REGIONAL SCENE.(Sports) - Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)

Drossin secures fourth title

Thinking about her cancer-stricken mother for the entire course, Deena Drossin of Alamosa pulled away from the field to easily win her fourth consecutive U.S. cross country title Saturday in Vancouver, Wash., then broke down in tears after the finish line.

``This is the first race that she's missed in many years, so I was running with her spirit out there today,'' Drossin said. ``Even though she wasn't there screaming at the top of her lungs, I could hear her out there anyway.''

Drossin, who competed in Sydney as the top-ranked American woman in the 10,000 meters, also was recovering from an Achilles' tendon injury that forced her to take two months off after the Olympics. She didn't start training full-time until last month.

Her mother, Heleana, was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and underwent two operations around Thanksgiving. She had her last chemotherapy treatment on Tuesday and is doing ``wonderfully,'' Drossin said.

Drossin's winning time was 26 minutes, 14 seconds. Jen Rhines of Adidas was second in 26:43.8, followed by Kristin Chisum of Reebok in 26:58.4.

Elsewhere in track and field:

* Wyoming's Quincy Howe solidified his status as one of the nation's top collegiate triple jumpers by automatically qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships with a jump of 53 feet, 5 3/4 inches at the Robert Shine Invitational in Laramie.

Tigers tumble in Minnesota

Troy Riddle scored two goals and Grant Potulny scored his 14th power-play goal - tops in the nation - as Minnesota beat Colorado College 4-1 to complete a two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association sweep in Minneapolis.

The Gophers (23-7-2, 17-5-2 WCHA) won 6-1 on Friday when they chased CC goalie Colin Zulianello, the league leader in goals-against average and saves percentage with three goals in the first 6:08.

Minnesota beat Colorado College (20-9-1, 15-9-0) 6-1 on Friday night.

* Alabama-Huntsville completed a College Hockey America sweep of the Air Force Academy 4-2 Saturday night at the Cadet Ice Arena. Huntsville won the opener 5-4 in overtime on Friday night.

DU wades into third place

The University of Denver women's swimming and diving team finished third in the Sun Belt Conference championships in Little Rock, Ark.

On the final day, juniors Sarah Corcoran and Erin McConaughy finished 1-2 in the 100-yard freestyle, junior Erin Moir was third in 200 breaststroke, and junior Erin Lundy was third in the 200 backstroke.

Elsewhere in swimming:

* Wyoming sophomore Damian Storz won the men's 400 individual medley at the Mountain West Conference championships in Oklahoma City for the second consecutive year. Storz won in 3:55.78.

Et cetera

Two Colorado athletes, Ashley Blain-Hartung from Golden High and Kristen Geyer from Fort Collins High, have signed to play soccer at Regis University. Four others also signed: Kaylen Kelley, from Eagle River, Alaska; Kathleen Murphy, from Plano, Texas; Allison Rausch, from McPherson, Kan., and Lacy Richardson, from Amarillo, Texas . . . Ben Leetsma of Air Force was tied for first after two rounds of the Emerald Coast Collegiate golf tournament at Pensacola, Fla. Leetsma followed his first-round 72 with a 73. His 145 tied him with Joe Christianson of West Florida for the individual lead . . . J.J. Thomas of Golden was seventh and Barrett Christy of Vail fourth in the men's and women's superpipe finals in the Vans Triple Crown of snowboarding in Snow Summit, Calif. . . . Mike Kenlay scored from 15 yards out to give the University of Denver a 12-11 double overtime men's lacrosse exhibition win over Air Force Academy. Alex Stanton paced DU with five points on a goal and four assists and Mike Law had three goals