Spitz loses to Biondi by two seconds

Mark Spitz lost again in his comeback yesterday, as Matt Biondi beat the former Olympic champion in the 50-meter butterfly in Mission Viejo, Calif. Biondi, an 1988 Olympic silver medalist, swam the race in 24.51 seconds in his attempt to break the world record of 24.39. Spitz, winner of seven Olympic gold medals nearly 20 years ago, swam in 26.51.

Spitz, 41, lost to Tom Jager on April 13 in the first race of his comeback. Jager finished in 24.92 seconds, and Spitz clocked 26.70 in the 50-meter butterfly.

7/8 Iley Evans, president of the Caldwell Parish Country Club in Columbia, La., says he never told the club manager to bar a student golfer from a high school match there because the golfer is black. He called the incident a misunderstanding.

Evans, who also is an assistant district attorney in the 37th Judicial District, said he told club manager Bill McGee to cancel a three-school tournament April 17 because the club's board of directors had not approved the match -- a procedure that is required in the club's bylaws.

McGee, however, told the St. Fredrick High School coach that Dondre Green, 17, could not play because of a club policy barring blacks from playing on the course. The St. Fredrick team voted to walk off the course, but the Caldwell Parish High School and Jena High School teams played the tournament. On the day of the tournament, McGee said: "If it was up to me, I would have let the kid play. But, when I asked Iley Evans, he said, 'Definitely not.' "

* Second-round leaders Naomichi "Joe" Ozaki and Hideto Shigenobu of Japan and Roger Mackay of Australia shot 4-under-par 68s to remain in the lead front after three rounds in the Dunlop Open in Inamachi, Japan.

* Spain's Miguel Angel Martin moved closer to his first career victory on the PGA European Tour with a 5-under-par 67 to open a three-shot lead after three rounds of the Madrid Open.

Boxing

George Foreman's manager and brother, Ray, said the heavyweight has a guaranteed offer of $6 million to fight any top 10 contender in what would be the first professional bout in China. The proposed match would be staged later this year. Foreman recently was beaten by heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and will decide soon whether he'll retire.

* The International Boxing Federation ended a five-year ban on title fights in South Africa, the latest step in the country's return to international sports competition. A two-man IBF team announced its decision after meetings with South African sports officials and members of the African National Congress, the main black opposition movement. "South Africa is moving in the right direction," said one of the delegates, IBF presidential liaison Bobby Lee Jr.

7/8

Women's lacrosse

Loyola College (9-6) broke away from a tie at 8 with three successive goals, the last with 8 minutes, 5 seconds left, and held off Towson State (7-5) at Curley Field, 12-10. Tricia Goodman led Loyola with four goals, including two in the breakaway stretch, and an assist, and Colleen Anderson added three goals, boosting her team highs to 35 goals and 50 points. Gina Daniel had three goals and Kelly Bush, three assists, becoming the school's all-time single-season leader with 33.

Tennis

Boris Becker advanced to the third clay-court final of his career with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Yugoslavia's Goran Prpic at the Monte Carlo Open. Becker, who has won five Grand Slam titles on fast surfaces -- three on grass at Wimbledon plus hard-court titles at the U.S. and Australian opens -- never has won a tournament on clay.

Becker's opponent in the final will be Sergei Bruguera of Spain, who beat Horst Skoff of Austria, 6-1, 6-4, in the other semifinal. Bruguera is the hottest player on clay this season with a 15-1 match record, including a straight-sets victory over Becker in Barcelona, Spain, two weeks ago.

* Third-seeded Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere defeated Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, and Conchita Martinez beat Nathalie Tauziat to move into the final of the WTA Seat Open tournament in Barcelona. The Bulgarian-born Maleeva-Fragniere, now a resident of Switzerland, won, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, as second-seeded Sanchez fell to more consistent play. Martinez also took three sets with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 win over Tauziat, who had upset Martina Navratilova on Friday.

7/8 Sophomore quarterback Jason Van Matre passed for two touchdowns and rushed for 99 yards in leading the Gold squad to a 26-7 win over the Blue squad in the annual Blue-Gold Game ending Navy's spring practice. Van Matre was 6-for-12 passing for 81 yards. Blue quarterback Brian Ellis completed four of 12 passes for 48 yards and was intercepted twice.

Pro football

A proposed partnership with the owners of the Hyatt hotel chain and the Philadelphia Flyers could help bring a National Football League franchise to Jacksonville, the Florida Times-Union reported. Touchdown Jacksonville! Inc. hopes to announce the partnership within a week. The group needs a majority owner to underwrite a large portion of the estimated $125 million NFL franchise fee.

* Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Lewis Billups, who finished a jail sentence last week for pointing a gun at a police officer, will be fined for missing practice Friday, the team said. Billups needed time to recover from being held in solitary confinement in the Hamilton County (Ohio) Justice Center for a month, said his agent, Ed Sewell.

Billups pleaded guilty last year to charges of aggravated menacing and improper handling of a firearm. He was accused of pointing the gun at two officers on Jan. 4, 1990, and leading police on high-speed chase.

"He's under contract and is obligated to report on time," said Bengals assistant general manager Mike Brown. "Anything else is unacceptable. He'll be fined."

* Mike Sullivan, an offensive lineman from the University of Miami drafted on the sixth round, failed his physical because of a lower back problem and will not play for the Dallas Cowboys, club officials said. Sullivan was tested Friday, at the start of a minicamp at the Cowboys' training facility.

Sullivan, 6 feet 3, 278 pounds, was projected as a backup at center and both offensive guard spots. Sullivan said he suffered a pinched nerve while lifting weights last summer, but thought the problem wasn't career-threatening. He passed his physical in February at the Indianapolis scouting combine, but X-rays on Friday revealed more extensive damage.

* Mike Perez threw two touchdown passes to Jason Johnson in Frankfurt's 17-7 victory over Montreal in a World League of American Football game in Frankfurt, Germany.

7/8

Volleyball

Navy's men's team (26-11) finished third in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association -- its highest finish -- by defeating George Mason in five games in the EIVA tournament cconsolation match in Newark, N.J.