean and place. Players will resume their second rounds this morning. The top 70 and ties will immediately begin the final rounds.

ELSEWHERE

• The banged-up Detroit Red Wings have lost defenseman Niklas Kronwall for at least a month with a sprained ligament in his left knee. The team saidt Kronwall will be out four to eight weeks. Kronwall had a leg-on-leg, open-ice collision with Montreal enforcer

• In London, Roger Federer overcame an erratic forehand and Fernando Verdasco, rallying to beat the Spanish opponent 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the round-robin stage of the ATP World Tour Finals. In an earlier match, Andy Murray overcame a second-set slump to beat Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. AROUND THE STATE

• Forced into a third straight penalty-kick shootout, the Christopher Newport men's soccer team was ousted by Williams 4-1 in the round of eight in the NCAA Division III tournament in York, Pa. CNU ended its season 18-2-4.

The Lynchburg women's soccer team reached the round of eight in the Division III tournament for the third time with a 4-0 win over Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday in San Antonio, Texas. Katie Santos scored twice for the Hornets. -- From Staff and Wire Reports