Cycling

Farrar of Wenatchee

wins another stage

Garmin-Sharp rider Tyler Farrar of Wenatchee raced to his second stage victory in the USA Pro Challenge, and BMC rider Tejay van Garderen, who was born in Tacoma, kept the overall lead Friday.

Farrar completed the 117.9-mile fifth stage from Breckenridge, Colo., to Colorado Springs in 3 hours, 58 minutes, 27 seconds.

Farrar also won the opening stage of the seven-stage event.

Degenkolb excels

German John Degenkolb of the Argos-Shimano team earned his third stage victory in the Spanish Vuelta and Katusha rider Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain had the overall lead after seven stages.

Auto racing

Mears has Cup pole

Casey Mears will start from the pole in Saturday's Irwin Tools Night Race, a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event in Bristol, Tenn., because qualifying was washed out by rain and the field was set by practice times. Cup points leader Greg Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., will start in third.

The track was dry enough for the second-tier NASCAR Nationwide Series race at night, and Joey Logano won the Food City 250 — his sixth victory of the season.

Tayler Malsam of Seattle finished 12th and Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw was 14th.

College basketball

Majerus to take a leave

Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus is taking a leave of absence for at least the upcoming season and assistant Jim Crews will direct the Billikens as interim coach. Majerus, 64, is hospitalized in California, undergoing evaluation and treatment for an ongoing heart condition.

College football

Mariota is Oregon's QB

Redshirt freshman Marcus Mariota has won the job as starting quarterback for No. 5 Oregon, beating out sophomore Bryan Bennett.

USC player is ineligible

USC coach Lane Kiffin announced cornerback Isiah Wiley is academically ineligible for the season, adding linebacker Marquis Simmons and cornerback Brian Baucham had been cleared to play.

USC has until Monday to have its roster at 75 scholarship players.

Elsewhere

• Defending champion Borussia Dortmund beat Werder Bremen 2-1 in the opening match of the 50th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's top soccer league.

• In Major League Soccer, visiting Real Salt Lake and Philadelphia played to a scoreless draw.

• Felix, Brazil's goalkeeper when it won the 1970 World Cup, died of complications from emphysema. He was 74.

• In the WNBA, Roneeka Hodges and Riquna Williams each scored 22 points to help the Tulsa Shock beat the visiting Chicago Sky 81-78 in overtime. Meanwhile, Armintie Price scored 19 points to lead Atlanta past host Washington 81-69.

• American John Isner, the defending champion, advanced to the Winston-Salem Open tennis final in North Carolina, beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3). In the other semifinal, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-3.

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