Lysacek grabs world title for U.S.

Evan Lysacek became the first American in 13 years to win the World Figure Skating Championship, thanks to a spectacular free skate Thursday.

Lysacek is the first U.S. skater since Todd Eldredge in 1996 to take the world crown. He previously won bronze medals in 2005 and 2006 and was fourth at the 2006 Olympics.

Canada's Patrick Chan took the silver, and 2007 world winner Brian Joubert of France, the short program leader, slipped to third.

The top two Americans, Lysacek and Brandon Mroz (ninth), finished high enough to secure three spots for the United States at the Vancouver Olympics next year.

MSU Mankato to play for title The Minnesota State Mankato women's basketball team will play for the NCAA Division II championship tonight in San Antonio.

The Mavericks (31-2), making their first appearance at the Elite Eight, will play Franklin Pierce (29-5) at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. The Mavericks and Ravens have never met in basketball.

Three seniors who have each surpassed 1,000 points for their career -- Heather Johnson, Jo Noreen and Alex Andrews -- lead the Mavericks.

Westhead to coach Oregon women Paul Westhead, who has won titles in the NBA and WNBA, was hired as the women's head coach at Oregon.

Westhead, 70, replaces Bev Smith, who was let go last week after the Ducks went 9-21 last season.

Westhead most recently was an assistant for the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. Westhead guided the Los Angeles Lakers to an NBA title in 1980 and the Phoenix Mercury to the WNBA championship in 2007.

"The single most thing that attracted me was, it was the women's game. I was smitten in Phoenix by the way they played," he said.

International torch relays are nixed After a year of embarrassing protests leading up to the Beijing Games, Olympic leaders called for an end to international torch relays starting next year in Vancouver.

"We have seen on the debrief of the torch relay that the risk was there, and it is why the IOC has decided not to do it," said Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director for the Olympic Games.

College football: Michigan quarterback Nick Sheridan, competing for the starting job after starting four games last season, suffered a broken leg during a scrimmage and will miss the rest of spring football. He is expected to be able to work out with teammates this summer.

College wrestling: Iowa's Brent Metcalf has apologized for shoving North Carolina State's Darrion Caldwell at the end of their 149-pound title match at the NCAA championships. Metcalf said his momentum carried him into Caldwell's celebratory back flip with five seconds left. Replays, however, show Metcalf chasing Caldwell across the mat and pushing him in midair.

Tennis: Belgian player Kim Clijsters, formerly the world's No. 1 player, will return to professional tennis after two years in retirement. "I still have that craving," she said.

Biathlon: Ole Einar Bjorndalen, a five-time Olympic champion, finished second in a 10-kilometer sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, and secured the overall world sprint title.

Track cycling: Taylor Phinney of the United States won the individual pursuit at the world championships in Pruszkow, Poland.