A former Husker track star is headed to the London Olympics as a member of Team USA. Chantae McMillan, a five-time All-American at Nebraska, finished third in the heptathlon at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon to secure her first Olympic bid. In the final event, McMillan posted a personal best time in the 800 meter run to secure her place on the Olympic team. McMillan becomes the third former Husker to book a trip to London over the past week. Cyclist Amber Neben will represent Team USA, while Aleks Maric will play for Australia’s men’s basketball team.

Michael Phelps has earned a chance to swim eight Olympic races, rallying to win the 100-meter butterfly at the U.S. trials.

Phelps was slow off the blocks and made the turn in sixth place Sunday night. But he caught Tyler McGill on the return lap and surged to the wall to win 51.14 seconds, well off his world-record pace (49.82) but fastest in the world this year.

McGill hung on for the second Olympic spot in 51.32. Ryan Lochte, swimming an event he normally doesn’t in major competitions, just missed adding another race to his already busy program. He was third, 33-hundreths behind McGill.

Phelps, who set an Olympic record with eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, is expected to swim the same eight events in London.

Four years ago, Katie Ledecky had no clue about how to qualify for the Olympics.

Now the 15-year-old distance swimmer is headed to London.

Ledecky won the 800-meter freestyle by a whopping 2.09 seconds at the trials Sunday night, making her the youngest member of the U.S. swim team.

She touched in 8 minutes, 19.78 seconds, with Kate Ziegler taking the second spot at 8:21.87 to earn her second Olympic berth. Ledecky broke the trials record of 8:20.81 set by Katie Hoff four years ago.

“I had a lot of confidence going into that race,” Ledecky said.

Anthony Ervin has capped an improbable comeback by earning a trip to the Olympics.

Ervin, who won gold in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2000 Sydney Games, finished second behind Cullen Jones in that event at the U.S. trials, good enough for a spot in London.

The 31-year-old Ervin was one of the sport’s rising stars when he stunning walked away in 2003, burned out on swimming and yearning to find a deeper meaning to life. He even auctioned off his gold medal to aid tsunami victims.

But Ervin returned to competition last year and quickly got back up to speed. Jones touched first in 21.59 seconds, but Ervin got there next (21.60).

His next race will be in London.

 

FRIDAY

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Chi White Sox at N-Y Yankees 6:05 p.m.
Cleveland at Baltimore 6:05 p.m.
L.A. Angels at Toronto 6:07 p.m.
Detroit at Tampa Bay 6:10 p.m.
Oakland at Texas 7:05 p.m.
Kansas City at Minnesota 7:10 p.m.
Boston at Seattle 9:10 p.m.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Houston at Chi Cubs 12:10 p.m.
Philadelphia at Miami 6:10 p.m.
Washington at Atlanta 6:35 p.m.
Arizona at Milwaukee 7:10 p.m.
San Diego at Colorado 7:10 p.m. (LISTEN LIVE on ESPN Radio 1410)
Pittsburgh at St. Louis 7:15 p.m.
N-Y Mets at L.A. Dodgers 9:10 p.m.
Cincinnati at San Francisco 9:15 p.m.

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) – This year’s Wimbledon men’s singles champ won’t be Rafael Nadal.

The two-time champion was ousted in the second round by the world’s 100th-ranked player, falling to 26-year-old Czech Lukas Rosol (ruh-SAHL’) 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Rosol is the lowest-ranked player to beat Nadal in a Grand Slam tournament.

Nadal hasn’t been bounced this early from a Grand Slam tournament since 2005.

This is day five at Wimbledon. The schedule calls for both top-seeds to see action, Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic. The two No. 3’s are also playing today, that’s Roger Federer and Agnieszka Radwanska.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – The NBA draft took place last night and as expected the University of Kentucky dominated the news. For the first time in NBA draft history, players from the same school, Kentucky, were chosen 1 and 2. The Hornets took Anthony Davis No. 1, with Charlotte grabbing Michael Kidd-Gilchrist No. 2.

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) – Round two of the AT&T National is being played today in suburban Washington, D.C. The leader at the end of play yesterday was Bo Van Pelt, who shot a 4-under-67. He led Vijay Singh, Brendon De Jonge and Jimmy Walker by one.

MIAMI (AP) – Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade needs surgery on his left knee and will miss the London Olympics. Wade was playing through pain for much of the postseason, yet still averaged 22.6 points during Miami’s five-game win over Oklahoma City in the NBA Finals. Wade was the leading scorer on the team that won Olympic gold in Beijing four years ago.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Chi White Sox 4 N-Y Yankees 3
Cleveland 7 Baltimore 2
L.A. Angels 9 Toronto 7
Detroit 5 Tampa Bay 2
Texas 7 Oakland 6
Seattle 1 Boston 0

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Pittsburgh 5 Philadelphia 4
Colorado 11 Washington 10, 11 Innings
Arizona 3 Atlanta 2
San Diego 7 Houston 3
N-Y Mets 3 L.A. Dodgers 2
San Francisco 5 Cincinnati 0

The North Platte First Nationals get their first crack at big-city competition this weekend in a tournament in Lincoln opening this afternoon. The First Nationals enter the tourney having won four of their last five games to improve to 17-12 on the season. Today the First Nationals take on Millard South and Lincoln Southwest. Saturday they draw Elkhorn and Lincoln Pius X. The tournament wraps up Sunday afternoon. It’s North Platte’s first tournament out east, after a scheduled visit two weekends ago was canceled.

For most teams, a seven-run lead after two innings mean an easy victory. But nothing has come easy for the Colorado Rockies this year. After seeing their 7-0 lead and a one-run ninth inning lead both disappear, the Rockies proved resilient enough yesterday for an 11-10 win in eleven innings over the Washington Nationals. Marco Scutaro delivered a walk-off single with two outs in the eleventh to give the Rockies a split in their four-game series with the National League East division leaders. Tyler Colvin was the hitting star of the day for the Rockies, pounding out four hits, including a home run and a triple, and driving in five runs. Carlos Gonzalez and Chris Nelson each had three hits and two RBI. The Rockies host the San Diego Padres tonight in the first of a three game series. ESPN Radio 1410 has the action, with pregame coverage at 6:30 and first pitch at 7:10.

The Denver Nuggets went for future promise over immediate production with their three picks in last night’s NBA Draft. With the 20^th overall pick in the first round, the Nuggets took the draft’s first international player, 19 year-old Frenchman Evan Fournier. He averaged 14 points per game for his team in the French professional league last season. The 6’7” Fournier will be evaluated by the Nuggets staff before it is determined whether he will play in the NBA immediately or stay overseas for more seasoning. The 38^th overall pick in the second round saw the Nuggets take Baylor big man Quincy Miller, who was last season’s Big 12 co-Freshman of the Year. The Nuggets again went the international route with their final selection of the night, selecting seven-footer Izzat Turkyilmaz from Turkey with the 50^th overall pick.

 

(Hilary Winter, Nebraska Sports Information) Lincoln, Neb. – Competition at the U.S. Olympic Trials continued in Eugene, Ore., on Thursday as Ashley Miller and David Adams took to the track at Hayward Field.

Miller, a three-time All-American at Nebraska, finished with a time of 4:15.34 in the women’s 1,500 meters. With the time, she finished eighth overall and advanced to Friday’s semifinals. She will run at 5:45 p.m. CT as she will look to qualify for the event finals on Sunday, July 1.

Former Husker All-American David Adams qualified for the men’s 3,000 meter steeplechase on Monday after posting a time of 8:32.17. Adams moved on to the event finals on Thursday evening where he finished with a time of 8:48.83 for 14th.

Sid the Kid is sticking around.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and superstar center Sidney Crosby have agreed to a 12-year contract extension Thursday that leaves little doubt Crosby has overcome the concussion-like symptoms that sidelined him for most of the last two seasons.

The deal keeps the 24-year-old Crosby in Pittsburgh through 2025 and gives the team some room to play in the free-agent market. Crosby, whose previous deal was set to expire next summer, will be paid around $8.7 million a season. Crosby will officially sign the extension on Sunday.

Crosby has played in just 28 games in the last 18 months after sustaining a concussion in the Winter Classic against the Washington Capitals in January, 2011. Crosby finished with eight goals and 29 assists last season and added three goals in a first-round playoff loss to Philadelphia.

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) – Andy Roddick advanced to the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time this year when he beat Bjorn Phau 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-3 Thursday at Wimbledon.

Roddick hit 13 aces, lost serve once and won 25 points at the net. The three-time Wimbledon runner-up will next play No. 7-seeded David Ferrer.

Roddick has struggled much of the year and he’s seeded only 30th. But he won his fifth grass-court title last week as a wild card at Eastbourne, and he has swept all six sets this week.

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) – The Rose Bowl has agreed to a 12-year extension with ESPN that will keep the game on the network through 2026.

ESPN President John Skipper, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott and Rose Bowl officials announced the deal Thursday. Skipper called the Rose Bowl “one of sport’s most meaningful” events.

ESPN will keep the broadcast rights to the Rose Bowl regardless of the final format developed for college football’s new playoff system, which kicks in for the 2014 season. The first championship game under the new system is Jan. 12, 2015.

The network’s current deal with the Rose Bowl runs through the 2014 BCS title game.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Chi White Sox at N-Y Yankees 6:05 p.m.
Cleveland at Baltimore 6:05 p.m.
L.A. Angels at Toronto 6:07 p.m.
Detroit at Tampa Bay 6:10 p.m.
Oakland at Texas 7:05 p.m.
Boston at Seattle 9:10 p.m.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Pittsburgh at Philadelphia 12:05 p.m.
Washington at Colorado 2:10 p.m. (LISTEN LIVE on ESPN Radio 1410)
Arizona at Atlanta 6:10 p.m.
San Diego at Houston 7:05 p.m.
N-Y Mets at L.A. Dodgers 9:10 p.m.
Cincinnati at San Francisco 9:15 p.m.