Sports briefs for April 6, 2005

Wednesday, April 6, 2005 | 10:31 a.m.

Group calls on Bush to pardon Jack Johnson

Lawmakers, labor unions and professional boxers will join together today on Capitol Hill to call on the Bush administration to issue a full pardon for former heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.

As the first black heavyweight champion of the world, Johnson earned the respect of fighters and fans alike for his courage and determination both inside and outside the ring.

During the height of Johnson's career, he was convicted under the Mann Act in 1913 for transporting a white woman across state lines. Although the arbitrary nature of his conviction is well documented in history, it has served to push his legacy to near obscurity.

Miscues costly in loss UNLV loss

UNLV had its three-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night, dropping a 7-3 game to UC Riverside at the Riverside Sports Complex.

Defensive lapses led to the Rebels' downfall as they committed six errors that led to four unearned runs, including three in a five-run fourth inning when UCR grabbed a 6-2 lead.

Rebels win third BYU Dixie Classic

Seema Sadekar, Hwanhee Lee and Elena Kurokawa all finished in the top 10 to lead the UNLV women's golf team to its third consecutive BYU Dixie Classic crown in St. George.

The Rebels carded a second-round 297 and finished with a two-day score of 617 (41-over) to win by 14 strokes over No. 16 Arkansas.

UNLV maintains national rankings

Elena Gantcheva (11-3 duals, 27-5 overall) dipped six spots to No. 28 in the nation, while the doubles team of senior Gyorgyi Zsiros and sophomore Claire Smith dropped five spots to No. 60 but still became the program's first duo to earn a spot in back-to-back rankings since Katarina Malec and Marianne Bakken at the end of the 2000 season.

As a team, the UNLV women (9-6) fell five spots to 39th despite having the week off.

On the men's side, top singles player Henner Nehles (15-5. 24-8) returned to the rankings in a big way, moving all the way from unranked to No. 63 on the 125-man list.

He has won six consecutive matches.

The men's team fell 11 spots to No. 51 after losing at San Diego State last week. The Aztecs were unranked at the time but are now 41st.

-- Sun wire services