briefly 5/11

AREA

SOUTHEAST TRACK ATHLETES COMPETE AT INDIANA MEET

After finishing second in both the men's and women's divisions at last weekend's Ohio Valley Conference Championships, Southeast Missouri State University will have several entries in today's Billy Hayes Invitational at Indiana University.

Southeast's men's entries today are Jay Heddell (shot put, discus), Jaret Willi (pole vault), Colin Sheridan (pole vault), Shelton Scott (triple jump), Jason Campbell (400-meters) and Adam Shupe (800).

For Southeast's women, Heather Jenkins (discus) and Courtney Haman (javelin) will compete.

"Several of our athletes have a chance to at least provisionally qualify for the NCAA championships," Southeast coach Joey Haines said.

Heddell is already provisionally qualified in the shot put with a throw of 58 feet 9 1/2 inches. Several other Southeast athletes are close to qualifying.

EKU advances to NCAA softball tournament

OVC regular-season and tournament champion Eastern Kentucky defeated Alabama A&M 8-0 and 4-0 Thursday to advance to the NCAA softball tournament.

OVC Pitcher of the Year Jonelle Csora allowed only two hits and struck out 26 batters in the two games. She tossed a perfect game in the first contest, which was completed after five innings due to the eight-run rule, striking out 14 of the 15 batters she faced. Csora struck out 12 more batters in game two, giving up two hits en route to the series-clinching victory.

EKU (36-12) will learn its first-round NCAA opponent on Sunday when the pairings are announced.

ELSEWHERE

HOCKEY

Former New Jersey Devils head coach John Cunniff, who had a distinguished international career as an assistant, died of cancer at age 57.

He worked for the Devils organization for the past 13 years, including a two-season stint as head coach (1989-91). He guided the Devils to a 59-56-18 record and a berth in the 1990 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Defenseman Thomas Rhodin scored two goals as Sweden rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat Finland 5-3 Friday in the bronze-medal game at the World Hockey Championships.

Russia, which has not earned a medal since winning the championships in 1993, will play Slovakia in the gold-medal game today at the Scandinavium Arena.

-- From staff, wire reports