She then won the Canadian Junior title five days later to automatically qualify for the World Junior Cross Country Championships in March.

-The fifth-ranked Huskies volleyball team was awarded the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament Friday and Saturday, ensuring the Huskies will play at home potentially through the first four rounds. The Huskies (24-4) will host Portland State (20-8), Santa Clara (17-9) and coach Jim McLaughlin's former school, Kansas State (24-7). Washington plays Portland State at 4 p.m. on Friday, while Santa Clara and Kansas State square off at 2 p.m. The winners will advance to the second-round match Saturday at 2 p.m.

\ ETC.

TAZAWA AGREES TO Red Sox DEAL

According to a Baseball source, Japanese right-hander Junichi Tazawa, 22 ((age)), has reached agreement with the Red Sox on a three-year contract worth roughly $3 million. Tazawa is expected to undergo a physical in the next few days that will allow the sides to clear the final hurdle in negotiations. The Sox hope to officially announce his acquisition by the end of the week.

Tazawa was courted by several teams, including the Mariners, and offered more money by at least one - the Texas Rangers .

Despite his having no professional experience in Japan, Tazawa's deal is a major league contract, meaning he will occupy a spot on Boston's 40-man roster.

-With the first training camp of his comeback set to start, Lance Armstrong guaranteed the drug-testing program he arranged with America's top anti-doping expert will be in place by the time he rides in his first official race in January.

-Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson is backtracking on retirement plans again. After winning the Premier League and Champions League titles in May, Ferguson, 66, announced plans to quit at Old Trafford within three years. But Ferguson, who had previously announced that the 2001-02 season was his last, is having second thoughts.

\ GOLF

CHOI WINS SKINS GAME TITLE

K.J. Choi holed an 11-foot birdie putt worth $270,000 on the 18th hole to win the 26th Skins Game in Indian Wells, Calif., with $415,000.

Stephen Ames missed a 9-footer that would have tied the hole and forced the foursome, including Phil Mickelson and Rocco Mediate, into a playoff.

It is just the seventh time that all four players in the event have won money.

-Christina Kim gave Annika Sorenstam a big victory in her second-to-last event before retiring, birdieing the par-5 18th for a halve and the deciding half-point for the International team in the Lexus Cup in Singapore. Sorenstam will end her Hall of Fame career next week in the Ladies European Tour's Dubai Ladies Masters.

-Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson gave Sweden its second World Cup title, shooting a 9-under 63 in alternate-shot play in Shenzhen, China, to beat Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal by three strokes.

\ WINTER SPORTS

MAIER COLLECTS 54TH CUP VICTORY

Hermann Maier of Austria won a super-G in Lake Louise, Alberta, for his 54th career World Cup win.

Maier, who had last won a World Cup race in January 2006 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, won in 1 minute, 29.84 seconds. Defending overall champion Bode Miller, who finished 16th in Saturday's downhill, lost a ski before the halfway mark and did not finish.

After a terrifying crash at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, where he won two gold medals, Maier dominated the next four World Cups. But he missed the 2002 Salt Lake City Games while recovering from a motorcycle accident that nearly cost him a leg.

-Sarka Zahrobska posted her first World Cup victory, taking the slalom in a combined time of 1:39.32 to beat Austrian Nicole Hosp in Aspen, Colo. Lindsey Vonn was the top American, taking fourth with a time of 1:40.73 in a solid follow-up to her slalom victory in Levi, Finland. Fellow American Julia Mancuso was disqualified after missing a gate near the end of the first run.

-Anssi Koivuranta and Janne Ryynanen gave Finland a 1-2 finish at a World Cup Nordic Combined meet in Kuusamo, Finland. Americans Bill Demong and Johnny Spillane had the fastest and third-fastest ski times, but they finished 13th and 14th overall because of poor jumps.