Vonn has 4th World Cup title

Lindsey Vonn punctuated her near-perfect season in perfect fashion Friday, earning her fourth overall World Cup title with a dominating giant slalom victory at Are, Sweden. That puts her in a league of her own among American skiers, man or woman, and she still has another week to chase the World Cup record for points in a season.

With the Kentucky Derby less than two months away, it’s time to start getting serious about contenders for America’s most prestigious horse race, and Saturday’s Grade II $300,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita presents another opportunity to stay on the Derby trail.

Creative Cause, the third-place finisher in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, should be the favorite in a 10-horse field that lost two promising 3-yearolds, Out Of Bounds, to injury on Monday and another, Fed Biz, when trainer Bob Baffert had to halt his workout schedule.

The San Felipe is a key prep for the April 7 Santa Anita Derby, which can lead to a start in the May 5 Kentucky Derby. Several unsung horses could challenge Creative Cause and Liaison, another Baffert trainee who won the Grade I Cash-call Futurity.

— Eric Sondheimer

USC begins the inaugural women’s sand volleyball season with a match against Loyola Marymount on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Santa Monica’s Annenberg Community Beach House. Geena

Urango, Kendall Bateman and Natalie Hagglund are among the USC players who will participate.

— Gary Klein

Matt Jones shot a five-under 67 to open a threestroke lead over George Mcneill in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open at Rio Grande.

The Sparks signed guard Ashley Shields to a training camp contract. The 5-foot-10 Shields is playing in Israel, where she’s averaging 18.8 points and 3.3 steals with Maccabi Ashdod.