SEC makes Texas A&M move official
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Texas A&M will join the Southeastern Conference starting with the 2012-13 season, SEC officials announced Sunday.
The announcement put an end to speculation that fellow Big 12 Conference member Baylor would try to block the move of its rival to the SEC.
Texas A&M had announced its intention to move Aug. 31.
"The Southeastern Conference presidents and chancellors are pleased to welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family," SEC presidents and chancellors Chairman Bernie Machen said in a statement.
"The addition of Texas A&M University as the SEC's 13th member gives our league a prestigious academic institution with a strong athletic tradition and a culture similar to our current institutions."
With the move, Texas A&M became the third school to bolt from the Big 12 in just over a year, following Nebraska and Colorado.
"The Southeastern Conference provides Texas A&M the national visibility that our great university and our student-athletes deserve," Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin said. "We are excited to begin competition in the nation's premier athletic conference."
Nyad calls off Cuba-Florida swim try
MIAMI, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Sexagenerian U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad Sunday called off her latest attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida, citing painful jellyfish stings.
Team captain Mark Sollinger said Nyad, 62, was pulled out of the water shortly after 11 a.m. following the stings she sustained late Saturday and while dealing with powerful cross-currents, CNN reported.
Nyad had made it two-thirds of the way across the Straits of Florida when her effort was called off, some 67 nautical miles.
"The medical team said I should not go another two nights in the water and risk additional likely man-of-war stings, which could have a long term cumulative effect on my body," Nyad said in a statement posed on her Web site.
"But for each of us, isn't life about determining your own finish line? This journey has always been about reaching your own other shore no matter what it is, and that dream continues," she added.
This weekend's effort was the third by Nyad to make the Cuba-to-Florida swim. She spent almost 42 hours in the water in her first try in 1978, while her second attempt last month ended after 29 hours of swimming.
Vettel wins Singapore Grand Prix
SINGAPORE, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Sebastian Vettel led wire-to-wire Sunday in winning the Singapore Grand Prix, his ninth Formula One victory this year.
Vettel, driving for Red Bull Racing-Renault, started at the pole of the 61-lap, 192.27-mile race after dark on Singapore's Marina Bay circuit and led throughout. He finished the race in 1 hour, 20 minutes, 46.172 seconds.
Jenson Button, on the McLaren-Mercedes team, was second 1.7 seconds behind the winner and Mark Webber was third 29.2 seconds behind his teammate Vettel..
Vettel has nine firsts, four seconds and a fourth this year and is on the verge of wrapping up a second consecutive drivers' championship. He has 309 points with Button second at 185. Fernando Alonso, who drives for Ferrari and finished fourth at Singapore, is third with 184 points and Webber is in fourth at 182.
There are five races remaining on the 2011 Formula One schedule. The next race is Oct. 9 in Japan.
A finish of 10th or higher in Japan will give Vettel the drivers'' championship.
Europe wins first Solheim Cup since 2003
DUNSANY, Ireland, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Azahara Munoz defeated Angela Stanford Sunday to assure Europe's 15-13 victory over the United States in the Solheim Cup and its first win since 2003.
Europe took the cup with three spectacular rallies late in the singles.
In the first crucial match, Suzann Pettersen and Michelle Wie engaged in a hard-fought contest but Pettersen emerged with a 1-up victory after three straight birdies to tie the tourney 13-13.
Caroline Hedwall, meanwhile, faced a 2-down deficit with with two to play against U.S. captain's pick Ryann O'Toole, but rallied to win the last two holes as O'Toole self-destructed with a pair of bogeys, giving Europe a 14-13 lead.
Europe then assured itself the necessary 14 1/2 points needed for victory when Munoz went 1-up with one to play against Stanford in the last match on the course, going on to make the final margin 15-13 in favor of Europe.
Sunday's play at Killeen Castle in Ireland was marred by three weather stoppages.
