SIUC senior diver Alex Wright fell a little short in his bid to earn All-American honors at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Auburn, Ala., over the weekend.

Wright finished 19th in the platform competition (365.90), 32nd in the 3-meter springboard (417.00) and 29th in the 1-meter springboard (426.30) in barely missing All-American status. The top 16 divers at the competition earned All-American honors.

Stanford captured the team swimming and diving championships with a dominating score of 599.0. The host Auburn squad finished a distant second with a total of 394.5.

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Lewis struggles early, stops Briggs to retain WBC title

Lennox Lewis had a mixed reaction to his vanquished opponent Saturday night, first praising Shannon Briggs, then totally dismissing him. Of course, Lewis has Evander Holyfield on his mind instead of the likes of Briggs.

Shannon Briggs came to fight, Lewis said, and the crowd cheered the challenger mostly for his effort Saturday night in marked contrast to his victory over George Foreman in which Briggs was booed.

Lewis, however, had too much power and retained the WBC heavyweight championship by knocking Briggs down three times and stopping him at 1:45 of the fifth round.

He was braver than I expected, Lewis said. He did a lot of talking during the week and had to back it up. That’s why he got off the canvas three times.

But Lewis also claimed Briggs had no business being in the ring with him.

Shannon really couldn’t take my pace after I started hitting him with my jab, Lewis said. He realized his jab was not as good. He is basically a front-runner. I just wanted to take his head off.

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Holyfield’s trainer thinks his man would do that to Lewis. Asked what would happen should Lewis fight WBA-IBF champion Holyfield, Don Turner said of Lewis, He gets knocked out, probably.

Did Turner learn anything watching Lewis? Yeah, he is easier than I thought.

But Lewis now is faced with a mandatory defense against Zeljko Mavrovic of Croatia, ranked No. 1 by the WBC. Holyfield is scheduled to make a mandatory defense of the WBA title against top-ranked Henry Akinwande of Nigeria June 6 at Madison Square Garden.

Virginia lures Providence’s Gillen as new hoops coach

Pete Gillen has left Providence University to sign a seven-year deal to become the University of Virginia’s head basketball coach.

Virginia Athletic Director Terry Holland confirmed Gillen’s selection Friday night from San Antonio, where he attended the NCAA Final Four. Holland would not divulge financial terms of the contract, but it is expected that Gillen’s total compensation package will exceed $500,000 a year.

Gillen replaces Jeff Jones, who resigned March 15 after eight seasons. An official news conference will be Thursday.

Pete has a lot of things we liked and a lot of things we needed maturity, a strong track record, Holland said. He has won at two schools (Xavier and Providence). He has taken both schools to the Final Eight. Those are all good measures of a coach.

Gillen takes over a Virginia team that was 11-19 this year, the worst record in more than three decades, and loses its top two scorers Norman Nolan and Curtis Staples.

The loss comes as no surprise in Providence. Since coming to Providence, Gillen has been contacted by larger schools, including The Ohio State University last year.

Gillen, 50, a New Yorker, has a career record of 274-128 in 13 seasons, the last four at Providence, where he guided the Friars to a 24-12 record and a Elite Eight appearance in 1997. That season ended with a loss to eventual national champion Arizona in the NCAA Southeast Regional final.

Under Gillen, Providence had a 72-53 record. In his nine seasons at Xavier, the Musketeers won 202 games and made it to the NCAA tournament seven times, including a 28-5 record in 1990.