HIGH SCHOOLS

Orono High School junior Ruth White was named the Gatorade Maine Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year on Monday.

White, who was also named the Varsity Maine Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year, won her second straight Class C girls’ title and became the only Maine high school runner to win back-to-back New England titles. She won the Class C title in a time of 18:02.52 to lead Orono to its second straight team title. She also won the Festival of Champions, was fourth in the Champs Sports Northeast Regional and finishes 17th in the Champs Sports National Championships.

TENNIS

DAVIS CUP: Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka is back in the Switzerland team for the Davis Cup next week, returning after a seven-year gap from a competition he won playing with Roger Federer in 2014.

The 37-year-old Wawrinka has been selected to face Germany in a qualifying round series, the Swiss tennis federation said.

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He teamed with Federer to help Switzerland win its only Davis Cup title in 2014, then one year later appeared in a playoff series against the Netherlands.

Wawrinka is now ranked No. 139 after several seasons affected by injuries. At the Australian Open, he lost in five sets in the first round against Alex Molcan of Slovakia.

Wawrinka won the last of his Grand Slam titles at the 2016 U.S. Open. The 16th and most recent of his tour titles was a clay-court event in 2017 in Geneva.

Germany will host Switzerland on indoor hard courts from Feb. 3-4. The winner will advance to the 16-nation Davis Cup finals tournament in November in Malaga, Spain.

GOLF

LIV: The second year of Saudi-funded LIV Golf will be going to three courses owned by former President Donald Trump as part of a 14-event schedule in 2023, according to a report from SI.com.

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The report said LIV Golf announced its schedule, although the LIV website only said that a full schedule was coming soon. The rival league previously said it would open its season Feb. 24-26 at the Mexican golf resort of Mayakoba, which formerly hosted a PGA Tour stop.

LIV Golf did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

LIV Golf previously had announced seven sites, including four that previously were used on the PGA Tour or European tour – Mayakoba, The Gallery at Dove Mountain north of Tucson, Arizona; The Greenbrier in West Virginia; and Valderrama in Spain.

The full schedule, according to SI.com, includes Trump National in northern Virginia (May 26-28), Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey (Aug. 11-13), and Trump National Doral near Miami (Oct. 20-22).

Trump’s courses in Bedminster and Doral were part of last year’s schedule, as were Centurion outside London and Rich Harvest Farms in the Chicago suburbs. Missing from last year’s schedule is a stop outside Boston.

Trump National Doral held the final team championship in the inaugural season. Now the LIV Golf team championship will be in Saudi Arabia. A year ago, a regular LIV event was held in Saudi Arabia before going to Doral.

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SOCCER

POLAND:  The head of Poland’s soccer association has posted on Twitter a photo of himself with former Portugal coach Fernando Santos – a day before a news conference where the name of the new Poland coach will be announced.

The tweet by Cezary Kulesza said “See you at the news conference tomorrow.”

Kulesza will make the announcement at Warsaw’s National Stadium.

Earlier, an online video on the Sport.pl portal and reposted by Gazeta.pl appeared to show the 68-year-old Santos leaving the VIP line at Warsaw airport. He was assisted with his luggage by a driver of a black limousine in which Santos left the airport.

Poland didn’t extend the contract of former coach Czeslaw Michniewicz after it reached the knockout rounds at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for the first time in 36 years. Michniewicz’s contract ended Dec. 31.

Kulesza has said the new coach would be a foreigner with experience in running a national team. Media reports had previously linked another former Portugal manager, Paulo Bento, with the job as well as Liverpool great Steven Gerrard.

Santos parted company after eight years as Portugal coach following a loss to Morocco in the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar. He left amid controversy after benching Cristiano Ronaldo in the knockout stage of the tournament.

Santos led Portugal to the 2016 European Championship – the country’s first international trophy – and the inaugural Nations League title in 2019. He also coached Greece at Euro 2012 – where it reached the quarterfinals – and the 2014 World Cup.


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