SEMO soccer faces big game tonight

Southeast Missouri State University's women's soccer team will entertain Tennessee Tech tonight in a game that should go a long way toward determining the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season champion.

The 7 p.m. contest at Houck Stadium will feature the top two squads in the current OVC standings. Tech (9-3 overall) is 2-0 while Southeast (9-1) is 1-0.

Southeast has already beaten defending OVC regular-season champion Eastern Illinois. A win over the defending OVC Tournament champion Eaglettes -- who were picked first in the league's preseason poll -- would put the Otahkians clearly in the driver's seat to win their first OVC title and host the conference tournament.

The Otahkians have never beaten the Eaglettes in three previous meetings.

Cowboys sign Leaf to two-year contact

IRVING, Texas -- Quarterback Ryan Leaf signed a three-year, $2 million contract Friday with the Cowboys, completing a courtship that began in March as Dallas looked for Troy Aikman's replacement.

Team owner Jerry Jones said Leaf will be in uniform for Monday night's game against the Washington Redskins.

"This is what we wanted," Jones said. "We were able to do this because of the opportunity we have at quarterback."

Coach Dave Campo said Leaf will come in as the No. 3 quarterback but could move up the depth chart.

The Cowboys were interested in signing Leaf seven months ago, when the San Diego Chargers dumped him after three disappointing seasons. San Diego made Leaf the No. 2 pick in the 1998 draft.

Leaf turned Dallas down and went to Tampa Bay, where he failed to make the roster. The Cowboys again tried to sign him in September, but a damaged ligament in his throwing wrist caused him to fail a physical.

Teen gymnast dies at U.S. Training Center

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A 13-year-old member of the U.S. men's junior national gymnastics team died after collapsing at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

An autopsy on Ricky Deci, of Stafford, Texas, was to be performed Friday, USA Gymnastics said.

Deci, the No. 2 gymnast in the 12-13 age division, was at the USOTC for a junior national team training camp. He was working on the pommel horse when he collapsed Thursday night. A USOTC trainer who was at the camp administered CPR before Deci was taken to nearby Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Todd Bodine wins pole for Old Dominion 500

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Todd Bodine, proving again to be an impressive qualifier, turned a fast lap at 93.724 mph Friday in his Ford to win the pole for the Old Dominion 500.

It is Bodine's third pole of the season, the third-best total in the Winston Cup series, and his first in eight career tries at Martinsville Speedway -- the circuit's oldest and shortest track.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who qualified right after Bodine, will start on the outside of the front row in his Chevrolet after a run at 93.617.

Both moved Jeff Gordon's Chevrolet to the second row.

Jeff Gordon put a lap up at 93.488 and will start inside Dale Jarrett, the winner here in April, who turned a lap at 93.322 in his Ford as the last of the 46 drivers to make a run.

The rest of the top 10 has Johnny Benson and Ricky Craven in the third row, Joe Nemechek and defending race champion and polesitter Tony Stewart in the fourth, and Rusty Wallace and Dave Blaney in the fifth.

Sotomayor will announce retirement

HAVANA -- Javier Sotomayor, the only high jumper to clear 8 feet, will retire next week, the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina said Friday.

Sotomayor, who turns 34 Saturday, fought a ban from competition and won the silver medal at the Sydney Olympics. He had tested positive for cocaine but insists he never took the drug.

-- From staff, wire reports