Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The stars shined on the next-to-last night of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha. Caeleb Dressel added another event to his Tokyo program, powering to a dominating victory in the 100-meter butterfly. Katie Ledecky blew away the field in the 800 free, winning by more than 5 seconds. Ledecky locked up her fourth individual race at the Olympics, adding to her victories in the 200, 400 and 1,500 free. The only drama in the grueling 800 was for the second spot. Fifteen-year-old Katie Grimes outraced veteran Haley Anderson, knocking more than 11 seconds off her personal best.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Light-hitting Bobby Dalbec had three RBIs and was a double short of a cycle, J.D. Martinez hit a two-run homer and the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 7-1. Dalbec, Boston's No. 9 hitter, singled in the second, put Boston ahead 2-1 in the fifth with his team-high third triple, was hit by a pitch in the seventh and hit a two-run homer in the ninth. Dalbec is 12 for 45 with four homers and 10 RBIs in his last 12 games, raising his average to .214 and OPS to .699. He has nine homers and 32 RBIs.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Jayson Gonzalez singled through the infield with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th inning to give Vanderbilt a 7-6 win over Arizona in the College World Series. Gonzalez grounded a 1-2 pitch beyond diving shortstop Nik McClaughry's glove to end the first extra-inning game at the CWS since 2014. It lasted 4 hours, 51 minutes, making it the fourth-longest game in CWS history. Vince Vannelle worked out of a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the 11th but the reigning national champion Commodores wouldn't be denied in the 12th.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Jonny Butler homered and drove in a career-high five runs, Reid Johnston pitched six strong innings and North Carolina State opened the College World Series with a 10-4 victory over Stanford. The Wolfpack knocked out No. 1 national seed Arkansas in super regionals last week. They continued their postseason roll in the first CWS game since 2019. The 2020 event was canceled because of the pandemic. Johnston limited the Cardinal to Tim Tawa's solo homer and a single through six innings. He wore down in the seventh and turned the game over to closer Evan Justice.
ATLANTA (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals' game at the Atlanta Braves was postponed because of rain. The game will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader Sunday at 2:10 p.m. and 7:08 p.m. Under pandemic rules, both games will be scheduled for seven innings. St. Louis right-hander Adam Wainwright and Atlanta left-hander Drew Smyly are scheduled to start the opener. Wainwright is 9-4 with a 3.63 ERA in 14 starts and five relief appearances against the Braves. Lefty Kwang Hyun Kim is slated to pitch the nightcap for the Cardinals.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Marvin Loria scored the go-ahead goal in first-half stoppage time and the Portland Timbers beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 on Saturday night. Dairon Asprilla also scored to help the Timbers win for the third time in four games. Jaylin Lindsey scored for Kansas City, which dominated possession but saw its four-game undefeated streak snapped. The teams had not met since 2019.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Ryan Lochte came up short in his bid to make a fifth Olympic team at age 36. He finished seventh in the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. trials. He wanted one more chance to make everyone forget that night in Rio five years ago, when he lied about being robbed at a gas station after a night of partying. He leaves behind a complicated legacy. He won 12 Olympic medals — tied for second-most by a swimmer in history — and 27 more at world championships. His generosity with fans was legendary. But his attempt to write a different ending to his career didn't work out.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Reigning Olympic champion Tony Ervin failed to advance from the preliminaries of the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. swimming trials. Ervin returned for one more trials at age 40 knowing he had no real chance to getting to Tokyo. He managed only the 23rd-fastest time in the morning heats, with the top 16 advancing to the evening semifinals. Caeleb Dressel was top qualifier and eight-time Olympic medalist Nathan Adrian shook off a disappointing performance in the 100 free to post the third-fastest time. Simone Manuel also bounced back with the second-fastest time in the prelims of the women's 50 free.
Update on the latest sports
NBA PLAYOFFS-HAWKS/76ERS
Home court may not be an advantage as 76ers host Hawks in Game 7
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Eastern Conference semifinal comes down to Game 7 Sunday in Philadelphia and there's scant proof the home-court edge will matter much for the top-seeded 76ers.
The Atlanta Hawks have already won two games in Philadelphia. They rallied from 26 points down in Game 5 and beat the Sixers. But they lost at home in Game 6.
The Sixers are trying to make the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2001. The Hawks made it in 2015.
Both teams have concerns about key players. Atlanta may be without Bogdan Bogdanovic (bahg-DAH'-noh-vich), who left the Game 6 loss in the fourth quarter with right knee soreness and did not return. Philadelphia's Joel Embiid (joh-EHL' ehm-BEED') has been playing with a cartilage tear in his right knee.
The NBA has suspended Hawks forward Bruno Fernando for Sunday's game for leaving the bench area during an on-court altercation in Game 6. And Embiid has been fined $35,000 for escalating the altercation, which started after he fell on top of John Collins. The NBA says Embiid also failed to comply with an NBA Security interview following the incident.
NHL PLAYOFFS-GOLDEN KNIGHTS/CANADIENS
Coach remains isolated with Montreal set to host Vegas in Game 4
MONTREAL (AP) — Interim coach Dominique Ducharme hopes to be back behind the Montreal bench soon after testing positive for COVID-19. But it's not clear when that will be.
Ducharme spoke to reporters in a video call as the Canadiens prepared to host the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 Sunday night. He says he is fully vaccinated and symptom-free, two days after his positive test forced him into isolation. He will clear the two-week waiting period following his second shot on Wednesday.
Montreal leads the series two games to one, with Game 5 at Vegas on Tuesday. If necessary, Game 6 will be in Montreal on Thursday and Game 7 at Vegas on Saturday.
Vegas has dropped two straight games and finds itself in the all too familiar position of facing adversity during a postseason run in which the team has now trailed in all three series.
Montreal's confidence is riding high in having won nine of 10, leaning on the stellar play of goalie Carey Price.
NASCAR-NASHVILLE
Hendrick trio sets pace at re-opened Nashville Superspeedway
LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — New track, same old names atop the leaderboard.
William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott paced the first ever Cup Series practice at Nashville Superspeedway in yet another display of how dominant Hendrick Motorsports is right now. Hendrick drivers have won five straight headed into Sunday's race, the first for Cup at a speedway that sat dormant the last decade and first for the series in the Nashville area in 37 years.
Only 14 drivers in Sunday's field had raced the 1.33-mile D-shaped oval before this weekend, and only Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Joey Logano won lower series races before Nashville closed. Ryan Preece, Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain all entered Friday night's Truck Series race and Preece won in his first career start in a truck.
Nashville opened in 2001 and hosted 21 Xfinity Series races and 13 Truck Series events before it closed in 2011 when it couldn't get a coveted Cup date. Dover Motorsports owns the track and moved one of its weekends from its Delaware facility to Nashville to re-open the speedway and at last host a Cup race.
F1-FRENCH GP
F1 leader Verstappen wins French GP ahead of rival Hamilton
LE CASTELLET, France (AP) — Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap to win the French Grand Prix on Sunday and extend his lead over his title rival to 12 points.
Verstappen, who won by 2.9 seconds, has 131 points to Hamilton's 119 after seven races.
Verstappen used the DRS system to catch Hamilton on Lap 52 and pass him on the inside before zooming off to clinch his third win of the season and 13th of his career. A bonus point for the fastest lap made it a great day for Red Bull, which had never beaten Mercedes on the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France.
Red Bull's Sergio Perez sneaked past a dejected Valtteri Bottas to take third place and strengthen Red Bull's lead in the constructors' championship.
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