French earns MVC track honors

Women’s track and field distance runner Kelly French was selected as Missouri Valley Conference Track Athlete of the Week Wednesday for her performance at the Saluki Booster Club Invite Saturday.

French helped the Salukis to a first-place finish with her second-place finish in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10 minutes and 5.8 seconds, almost 20 seconds off her previous best of the season.

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Raptors nix Stoudamire trade amidst flood of offers

Damon Stoudamire was nearly traded to the Houston Rockets Wednesday, but the Toronto Raptors decided to reconsider offers that came pouring in from other teams.

The Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Vancouver Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers and Orlando Magic were in contention to acquire Stoudamire, according to several league sources who spoke to The Associated Press on a condition of anonymity.

The proposals were reportedly much better than Houston’s offer of Kevin Willis, Mario Elie and a third player either Brent Price, Matt Maloney or Emanuel Davis and a No. 1 draft choice in 1998 for Stoudamire, Walt Williams and Zan Tabak.

The Lakers’ offer for Stoudamire reportedly included Nick Van Exel and Elden Campbell. The Knicks offered Chris Mills, Chris Childs and/or Charlie Ward, along with the Raptors’ own lottery-protected pick in 1998. New York also offered to pay most of the salaries for the players it would send to Toronto.

The Grizzlies were offering rookie point guard Antonio Daniels, and the Trail Blazers were offering a package that included Kenny Anderson.

A possible deal between the Raptors and Rockets was reported Wednesday by the Houston Chronicle and Toronto Sunday. ESPN reported that the deal would happen Wednesday.

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Stoudamire, 24, is Toronto’s captain and leading scorer at 19.1 points per game. The franchise’s first-ever draft choice, the 5-foot-10 guard has voiced frustration during a 6-33 season that included the departure of team president and part-owner Isiah Thomas after a failed buyout bid.

Stoudamire is in the last year of a rookie contract that pays him $1.7 million.

Jones, Seifert scheduled to meet about Cowboys job

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reportedly met with former San Francisco 49ers coach George Seifert Thursday to discuss the team’s vacant head coaching position.

Quoting an unnamed source, The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday that Jones and Seifert would be joined by Larry Lacewell, the team’s pro and college scouting director.

Jones declined to comment on the report but said he will not hire anyone to replace Barry Switzer until after the Super Bowl because he plans to interview Green Bay offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis.

The New England Patriots also were reported to be interested in talking with Lewis. The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald reported the team had approached Lewis through a third party.

Lewis told the Herald that he has not been contacted by the team and has no intention of joining the Patriots.

NFL rules prohibit teams from discussing job possibilities with members of Super Bowl coaching staffs until after the game is played. Green Bay and Denver meet Sunday.

Jones said his plan to interview Lewis is unrelated to criticism recently from black assistant coaches that they are not being considered for head coaching jobs.