Speedskating: Ohno of Seattle takes lead at short-track nationals

Speedskating

Seattle short-track ace wins finals at 1,000 and 1,500 meters: Apolo Ohno of Seattle won finals at 1,000 meters and 1,500 meters Friday at the U.S. short-track national championships/Olympic trials in Marquette, Mich.

Ohno, a five-time Olympic medalist, got his first victory in the fifth event at this year's nationals. His time in the 1,000 was 1 minute, 29.963 seconds. He took the 1,500 in 2:17.486, compared with 2:17.733 for runner-up J.R. Celski of Federal Way.

After three days of the competition that ends tonight, the 27-year-old Ohno leads with 4,912 points. Celski, 19, is second with 4,752; he led after each of the first two days.

The 2010 Olympics are in Vancouver, B.C., and U.S. Speedskating officials have said the team will be finalized in mid-November.

Basketball

Jordan led Bulls to six NBA titles: Michael Jordan, perhaps the greatest of them all, took his place alongside the game's other greats when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Jordan joined ex-Gonzaga standout John Stockton and David Robinson, two teammates on the Dream Team that won the 1992 Olympic gold medal, and coaches Jerry Sloan and C. Vivian Stringer in a distinguished class.

Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles.

Ex-Utah Jazz standout Stockton, the NBA career leader in assists and steals, recalled, "I was pretty sure I was a one-year-and-out guy."

Timberwolves get Sessions: Minnesota signed guard Ramon Sessions, after the Milwaukee Bucks declined to match the NBA Timberwolves' $16 million, four-year contract offer to the 23-year-old restricted free agent.

Bobcats co-owner dies in plane crash: William "Skipper" Beck, 49, who was a co-owner of the NBA Charlotte Bobcats, died in a single-engine plane crash at a South Carolina airport across the state line from Charlotte, N.C. He was the only person aboard the plane.

WNBA

Sparks romp: Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson each scored 19 points as host Los Angeles routed Minnesota 90-61 to secure the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. The Sparks will play the second-seeded Storm in a best-of-three series that starts Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Candace Parker of the Sparks had 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Dream clinches East playoff berth: Erika de Souza collected 15 points and 15 rebounds as host Atlanta beat Connecticut 88-64 to secure an East playoff berth.

Hockey

Ex-NHL player Danton is granted full parole: Former NHL player Mike Danton said his father, not his agent, was the intended victim of a failed murder-for-hire plot that sent him to prison five years ago.

Danton, 28, made the admission in Kingston, Ontario, when he was granted full parole by Canada's National Parole Board. He pleaded guilty in 2004 in the United States in a plot that prosecutors said targeted David Frost, Danton's former junior coach who went on to become his mentor and agent.

Danton was sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison in the United States and was transferred to a Kingston-area facility in March.

Danton said his relationship with his parents, Steve and Sue Jefferson, became so strained he changed his last name.

Olympics

Michelle Obama to help Chicago's 2016 bid: The White House announced first lady Michelle Obama will travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, to lobby for Chicago's bid for the 2016 Games ahead of the Oct. 2 vote by the International Olympic Committee. President Obama called Jacques Rogge, IOC president, to tell him that his priority has to be the fight to reform the U.S. health-care system.

Cycling

Zabriskie excels: American David Zabriskie of the Garmin-Slipstream team won the time trial in the fifth stage of the Tour of Missouri and took the overall lead. The event ends Sunday in Kansas City.

Horse racing

Asmussen gets 5,000th victory: Steve Asmussen became the fifth North American Thoroughbred trainer to win 5,000 races, as Passion Rules took the seventh race at Woodbine in Rexdale, Ontario.

Seattle Times news services