Verstappen closes season with his record 19th triumph
Although Max Verstappen clinched his third consecutive Formula One title almost two months ago at the Qatar GP, there was never any chance of him easing up. He has won every race since and capped off an outstanding year with a recordextending 19th victory of the season at the Abu Dhabi GP on Sunday.
“I think that is just something how I grew up, I just can’t come into a race weekend not giving my all,” Verstappen said. “I would just get annoyed with myself and then I know people around me get annoyed with me. My mindset didn’t change after winning the championship.”
Verstappen finished ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes driver George Russell in Abu Dhabi and also collected a bonus point for the fastest lap.
Red Bull won 21 of 22 races this season, with Sergio Perez claiming two wins.
Mikaela Shiffrin built on her first-run lead to win a women’s World Cup slalom for her record-extending career victory No. 90 in Killington, Vt. The American twotime Olympic champion pleased the home crowd by posting the fastest time in both runs and beating her Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova by 0.33 seconds.
Ryan Kingsford scored in the 67th minute and Massimo Oedekoven Pomponi made the score stand up with a career-high eight saves in goal Saturday night as host Loyola Marymount advanced to the final eight of the NCAA soccer tournament for the first time with a 1-0 over James Madison. The No. 25 Lions (10-4-6) will face No. 5 West Virginia (16-2-4) on Dec. 2 in Morgantown, W.Va., with a spot in the College Cup at stake.
—Kevin Baxter
Mississippi State hired Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby as its new head coach. Lebby has been offensive coordinator for the Sooners the last two years after two seasons holding the same position at Mississippi . ... Louisiana-Monroe fired coach Terry Bowden after the Warhawks finished a fifth straight losing season. ... The Houston Cougars fired coach Dana Holgorsen, a day after finishing his third losing season in five years. The Cougars ended the year with three consecutive losses, capped by a 27-13 defeat at Central Florida . ... Indiana fired Tom Allen after three consecutive losing seasons and a three-year conference record of 3-24 . ... New Mexico fired coach Danny Gonzales, who never won more than four games over four seasons . ... Texas El Paso (3-9) fired football coach Dana Dimel, a day after the end of his fifth losing season in six years . ... Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi
fired offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti ,aday after the 3-9 Panthers finished their worst season in a quarter century . ... Texas A&M is working on a deal to hire Duke coach Mike Elko, replacing Jimbo Fisher with his former defensive coordinator for four years in College Station, a person with knowledge of the discussions told the AP . ... Kendall Milton ran for a career-high 156 yards and two touchdowns and No. 1 Georgia held off Georgia Tech 31-23 on Saturday night to cap its third consecutive undefeated regular season with its sixth straight victory in the rivalry . .. ... Trey Benson ran for three touchdowns, including a 26-yarder on third down with less than three minutes to play, and No. 5 Florida State beat rival Florida 24-15 to extend its winning streak to 18 . ... Audric Estimé ran for a careerhigh 238 yards to go with four touchdowns, and No. 18 Notre Dame overcame three first-half turnovers to beat Stanford 56-23 . ... Brennan Armstrong threw three touchdown passes while No. 23 North Carolina State’s defense dominated North Carolina in a 39-20 rivalry win.
Cal State Fullerton’s Max Jones scored 19 of his careerhigh 30 points in the first half, but the Titans (2-4) fell 85-72 to Nebraska (7-0) in Lincoln . ... Marcus Tsohonis scored a game-high 26 points to lead Long Beach State (4-4) to a 75-69 win over Montana State (3-3) in Bozeman . ... In Saturday late games, Justin Wright scored 20 points to lead Loyola Marymount (4-3) to a 6747 victory over Texas El Paso (5-2) in Malibu . ... Blondeau Tchoukuiegno, Hunter Goodrick and Dominique Daniels Jr. each scored 13 points to lead Cal Baptist (5-1) to a 69-59 victory over Vanguard in Riverside.