The first day of the NCAA East Regional track and field championships at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C., was a successful one for the Pitt men's team.

Keith Higham became an automatic NCAA qualifier with a second-place finish in the pole vault. His height of 17-4 was four inches behind the first-place finisher. Higham currently holds the school record at 17-6.

Pitt had three qualifiers in the 1,500 meter race. Junior Eric Fleming's time was 3:49.38; junior Tim Konoval finished at 3:49.74 and sophomore Sam Bair, a Shaler graduate, had a time of 3:49.78. Blair currently holds the fastest time this season at 3:43.50.

In the 110-meter hurdles sophomore Mike Wray qualified with a time of 13.76 for sixth place in the preliminaries. Wray's previous personal-best time was 14.16 from the Big East Championships.

Today's competition will feature the three runners, Wray and Tony Bonura, a Plum graduate, in the javelin.

Wild Things

The Washington Wild Things (1-2) beat the host Chillicothe Paints, 6-5, in the third and final game of the three-game-road trip at V.A. Memorial Stadium. This third game of the series was shortened to seven innings because the teams first completed a suspended game from Thursday evening.

Pat Kohorst (1-0) got his first win, allowing one run and two hits, striking out three and walking two in his five innings. Shannon Sprouse was credited with the save, pitching ^{a third} of an inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Baseball

Justin Bird's one-out, bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning game Concordia University of Irvine, Calif. (34-15-1), a 5-4 victory against Seton Hill College (45-19) in the first round of the NAIA World Series at Lewis-Clark State College's Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho. Seton Hill will face the loser of the Cumberland/Auburn-Montgomery game.

Tom Thornton allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings as Notre Dame earned a spot in the Big East championship game in Clearwater, Fla., with a 5-3 win against St. John's. The Fighting Irish will play Louisville for the title today. St. John's forced the second game with a 10-1 victory against Notre Dame earlier in the day. ... Louisville defeated Rutgers, 13-3, advancing the Cardinals to the title game.

Basketball

A federal appeals court in Little Rock, Ark., said that Nolan Richardson wasn't a victim of racial discrimination when the University of Arkansas fired him four years ago. University lawyer Scott Varady said the school "always said that coach Richardson was not terminated based on his race or the exercise of any First Amendment rights."

Kansas State leading scorer Cartier Martin has been suspended indefinitely from the team for unspecified conduct violations. Also, guard Mario Taybron was dismissed from the team for violating the school's policy on substance abuse.

Former Fresno State player Terry Pettis was convicted of murdering a teenage woman in a botched drug robbery. Pettis, 21, faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison for first-degree murder and armed robbery in the death of Rene Shannon Abbott, a Fresno City College student who was behind the wheel of a car while her boyfriend sold marijuana in the seat next to her. Defense lawyer Michael Castro claimed the case was one of mistaken identity and that Pettis didn't pull the trigger.

George Washington junior guard Danilo Pinnock will sign with an agent and remain an early-entry candidate in the NBA draft.

Slippery Rock men's head coach John Marhefka resigned his position to pursue other professional options. Assistant Jamal Palmer will serve as interim head coach for the 2006-07 season.

Tennis

Ted Schroeder, who won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the 1940s, died at age 84. Schroeder, elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1966, died at home in La Jolla, Calif., after a battle with cancer.