Enquirer news services

NEW YORK - Tara Kirk set the world record in the 100-meter breaststroke, swept four straight NCAA titles and became a favorite to make the Olympic team.

Still, when it came to the Stanford swimmer winning the Broderick Cup as the nation's collegiate woman athlete of the year, her mother was concerned about the competition.

"We watched the women's Final Four and saw Diana Taurasi. She was outstanding. When Tara told us that she'd won, we were like, 'Really?' We were surprised," Margaret Kirk said.

With her parents watching, Kirk accepted the Broderick Cup in ceremonies at Columbia University on Monday.

Kirk will turn 22 next month, during the U.S. Olympic team trials. She hopes to go to Athens in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events, and has already committed to training for the 2008 Beijing Games.

Kirk was among five finalists, a group that included North Carolina soccer standout Catherine Reddick, Florida State softball player Jessica van der Linden, Southern California volleyball star April Ross and Taurasi, who led Connecticut to three straight national championships.

Soccer

RFK CHOSEN: The U.S. soccer team's World Cup qualifier against Panama on Oct. 13 will be played at RFK Stadium.

The choice of Washington completes the itinerary for the next round of qualifying for the U.S. team, which advanced by sweeping Grenada in a home-and-away series this month.

The Americans, grouped with Jamaica, El Salvador and Panama, will play each team twice over a three-month period. The top two teams advance to the final round.

The U.S. team is 9-3-3 at RFK since 1990 - 2-1-1 in World Cup qualifiers.

Olympics

ROWERS PULL UPSET: A newly assembled United States men's fours boat earned an upset victory in the rowing World Cup circuit in Lucerne, Switzerland and will enter the Olympics as a medal contender.

The U.S. women's eights, meanwhile, took a second straight World Cup victory Sunday at Lucerne, the last world cup race before the Athens Olympics.

The men's fours crew of Bryan Volpenhein, Beau Hoopman, Dan Beery, and Jason Read, racing together for the first time internationally, surged past favorites Canada and Britain over the final quarter of the 2,000 meter race.

"It was unbelievable. I didn't expect it to happen," Volpenhein said.

Colleges

THOMAS MORE: The Ohio-Kentucky All-Star basketball game and Complete Wireless have donated $3,500 to the school on behalf of the Jim Connor Memorial Fund.

Horse racing

MEADOWLANDS: A measure that would allow the state sports authority to lease the Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Park to private operators in an effort to pull in more money from the horse racing industry was approved by the New Jersey state Legislature on Monday.

Supporters of the bill said it could boost state revenues from the two racetracks up to $300 million a year.

The Meadowlands and Monmouth Park earned $23.5 million combined last year for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.

Basketball

GOWDY AWARD: Philadelphia Daily News writer Phil Jasner and Kansas announcer Max Falkenstien were chosen Monday by the Basketball Hall of Fame to receive the Curt Gowdy Award given to media members.