Enquirer staff, wire services

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - Michael Bennett will miss the Minnesota Vikings' training camp because of a slow-healing foot injury that could keep him out for the season.

Bennett, who rushed for 1,296 yards last season and made the Pro Bowl, injured his left foot in March when he came down on it awkwardly while running on a treadmill. He had surgery a few weeks later.

Bennett said he would get an injection designed to accelerate bone growth in his foot. If it doesn't work, Bennett said, he will have surgery that probably would keep him out for the season.

FALCONS: Nose tackle Ellis Johnson left the team complex before a scheduled physical Thursday morning without an explanation. As of late Thursday afternoon, no team official knew of Johnson's whereabouts.

"I don't have a comment other than if something is bothering him, I wish he'd come talk to me," coach Dan Reeves said.

• Atlanta signed rookie cornerback Bryan Scott to a five-year contract that includes a signing bonus worth about $1.25 million. He was drafted in the second round out of Penn State.

LIONS: The team signed rookie safety Terrence Holt, a fifth-round pick out of N.C. State. Terms were not disclosed.

Colleges

ARMY: Army's football team will leave Conference USA after the 2004 season to play as an independent. The U.S. Military Academy is making the move to have more flexibility in scheduling, superintendent Lt. Gen. William Lennox Jr. said.

Army joined C-USA as a football-only member in 1998. League officials voted Wednesday to enforce a bylaw preventing member schools from leaving before June 30, 2005.

MIAMI: Five athletes will be honored Oct. 11 at the Miami-Buffalo football game when Athlete of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards are presented.

Among the honorees, Fairfield graduate Danielle Berkemeier (soccer) shares the 2002-03 Female Athlete of the Year award with Andrea Kremer (cross country/track).

And Ursuline graduate Jennifer Eaton (volleyball) earned Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year accolades. Eaton, now in medical school, earned a psychology degree in December and boasted a 3.73 grade-point average.

Tennis

FED CUP: Venus Williams and Monica Seles will not play for the United States in the Fed Cup quarterfinals because of injuries and will be replaced by Chanda Rubin and Alexandra Stevenson.

Olympics

WASHINGTON - An Iraqi archery team will compete in New York next week at the world championships and then tour Washington and San Diego, the State Department said Thursday.

Iraq also is expected to take part in swimming's world championships in Barcelona, Spain. The competition begins Sunday and would be Iraq's first major international sports event since the U.S.-led invasion.

Football

af2: The Cincinnati Swarm begin a home-and-home series with the Peoria Pirates at 8 p.m. Saturday in Peoria, Ill. The Swarm (5-8) have three games remaining and are one game out of the playoffs in af2's National Conference.

The Swarm enter Week 16 in a three-way tie for seventh in the conference; the top six teams earn postseason berths. The Swarm are chasing the Bakersfield Blitz (6-7), who hold the final spot.

The Swarm will be without starting QB Christian Batcheller on Saturday. Batcheller was injured in Week 13 at Mohegan.