Stewart Can Drive at Indy

A judge in Eau Claire, Wis., ruled Friday that Tony Stewart can drive for any Indianapolis 500 competitor of his former team, Team Menard.

John Menard, who owns building supply company Menard Inc. of Eau Claire, sued Stewart, claiming breach of contract. Menard had tried to keep Stewart from driving for another team in the May 30 race.

Eau Claire County Judge Greg Peterson said the contract between Menard and Stewart was not clear enough to compel Stewart to race for Menard in the 1999 Indy 500.

A restraining order last week prohibited Stewart from testing, practicing, qualifying or racing for any competitors of Team Menard.

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Jim Druckenmiller’s already uncertain future with the San Francisco 49ers took a disturbing turn when the backup quarterback was indicted on a rape charge in Blacksburg, Va. Druckenmiller denied the allegation.

Druckenmiller, a 1997 first-round pick from Virginia Tech, is accused of assaulting a Virginia Tech student in early March when he returned to the school for a visit.

General Manager Bill Walsh of the 49ers criticized Druckenmiller’s football skills two weeks ago and last week implied the quarterback would have been released by now but for salary-cap ramifications.

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After a three-month delay, track and field’s governing body in Monte Carlo will reopen an arbitration hearing today into distance runner Mary Slaney’s positive testosterone test at the 1996 U.S. Olympic trials.

Slaney’s lawyers filed suit last week in Indianapolis against the International Amateur Athletics Federation and the U.S. Olympic Committee, which administered the test.

But the IAAF says the hearing will go on.

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Damon Katz, a Pepperdine baseball player who was arrested after an altercation at a Malibu restaurant, was released from jail late Thursday night after posting a $5,000 bond.

Katz, 21, was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after he was arrested Thursday at 1:30 a.m., according to sheriff’s records. No court date has been set.

Tennis

Second-seeded Mary Pierce of France was upset by Irina Spirlea of Romania in the quarterfinals of the Egypt Classic tennis tournament at Cairo, 6-4, 6-2. Top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain breezed into the semifinals by beating Jelena Kokic of Australia, 6-3, 6-1. . . . Qualifier Max Mirnyi of Belarus, ranked 228th in the world, upset fifth-seeded and defending champion Jim Courier, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4, in the ERA Real Estate Clay Court Championship quarterfinals at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Miscellany

UCLA finished in fifth place for the second consecutive year at the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships at Salt Lake City. UCLA finished with 195.85 points, one point behind Georgia, which won its second title in a row.

UCLA freshman Alison Stoner tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in her right knee during the floor exercise. Five Bruins qualified for the individual finals today.

Michigan men’s gymnastics team took the lead after its first event at Lincoln, Neb., and never relinquished it en route to its first national title since 1970.

Stock car driver Mark Martin, who has won 36 Busch Grand National races, more than anyone else in NASCAR, failed to qualify for today’s Touchstone Energy 300 at Talladega, Ala.

Martin failed to make the field for a Busch race for the first time since 1993.

The Oakland Raiders signed free-agent quarterback Heath Shuler. . . . Carlos Valderrama of the Miami Fusion, perhaps the most recognizable international player in Major League Soccer, was reassigned to the Tampa Bay Mutiny.

Five area schools will be in action tonight when the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball playoffs begin.

Pacific Division champion Long Beach State (20-2) will play host to UC Irvine (14-10) at 7. The Anteaters are making their first MPSF playoff appearance. UCLA, the defending national champion, is 20-6 and will play at Hawaii (18-9) at 9.

At Malibu, USC (15-10) will end a three-year absence from the playoffs when it plays Pepperdine at 7.

Jon Drummond, the world’s fifth-ranked 100-meter runner and the 1997 U.S. champion in the 200, is hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, battling spinal meningitis for the third time in his life.

Drummond, 30, was born with spina bifida, an incomplete closure of the spinal column. He was hospitalized with meningitis, a swelling of the membrane around the spinal cord, in 1986 and again in 1996.

Ken Ammann, an assistant coach for the Pepperdine basketball team the last three seasons, will be named an assistant at Azusa Pacific.