Minnesota United selected defender Tyrone Mears, 34, with their fourth pick in stage one of the MLS re-entry draft Friday. Mears had 16 starts and 20 appearances with Atlanta, scoring one goal and adding an assist.
In 2016, Mears started all 32 matches played by Seattle, which won the MLS Cup. He also led that club in minutes in 2015.
Before that, the fullback played in more than 200 Premier League and championship matches in his native England.
Stage two of the re-entry draft is next Thursday.
MEGAN RYAN
Shuster, Christensen in curling playoffs
After losing for the first time at the U.S. Olympic trials for mixed doubles curling, John Shuster and Cory Christensen finished Friday's competition with a victory to earn a place in Saturday's playoffs.
Shuster, a Chisholm native, and Christensen, of Duluth, lost 8-6 to Matt and Becca Hamilton in Friday's afternoon session of round-robin play at Fogerty Arena in Blaine. They came back to defeat Nina Roth and Kroy Nernberger 9-3 in the evening session to push their record to 5-1. The Hamilton siblings are tied with Roth and Nernberger with a 4-2 record.
Those two Wisconsin-based teams will play Saturday morning in the round-robin finale. The winner will face Shuster and Christensen in the playoffs at 9 p.m. Saturday, with the victor advancing directly to Sunday's finals. The third- and fourth-seeded teams after the round robin also will play Saturday night; the winner will face the loser of the game between the top two seeds in a semifinal Sunday morning.
RACHEL BLOUNT
Etc.
• A new Gophers golf practice facility next to Les Bolstad Golf Course was approved by the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents. It will be largely funded by a $1 million gift from the John W. Mooty Foundation and have heated indoor hitting bays and indoor practice greens.
• The MIAC named Rich Mies the recipient of the conference's Mike Augustin Award. From 2002 until August of this year, Mies, a native of Watkins, Minn., wrote a series of articles on MIAC student-athletes called "Profiles of Excellence." The award, named for longtime St. Paul sportswriter Mike Augustin, who died in 1997, recognizes outstanding contributions to the MIAC in the areas of media and sports information.
• Jay Dickman had a hat trick and an assist to lead Bemidji State to a 5-1 WCHA men's hockey victory over visiting Alaska Anchorage. … Also in the WCHA, No. 7 Minnesota State Mankato beat visiting Alabama Huntsville 5-1 as C.J. Suess scored twice.