EUGENE, Ore. — Abdi Abdirahman, Galen Rupp and Jorge Torres have qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in the men’s 10,000 meters. Abdirahman, the U.S. champion who finished seventh at worlds last year, finished in 27 minutes, 41.89 seconds Friday night at Olympic trials.

Rupp, an all-American at Oregon, got a huge ovation from the home crowd as he crossed the finish line second, and Torres took the third spot. Finishing 13th was Meb Keflezighi, a silver medalist in 2004 marathon who also didn’t qualify in that event. Adam Goucher, a five-time national champion in various events, finished seventh after being granted entry on an appeal to USA Track and Field.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press This story is from ESPN.com’s automated news wire.

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The partner of Samantha Who? actress Christina Applegate has been found dead in his Hollywood home. Photographer Lee Grivas, 26, who dated the Hollywood starlet off and on for over two years, was discovered by a neighbour in his Los Angeles home on Tuesday. Applegate, an Emmy Award-winning actress, released a statement expressing that she was “profoundly saddened” by the loss of her partner.

“Lee was an incredible human being who was an extremely important and beautiful part of my life. “He is missed beyond words. He touched so many and I feel much sadness for his mother, brother and all of his family and friends,” Applegate, 36, said. Absent from her comments, however, were any mention of Grivas’s alleged drug problems, which may have ultimately led to his death.

“Grivas did have a history of drug abuse, and our investigator found a syringe at the scene,” Lieutenant Fred Corral of the LA Department of Coroner told People magazine. “But we’re not making any preliminary conclusions until a toxicology report is completed.” The National Enquirer reported Applegate and Grivas had “a rocky on-again, off-again relationship due to his continual battle with drugs and alcohol”. The couple, who started dating a year after ApplegateÂ’s then-husband Jonathan Schaech filed for divorce, reportedly gave it “one last shot” in April when Grivas made a final attempt to get clean, The National Enquirer said.

Applegate is also known for her roles in television show MarriedÂ… with Children and films Anchorman and The Sweetest Thing.

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BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhuanet) — Amid reports linking Alex Rodriguez to Madonna comes news the New York Yankees slugger and his wife have broken up less than three months after the birth of the couple’s second daughter, according to the New York Daily News. Rodriguez refused to address the topic on three occasions Tuesday, once saying “no” when asked if he had any comment. The Daily News reported Wednesday night on its website, citing an anonymous source, that Rodriguez and wife, Cynthia, have separated after having “problems” for about three months. Cynthia Rodriguez’s mother, Evangeline Scurtis, also denied a gossip website report that her daughter had gone on a romantic getaway with rocker Lenny Kravitz to Paris.

“She is not! I know that,” Scurtis told The Daily News. Scurtis repeatedly declined comment when asked about her daughter’s relationship with Rodriguez. The couple was married in November 2002 and has two children, Natasha Alexander and Ella Alexander, who was born April 21.

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Alex Engelberg, sponsored by Sequoia High PTSA, in Everett, was selected as one of five intermediate musical composition winners for an untitled work. Toryia Egeler, sponsored by Monroe PTA in Everett, was selected as one of four primary division choreography-dance winners for an untitled work. Chance Mair, sponsored by Quil Ceda PTSA in Marysville, won a photography award for “Mosaic Veteran.” Claudia Furmanczyk, sponsored by Tenth Street School PTSA, in Marysville, won a middle-junior division award for a musical composition, “A Different Kind of World.” Eric McElroy, sponsored by Darrington Schools PTSA, Darrington, won a senior division award for musical composition for “Musical Merriment.

” Payam Khastkhodaei, sponsored by Northshore Jr. PTSA, Bothell, won a senior division award for musical composition for “Making Dreams Come True.” Kevin Dong, sponsored by Skyview Jr. PTSA, Bothell, won a senior division award for musical composition for “Better Than This.

” Katy Stevick, sponsored by Marysville-Pilchuck High School PTSA, Marysville, won a literature senior division award for “A Conversation.” Abigal Hau, sponsored by Pinewood PTA, Marysville, won a choreography, dance, primary division award for “I Believe.” India Kato, sponsored by Lockwood PTA, Bothell, won a choreography, dance, middle-junior division award for “Making People Happy Through Dance.” Ana Colley, sponsored by Sunnycrest PTA, Lake Stevens, won a visual arts, primary division award for “Feeding My Cat.

” Jay Shubert, sponsored by Henry M. Jackson High PTSA, Bothell, won a visual arts, senior division award for “Imagination.” Maureen Monson of Renton led the Reflections committee, which included 41 judges. The Reflections program is sponsored by the National PTA in Chicago.

Eight students from Washington were recognized at the national level and scheduled to have their artworks presented at the National PTA Convention in San Diego.

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But even as the aging pop star and free-swinging slugger cried foul over reports of clandestine canoodling, a source told Us Weekly that A-Rod visited Madonna’s Central Park West digs the night after his long-suffering wife, Cynthia, gave birth in April to their second daughter. The “Holy Cow”-worthy claims come after The New York Post’s revelations last year that Rodriguez was catting around North America with busty blond stripper Joslyn Morse, and amid recent news Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie have been talking to divorce lawyers. The Post has also learned that the two egocentric stars share something deeper than the same agent – kabbalah.

In recent months, A-Rod has shown active interest in studying the Jewish mystical practice popularized by Madonna, her director hubby, and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, sources said. Rodriguez has visited kabbalah centers in south Florida, where the all-star and the singer both have posh homes, the sources said. “I’m not talking about it.

No comment,” A-Rod, 32, told The Post yesterday when asked about his linkage to the soon-to-be-50 Madonna, whose past athletic conquests include basketball stars Dennis Rodman and Charles Barkley, and Rodriguez’s nemesis Jose Canseco. A source at Madonna’s building told Us Weekly that Rodriguez “has been hanging out at her apartment a lot lately. He’s been leaving by himself as late as midnight.” Another source said, “All the doormen are talking.

” Us Weekly cited another source saying Rodriguez visited Madonna “possibly as early as the night after his wife gave birth” to their daughter, Ella, in a Miami-area hospital on April 21.

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No one seems to know for sure whether all those high school girls in Gloucester, Mass., had a secret pregnancy pact. But “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” must surely be the collective effort of an anti-pregnancy cabal.

This cautionary series, which begins Tuesday on ABC Family, woodenly follows the trials of a 15-year-old named Amy (Shailene Woodley), a good student and dutiful daughter who becomes pregnant the first time she has sex. “I didn’t exactly realize what was happening until like after two seconds, and then it was over,” Amy tells her two best friends. Her friends tell her she has options, but abortion is apparently not one of them; that choice is dismissed right away in horrified tones. The despairing Amy does not even know the baby’s father well enough to tell him, and he probably wouldn’t care; he’s a cad in the high school band who sleeps with as many girls as he can because, viewers quickly learn, he has low self-esteem.

At a time when hit movies like “Juno” and “Knocked Up” celebrate the lighter side of unprotected sex and the celebrity press has recently been filled with belly shots of , it’s not surprising that purveyors of pop culture feel compelled to send a corrective message to young viewers. NBC is doing its part with a reality show, “Baby Borrowers,” that assigns teenage couples babies to raise by themselves full time to discover what parenthood is really like. ABC Family chose a more traditional drama format and then promptly forgot who its audience is. For a generation of young viewers raised on “The Simpsons,” “South Park” and “Degrassi Junior High” (not to mention reruns of “Sex and the City”) this kind of earnest, sound-out-all-the-syllables agitprop is almost comical, a parody of an after-school special. The occasional lapses into portentous symbolism are inadvertently hilarious.

While Amy sneaks into the bathroom to take a home pregnancy test, her mother, played by , reheats Amy’s supper in the microwave. At the exact moment that the oven timer rings and reads “End,” Amy stares at the test results that will end life as she knows it. That part is kind of fun. “Secret Life,” however, actually tries at times to be funny, and that makes it painful to watch. The peripheral presence of Ms. Ringwald, once the teenage heroine of classics like “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles,” is almost taunting, a reminder that these teenage morality plays have been made many times before, much better.

Americans didn’t invent coming-of-age comedies, but they certainly perfected the idea of high school as a rite of passage. European television and movies focus more on sex and angst within the family, unless it’s Britain, where it’s more likely to be a boy and his boarding school proctor. Some of the classics, like “Clueless” and “10 Things I Hate About You,” truly are classic, modern adaptations of and Shakespeare.

Television has its own share of high points, from “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” to “Gossip Girl.” And that legacy makes it all the more sinful that ABC Family underestimates its viewers’ sophistication. Even for a didactic work made in collaboration with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, “Secret Life” is surprisingly unimaginative. The star of the football team, Jack (Greg Finley), is an earnest Christian, and so is his girlfriend, Grace (Megan Park), a blond, bubbly cheerleader who wears a promise ring to symbolize her vow to her parents to delay sex until marriage. Jack has also taken a vow of abstinence, but Grace wants to finish medical school before marrying.

Jack finds this test of his faith, and the ring, a bit daunting. “Sexual purity before marriage isn’t a one-time vow, Grace,” he says at lunch period. “It’s a daily recommitment to God and his plan for us.” ABC Family means well but could not have done worse.

“Secret Life” doesn’t take the fun out of teenage pregnancy, it takes the fun out of television.

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A judge stopped a trial, exonerating a man of cocaine charges, after a video of the defendant’s arrest contradicted the testimony of two officers. An internal affairs investigation was under way, police officials said Monday, and the district attorney’s office was expected to take up the matter. and both testified Friday that they chased into his apartment building last year and saw him toss a black object.

They said one of the officers picked up the object a few feet from Alarcon, a 29-year-old grocery store worker, and found cocaine inside. But produced a 37-minute video that he said came from the apartment building’s surveillance camera. The reported that the tape, a copy of which was obtained by the newspaper, shows the officers took longer than 20 minutes to find the drugs and that two other officers helped in the search.

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Both men’s styles have been noticed and appreciated around the league. In a survey of NFL head coaches to determine which owner has the best reputation around the league, both Jones and Bowlen scored very high. Coaches, granted anonymity for their candor, were instructed not to vote for their team owners. Bowlen received 4.5 votes and Jones received four votes, trailing only the five votes received by the Dan Rooney family, which founded the Steelers.

Dan Rooney, the chairman of the team, declined to comment for this story. Rooney was at the top of a very crowded list, which lends credence to the notion that the NFL is enjoying a zenith of quality ownership. Eleven of the 32 owners in the league received votes. “It’s a nice compliment to hear your peers feel that way,” Jones said.

“I think I’ve been a guy who always had had my share of criticism along with compliments, but I have always tried to make my organization work. That is the key. You always have to strive for success.” Quality ownership also means you have to be the type of person for whom people want to work. Coaches said the primary prerequisite of good ownership is simple: support.

Coaches want owners who are willing to use resources to make their team competitive, but also owners who are aware of what is going on. After one season as a head coach in the NFL, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin clearly relishes working for the Rooney family. Tomlin said there is a reason why his ownership received the most votes. “Everything permeates from the top down,” Tomlin said. “I don’t care what you talk about, whether it’s a football team or a business.

Our owners’ reputation is well-deserved. They’re awesome people. They’re football people. It’s one of the things that’s better than you even anticipate.” Gary Kubiak, going into his third season as the head coach in Houston, said he has been lucky to work with good ownership.

He was the offensive coordinator in Denver under Bowlen for a decade and now works for Texans owner Bob McNair, who received a vote for best owner. Kubiak said he feels fortunate to have worked under such quality ownership. He said his job would be much more difficult if he didn’t work for quality people. “It’s the only chance you have as a football coach, I can tell you that,” Kubiak said.

“You have to work for a good man who is willing to do whatever it takes to give your team a chance to be competitive. There is nothing better than that support system they give you. Bob McNair is just tremendous. I was fortunate enough to be around Pat as an assistant coach.

” Mike Shanahan has worked for Bowlen since 1995 as head coach and previously had a stint under Bowlen as an assistant coach. The only other owner Shanahan has worked under as a head coach is Raiders owner Al Davis, who didn’t receive a vote in this survey. Shanahan worked for Davis for 20 games in 1988-89 and his distaste for Davis is well-known.

Shanahan said he credits Bowlen’s leadership for his success in Denver. “You can’t get better than Pat Bowlen,” Shanahan said. “He gives you everything you need as a coach.

People around the league recognize how good he is as an owner. He’s steady, he’s calm. He gives total support.

” Like Rooney, Bowlen stays in the background. Still, Bowlen said it is imperative for him to work at the Broncos’ facility. Some owners have offices and other businesses elsewhere. The Broncos are Bowlen’s business.

“The Broncos are my job and I love my job,” Bowlen said. “It’s very easy to go to work.” But don’t expect Bowlen ever to make football decisions. He fully trusts Shanahan.

“In my 24 years as an owner, I always thought it was my job to find the right people,” Bowlen said. “Once you find the right people, you trust the team with those people. If I ever thought I don’t have the right people, I’d make a change.” Jones’ approach is surely different, but the goal is the same.

“I am hands-on, but I think I treat my people as equals,” Jones said. “I put myself in their shoes and I have the same goals. Sure, I make a lot of decisions, but I trust and respect my people as if they were my equal because they are my equal.

” Both Bowlen and Jones said the fact that 11 different owners were nominated by the coaches speaks to how well the league is currently being run. “This is the most informed group of owners that I’ve ever been involved with,” Jones said. “We’re really in good shape.

Information is king and our owners are all very aware of what’s going on. This isn’t an easy business to be involved in, but we have a good, united group.” Bill Williamson covers the NFL for ESPN.com.

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