HAWAI'I'S STERLING THIRD IN BIG-WAVE CONTEST WITH 40-TO 50-FOOT SETS

A 24-year-old California surfer was awarded first place in the world's most perilous big wave riding contest yesterday that had competitors dropping into waves more than four stories tall.

Greg Long of San Clemente was among two dozen elite surfers who took part in this year's Mavericks Surf Contest — considered the Super Bowl of big-wave competitions — in Half Moon Bay, about 20 miles south of San Francisco.

After the contest was whittled down to six finalists, Long was crowned the winner, with Grant "Twiggy" Baker of South Africa coming in second and Jamie Sterling of O'ahu's North Shore in Hawai'i landing third. Baker won the event in 2006, the last time it was held.

Long and other surfers said wave faces on some of the bigger sets yesterday reached 40 to 50 feet.

On his first wave in the final heat of the competition, Long barely held his balance as he freefell down a towering wave. Long maintained his balance by using his "tippy toes" to keep contact with his 9-foot, 6-inch big wave "gun" surfboard and was able to land on the wave's bottom, carve a fast turn and dodge the massive wall of whitewater crashing behind him.

He said he felt nearly weightless as he fell down the face of the wave and thought, "I'm either going down hard or going to get a good one. Luckily it was the latter of the two."

Before the last wave, Long and his five fellow finalists agreed to split the $75,000 purse, which would've been divvied up with the winner taking home $30,000 and the other finalists sharing the rest.

BASKETBALL

SEVEN PREP PLAYERS IN DEADLY CRASH IN CANADA

A van carrying a Canadian high school boys basketball team collided with a truck yesterday, killing seven students and the coach's wife on their way home from a game.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Derek Strong said the seven players — between the ages of 15 and 18 — were pronounced dead at the crash site after their van crossed the center line and hit the tractor-trailer shortly after midnight.

The accident occurred on Highway 11 as the team was making a three-hour return trip from Moncton in Canada's far eastern New Brunswick province after a storm dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain on much of the province.

"This is a whole community in mourning," Bathurst High School superintendent John McLaughlin said. "It's unthinkable what happened and everyone's trying to make some sense of it."

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

MCFADDEN'S DAD DENIES HE FILED DRAFT PAPERS

The father of Arkansas star Darren McFadden denied a report that he has sent paperwork to the NFL so his son can enter the upcoming draft.

www.ESPN.com, citing unidentified sources, reported that Graylon McFadden provided the relevant paperwork early this week.

"I hate to be saying anything because all these false stories and everything are floating around," Graylon McFadden told The Associated Press yesterday. "But no I didn't — and that's all I've got to say."

University spokesman Kevin Trainor said yesterday he didn't anticipate an announcement on Darren McFadden before tomorrow.

McFadden, a junior tailback, was the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2006 and 2007.

SKIING

FRENCHMAN GRANGE IS KING OF THE SLALOM HILL

Jean-Baptiste Grange confirmed his status as a rising star yesterday, winning the slalom to match Jean-Claude Killy as the only skiers to win two different races on the Lauberhorn course in the same year.

The 23-year-old Frenchman won for the second time in two days at Wengen, Switzerland, opening up a lead on the first leg of a foggy and snowy slalom and then easily holding off Jens Byggmark in the second to finish with a combined time of 1 minute, 34.81 seconds.

Byggmark was 0.80 seconds behind in second place while Ted Ligety was third. American Bode Miller finished fifth.

EIGHT-YEAR WAIT OVER FOR GOERGL'S FIRST TITLE

Elisabeth Goergl waited eight years and 146 World Cup events for her first victory.

She captured a World Cup giant slalom yesterday at Maribor, Slovenia, becoming the 100th Austrian skier to win a World Cup title.

Manuela Moelgg of Italy took second while teammate Denise Karbon finished third. Overall World Cup leader Nicole Hosp of Austria was sixth and American Lindsey Vonn was 13th.