Sports briefs 4/11/2005

College

* acob Priday hit two homers and drove in four runs as Missouri beat Texas A&M 8-3 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of the Aggies.

Priday's first home run gave Missouri (26-6, 8-1 Big 12) a 2-0 lead in a four-run second inning. His two-run homer in the fifth inning put the Tigers up 6-2.

Austin Boggs and Coby Mavroulis both hit solo home runs for Texas A&M (22-13-1, 4-8).

Football

A Southern California newspaper on Sunday apologized to Bo Jackson and retracted part of a story saying the former football and baseball star used steroids.

In a story published March 24 under sports editor Jim Mohr's byline, dietary expert Ellen Coleman was quoted as saying she knew personally that "Bo Jackson lost his hip because of anabolic abuse."

Jackson responded last week by suing the newspaper, MediaNews Group Inc., MediaNews Group Interactive, Inc., Mohr and three other employees for unspecified general and punitive damages in Illinois.

"I've got nothing to hide," Jackson said. "If anyone wants to check into my medical past, go get blood tests, go check up on those blood tests and see if there was any anabolic steroids in it. You're more than welcome."

It was unclear how the retraction would affect Jackson's defamation suit.

Miscellaneous

James and five other sports figures appear on Time Magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people. The eclectic list, which hits newsstands Monday, ranges from the Dalai Lama to the inventors of the Blackberry, and from terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela.

Joining James from the world of sports are Chelsea soccer team owner Roman Abramovich, sailor Ellen MacArthur, Formula One driver Michael Schumacher and World Anti-Doping Agency chief Richard Pound.

Hailing from 31 different countries, and including rappers, designers, world leaders and a tsunami survivor, the listed newsmakers have shaped the world in some way, according to the magazine's editors.

Running

* Aaron Hoover of Terre Haute, Ind., and Stephanie Hill of Pevely, Mo., were the men's and women's winners Sunday in the Spirit of St. Louis Marathon.

Hoover, 23, beat Erik Bush of Warrenville, Ill., by only seven seconds, finishing in 2:33:45. Hill, 21, had a more comfortable margin of more than 16 minutes in the women's division, winning in 3:04:22. Dan Dowling, 47, of Eureka, Mo., won the wheelchair division in 2:07:36.

Chris Juarez, 34, of San Antonio, won the men's half-marathon in 1:11:50, while Eileen Petito, 35, of Alton, Ill, was the women's winner in 1:27:47.