Sports Briefs: Californians win top drag crowns

Monday, Sept. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

California racers Gary Scelzi and Wayne Stoeckel captured the Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car championships at the 15th $139,000 Budweiser Gambler Nationals Saturday night at Las Vegas Speedway Park.

Four Southern Nevadans -- Randy Goff, Sean Conner, Tom Arden and Mike Billich -- all enjoyed home-track advantage in winning their respective classes in the record-setting NHRA Division 7 Winston Drag Racing Series event.

Scelzi, of Fresno, Calif., defeated Rick Santos of San Leandro, Calif., in the Top Alcohol finals. Scelzi won the title with a run of 5.903 seconds at 237.30 mph over the quarter-mile LVSP drag strip.

Stoeckel, of Madera, Calif., needed a LVSP record speed to win his Funny Car final over Doug Gordon of Paso Robles, Calif. Stoeckel's Chevrolet Camaro turned a 6.052-second final run at 235.64 mph to a 6.246-second, 232.46 mph run by Gordon's Pontiac Firebird.

Goff, of Las Vegas, had to win seven races in his Chevrolet Nova to take Super Comp at the Gambler Nationals for the first time. Conner, of Boulder City, continued his motorcycle division hot streak, winning for the third time this season in Division 7 to keep his Kawasaki ahead in points in his class for the year. Arden, of Las Vegas, won the Super Modified division while Las Vegan Billich took the Super X crown.

Gordon takes Wilkesboro finale

Jeff Gordon bid farewell to historic North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway, winning the Tyson Holly Farms 400 for his third straight victory and 10th of the season. Gordon, who has won four of the last five races and finished no worse than second in his last seven, edged Dale Earnhardt by 1.73 seconds. The defending series champion averaged 96.945 mph in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Dale Jarrett finished third, followed by Jeff Burton and Terry Labonte. Gordon increased his lead over Labonte in the season standings to 111 points.

UNLV takes 2 tennis titles

Members of UNLV tennis teams took home titles from the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships in Baltimore. Marianne Vallin captured the consolation championship Sunday with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Fresno State's Dora Dijilianova. The Rebels' top men's doubles team of Asaf Tishler and Luke Smith also won its consolation bracket, defeating Purdue's Chris James and Derek Meyers, 6-4, 6-2.

Rebel soccer blanked

Goalkeeper Josh Fouts had four saves and Gonzaga received goals from Brian Ching, Jeremy Clark and Jeff McAllister to shut out UNLV 3-0 Sunday at Peter Johann Field, giving the Bulldogs the championship of the Rebel Invite. UNLV, which rallied to tie Loyola Marymount 2-2 Friday, outshot Gonzaga 15-8, but was unable to put the ball by Fouts. The loss dropped the Rebels to 3-3-2 heading into Friday's adidas/Met Life Classic where UNLV will face fourth-ranked Rutgers at Piscataway, N.J. Sunday, UNLV meets No. 5 St. John's.

UNLV runners third

UNLV's cross-country team finished third in the four-team Hawaiian Invitational, which was won by the Naval Academy, Sunday in Honolulu. Michelle Henry was the Rebels' top finisher with an eight-place showing in a time of 19:19. Katie Durham took 16th place in 19:35; Sarah Feliz was 24th in 19:53; Amy Carling was 25th in 19:59; and Eulista Clemons was 35th in 21:08. The Rebels return to action Saturday when they host the UNLV Invitational at Sunset Park.

WAC game on Thanksgiving

Saturday's Western Athletic Conference game between Air Force and San Diego State has been moved to Thanksgiving Day because of the major league baseball playoffs. The change was necessitated Sunday when the San Diego Padres won the NL West with a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres will play Game 3 of their NL Divisional playoff series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday at Jack Murphy Stadium. Air Force and San Diego State officials considered moving their game to Friday night, but Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry rejected the idea because he said it would put his team in an academic and athletic bind.

U.S. reclaims Fed Cup

Monica Seles beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 Sunday at Atlantic City as the United States routed three-time defending champion Spain 5-0 for its first Fed Cup title since 1990. After Seles' victory gave the United States an unbeatable 3-0 lead, Lindsay Davenport beat Gala Leon Garcia 7-5, 6-2, and Mary Joe Fernandez and Linda Wild teamed to beat Garcia and Virginia Ruano-Pascual 6-1, 6-4.

In other tennis:

* In his first tournament since winning the U.S. Open, Pete Sampras beat Hendrik Dreekmann of Germany 7-5, 6-2, 6-0 on Sunday in the final of the Swiss Indoor. Sampras earned $137,000 for his seventh victory of the year and 44th overall.

Kendall finishes second

New Zealand's Phil Tataurangi shot a 6-under-par 66 on Sunday for a six-stroke victory in the Nike Tri-Cities Open at Richland, Wash. Tataurangi, 22nd on the money list with $74,410, had a 21-under 267 total on the Meadow Springs course. Former UNLV golfer Skip Kendall closed with a 70 to finish second.

Scott wins Fifth Avenue Mile

Steve Scott, the American indoor and outdoor mile record-holder who had surgery for testicular cancer in 1994, won two races Saturday in the Discover Card Mile on Fifth Avenue. Scott, 40, took the Masters division in 4 minutes, 6.57 seconds. Then, 40 minutes later, outkicked world indoor record-holder Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland in a two-man Champions of the Mile race in 4:37.02.