Sports briefs 5/19/06

Baseball

• Detroit Tigers designated hitter Dmitri Young was charged with domestic violence after his former girlfriend accused him of choking her, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday.

Young, 32, and the 21-year-old woman were staying at the Townsend Hotel in suburban Detroit when she said he attacked her on April 14.

Young was charged Tuesday and is expected to surrender to authorities next Monday, the newspaper said. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.

* Kerry Wood was activated from the 15-day disabled list Thursday to make his first start of the season for the Chicago Cubs, facing the Washington Nationals.

The Cubs optioned right-hander Jae Kuk Ryu to Class AAA Iowa.

Wood began the season on the disabled list while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder on Aug. 31, 2005. The former National League Rookie of the Year made two minor league rehab appearances.

Wood pitched five innings in a 5-3 loss to the Nationals. He gave up five hits -- including three home runs -- four runs with no walks. He had six strikeouts.

Basketball

• Former basketball star Artis Gilmore was charged with drunken driving after flipping his car during an accident.

Gilmore, 57, wasn't injured in the crash but the Florida Highway Patrol said witnesses had to help him from the car because he was caught on his seat belt.

The accident happened early Wednesday, when Gilmore's car left the road, hit a tree and overturned onto its roof, FHP spokesman Bill Leeper said.

Gilmore, nicknamed "the A-Train," was a five-time ABA and six-time NBA All-star during his 18-year career in the 1970s and '80s.

Colleges

• Bob Huggins' meticulous work recruiting from Florida continued to pay off Wednesday, as Kansas State's new basketball coach signed a fourth player to his 2006 recruiting class.

Stefhon Hannah, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Chipola Junior College in Marianna, chose the Wildcats on the final day a player can sign a national letter of intent.

Hannah averaged 14.5 points and 6.5 assists as a sophomore, and helped Chipola win 63 games over two years.

He picked the Wildcats over Big 12 rival Missouri.

n Running back Jaslee Rouson said he will not attend Colorado this fall, despite signing a national letter of intent in February and being recruited to the school by now-departed coach Gary Barnett.

Rouson, the son of former CU running back Lee Rouson, did not provide details when asked why he wouldn't be coming to CU.

"They told me certain reasons why I couldn't go there, reasons I am not free to discuss," Rouson told the Daily Camera newspaper on Wednesday. "I would have loved to play for coach [Dan] Hawkins and Colorado. That was my dream school."

Rouson attended The Hun School in Princeton, N.J. where he played running back and cornerback. He was an honorable mention all-conference player as a senior.

Sailing

• A Dutch crewman in the Volvo Ocean Race died early Thursday after being swept overboard in heavy Atlantic seas, race organizers said.

Crew mates aboard the ABN AMRO TWO yacht pulled helmsman and sail trimmer Hans Horrevoets, 32, of The Netherlands, from the ocean but he failed to regain consciousness.

The yacht was sailing in 16-foot waves and 35-mph winds when Horrevoets was thrown overboard some 1,300 miles off Land's End, England, the team said.

The other nine crew members immediately turned the boat around, took down its sails and began a search-and-rescue effort. Horrevoets was located and lifted back on board.

ABN AMRO TWO is one of seven boats in the around-the-world race, which is on a leg from New York to England.

The seven-month, 36,000-mile race started off Vigo, Spain, in November. The boats passed through some of the world's most treacherous waters, including the Southern Ocean.

Tennis

• Kim Clijsters lost her chance to reclaim the No. 1 ranking Thursday when she fell 6-4, 7-6 (2) to Dinara Safina in the third round of the Italian Open.

The second-ranked Clijsters would have moved past Amelie Mauresmo if she had won the title this week. Mauresmo was a late withdrawal because of illness.

Third-ranked Nadia Petrova and No. 4 Maria Sharapova also withdrew, leaving fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva as the top player left in the draw.

Dementieva beat Ana Lena Groenefeld of Germany 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-1.

Former top-ranked players Venus Williams and Martina Hingis also advanced to the quarterfinals.

-- The Associated Press