TimeSocket

(David Cheruiyot, of Kenya, right, trails Kasime Adilo of Ethiopia as they prepare to make the turn onto Allen Parkway during the Chevron Houston Marathon.)

Kenya’s David Cheruiyot, 37, won the Chevron Houston Marathon in an official time of 2:12:32, his third win in the race.

Cheruiyot is only the second runner to win the event three times (2008, 2006, 2005) — joining countryman Stephen Nbungu who had three consecutive wins from 1998-2000.

Ethiopia’s Dire Tune, 22, set a record — an official time of 2:24:40 — in the women’s event today, breaking her own mark of 2:26:52, set last year. Worknesh Tola, 30, of Ethiopia, finished second in 2:35:37. Tune is the first repeat winner since 2000 and the third overall to win the race twice.

Cheruiyot pulled 13 seconds clear of Ethiopia’s Kasime Adilo over the last 400 meters of the 26.2-mile race.

More than 20,000 took part in today’s races, according to organizers.

Colorado-based James Carney won the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon, also the USATF National Championship, with a time of 1:02:21.

Kate O’Neill ran 1:11:57 to take the women’s title.

Carney’s pace was 4:46 per mile while O’Neill averaged 5:30 for the event.

Results:

MARATHON
Men
1. David Cheruiyot, Kenya, 2:12:32
2. Kasime Adilo, Ethiopia, 2:12:45
Women
1. Dire Tune, Ethiopia, 2:24:40 * Course record.
2. Worknesh Tola, Ethiopia, 2:35:37

HALF MARATHON for U.S. championship 2008
Men
1. James Carney, Lafayette, Colo., 1:02:21
2. Jason Lehmkuhle, Minneapolis, 1:02:32
3. Steve Sundell, Redwood City, Calif., 1:03.21
Favored Dan Browne, Beaverton, Ore., finished 17th, 1:05:38.
Master:
1. Sean Wade, HOUSTON, 1:07:43.
* Last year Californian Ryan Hall set an American record of 59:43.

Women
1. Kate O’Neill, Palto Alto, Calif., 1:11:57.
2. Desiree Davila, Rochester Hills, Minn., 1:12:10.
3. Serena Burla, Columbia, Mo., 1:12:10.
Master:
1. Colleen De Reuck, Boulder, Colo., 1:14:58 (De Reuck holds the course record, 1:10:55, set 2004.
Defending champion Elva Dryer didn’t finish in the top 25.

SAN DIEGO: Leave it to the Holiday Bowl — and with a hand from Texas coach Mack Brown’s stepson — to produce a strange play like this.

Chris Jessie, a member of his stepfather’s football operations staff, was a few feet on the field and reached out to touch a live ball in the second quarter Thursday night, taking away what would have been a huge turnover for the Longhorns and setting up a touchdown for Arizona State.

Trailing 21-0 and with the ball at the Longhorns’ 15, ASU’s Rudy Carpenter was sacked by linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy and the ball went squirting toward the Longhorns’ sideline.

Jessie was about a yard onto the field and motioning toward a player when he reached down and appeared to touch the ball. Texas defensive tackle Roy Miller slapped the ball away from the sideline and defensive end Aaron Lewis recovered around midfield.

After review, officials ruled that Jessie touched the ball, which is an unsportsmanlike act. Texas was penalized half the distance to the goal, giving the Sun Devils fourth-and-3 at the 7. Carpenter then threw a touchdown pass to Chris McGaha.

The Holiday Bowl has a history of crazy plays and wild finishes.

The best-known play was Jim McMahon’s desperation 41-yard heave that Clay Brown caught in a crowd of defenders with three seconds left to give BYU a 46-45 win in 1980 after the Cougars trailed by 20 with less than three minutes to play.

In 1989, Penn State defensive back Gary Brown — later a running back in the NFL — stripped BYU quarterback Ty Detmer and rumbled 53 yards for a touchdown with 45 seconds left to seal a 50-39 win for the Nittany Lions.

Before he was a Super Bowl MVP and NFL Hall of Famer, Steve Young was a triple threat for BYU in 1983. He ran for a score, threw a touchdown pass and then caught the game-winning throw, a 14-yarder from Eddie Stinnett with 23 seconds left to give BYU a 21-17 win over Missouri.

Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington caught an 18-yard TD pass from wide receiver Keenan Howry in the 2000 game, a 35-30 win over Texas.

In 2001, Texas scored 27 points in the fourth quarter, including Ivan Williams’ 3-yard run with 38 seconds left for a 47-43 win over Washington.

In a move that surprised very few who have spent much time around the Chicago Bulls’ locker room, GM John Paxson has fired Head Coach Scott Skiles this Christmas Eve. After a 9-16 start amidst inconsistent play from key guys, contract grumblings and Kobe Bryant trade rumors, the Bulls finally decided to shake things up. As these things go, the firing may not be so much a suggestion that Skiles was at the root of the Bulls’ struggles, but rather a prototypical attempt to light a fire under the sluggish Bulls’ players.

In another sense, Skiles’ firing seems clearly influenced by his ongoing bickerings with two of the Bulls’ freewheeling youngsters, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. As early as last year, Skiles’ seemed to be playing mindgames with Thomas and this year he openly questioned Thomas’ effort, stating, “We ask him to sprint the floor…To my knowledge, in his career, he hasn’t done it one time — not one time.” Skiles similarly called out Noah in a public manner after Noah questioned the Bulls’ effort and their psychology after he played in his first game. “If I had just played my first pro game,” Skiles said, “I’d probably keep my mouth shut, to be honest with you.”

Not since Larry Brown and Allen Iverson’s lovehatefest has a coach/player generation gap been so apparent. Traces of Bill Parcells and Terrell Owens linger as well. Skiles has always been a scowling, balding, Tom Izzo-trained, maximum-effort/minimal-flair guy, and his wooden personality seems to have finally chafed his young players to the point that they appear to tune him out.

The Bulls, however, now are in a precarious position. Point blank Skiles has been one of the best coaches in the league–if not THE best coach–since he took the Chicago position. The Bulls run the risk of not realizing that Skiles did way more with way less talent than anyone could have imagined. Skiles made the Bulls relevant in the post-MJ era by bringing them back to the playoffs and he developed Chris Duhon, Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Andres Nocioni into a solid, feisty core. The truth is that without Skiles nobody really knows how good any of those players are. The Bulls players may respond favorably to a new coach, playing a bit more loose and free-spirited for someone who isn’t so much of a tight-ass as Skiles was. On the other hand, that new coach may have his hands full trying to get back to the playoffs and trying to figure out how Skiles reaped maximum effort and skill from a group of castaways, greenhorns, and not-quite-stars.