U.S. TEEN SMITH B REAKS FRANKLIN’S 200 BACK RECORD

» Regan Smith G WANGJ U, SOUTH KORE A broke the world record in the women’s 200-meter backstroke Friday at the world swimming championships.

The 17-year-old American won her semifinal heat in 2 minutes, 3.35 seconds. That erased the old mark of 2:04.06 set by Colorado’s own Missy Franklin at the 2012 London Olympics.

In the semifinals, she finished 3.22 seconds ahead of Kylie Masse of Canada, who was the second-fastest qualifier. The final is Saturday night.

Also, Caeleb Dressel broke Michael Phelps’ world record in the 100-meter butterfly on Friday. The American won his semifinal heat in 49.50 seconds — 0.32 seconds better than Phelps’ mark set at the 2009 world meet in Rome.

Saunders leads CoBank Colorado Open.

The CoBank Colorado Open is back again at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club and the leader in the clubhouse after the second round is Sam Saunders. Saunders, who finished runner-up in 2018, has extended his lead to two shots after firing at 7-under 65 on Friday.

After leading back-to-back days, Saunders has his eyes set on going wire-to-wire for the win this weekend. Behind Saunders is a Denver Pioneer alum who had the low round of the day. James Love carded a 10under par 62 that vaulted him into a tie for second with Patrick Fishburn. Fishburn also played a stellar round of golf with going bogey-free with six birdies on the day.

Fitzpatrick shoots 6-under 64 to take Memphis lead.

MEMPHIS,

» Matthew Fitzpatrick shot a

.

6-under 64 in the FedEx St. Jude Invitational to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend at the World Golf Championships event. The 24-yearold Englishman birdied the first four holes and finished with seven birdies and a bogey. He took the lead with his fifth birdie and added two more on the back nine to finish at 9-under 131 at TPC Southwind.

Wes Short Jr. takes 1-shot lead at Senior British Open.

L YT H A MS T.

ND» Wes Short Jr. shot

A NNES , ENGL A his second straight 3-under 67 to take a one-shot lead after two rounds of the Senior British Open. After an up-and-down second round at Royal Lytham & St. Annes that included a double bogey on the par-4 sixth, Short closed with three straight birdies to post 6-under 134 and take the solo lead at a senior major for the first time. Scott Dunlap was one shot back, and Darren Clarke was alone in third, trailing by two shots.

Mi Hyang Lee has 1-shot lead at weather-hit Evian major.

E V I A N - LES

Taking advantage of an earlier start time to get ahead of bad weather, Mi Hyang Lee surged to a 4-under 67 to take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Evian Championship. The 37th-ranked Lee was at even through 15 holes on the day before a birdie-birdie-eagle finish in the best of still conditions.

UConn will pay $17M to leave the AAC for Big East.

S T ORRS , CONN .

» The University of Connecticut has agreed to pay a $17 million exit fee to the American Athletic Conference so the school can rejoin the Big East next year. The Huskies will join the Big East in all sports except football, men’s and women’s ice hockey and rowing. UConn also announced its football program will become an independent in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2020.

Stricklen, DeShields win 3-point contest and skill challenge.

L A S V EGA

Shekinna Stricklen made the most S of her WNBA All-Star weekend, winning the 3-point contest. The Connecticut Sun forward scored 23 points in the final round to edge hometown favorite Kayla McBride by a point. It was the second straight year that McBride lost in the final. The Sky didn’t go home empty-handed as firsttime All-Star Diamond DeShields edged Jonquel Jones to win the skills contest. — The Associated Press