Für unsere Gäste » Rudd pledged Memphis would make a $500 milli

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Ryan Lochte was tired of sitting around his room in the Olympic athletes village and watching his U.S. teammates in the pool.He was raring to get racing.Lochte competed for the first time in the Rio Games on Tuesday, anchoring the Americans 4x200-meter freestyle relay in the preliminary heats. Clark Smith, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz joined Lochte to get the U.S. into the final with the second fastest time of 7 minutes, 6.74 seconds.Britains quartet of Stephen Milne, Robbie Renwick, Dan Wallace and Duncan Scott had the top time of 7:06.31.The Russians are a medal threat for the night final, qualifying third in 7:06.81.Besides the relay, Lochtes only other event in Rio is the 200 individual medley, where he and teammate Michael Phelps resume their longtime rivalry.It was rough because I love racing, he said of waiting until Day Four of competition. Sitting back in my room and just watching finals, I was like, `Man, I cant wait until its my time. Now its ours and I think were just going to keep the ball rolling from what weve done the last two days.In Lochtes absence, the Americans have won 15 medals, including four golds.Everything they did, especially last night, really got me going, he said. We were definitely pumped up for this morning.The biggest surprise of the preliminaries was Daniel Gyurtas failure to advance in the 200 breaststroke. He wont defend his Olympic title from four years ago after finishing 17th. He fell two-hundredths of a second short of a spot in the semifinals. The top qualifier was Anton Chupkov of Russia in 2:07.93. His teammate, Ilya Khomenko, also advanced as did Americans Kevin Cordes and Josh Prenot.American Nathan Adrian has some work to do in the 100 freestyle. The defending Olympic champion grabbed the 16th and last qualifying spot for the semifinals with a time of 48.58 seconds. He was 0.68 seconds behind top qualifier Kyle Chalmers of Australia, who was timed in 47.90.I just didnt know it was going to be that close, Adrian said. Im impressed how far the world has come. That was certainly safe four years ago. Just got to be that much more sharp through all the heats, semis and finals these days.The other American, Caeleb Dressel, was second fastest in 47.91. Also moving into the semis was Santo Condorelli of Canada and Vladimir Morozov, one of the Russian swimmers initially banned from the Rio Games.In the womens 200 butterfly, Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain was the fastest qualifier in 2:06.64. She earned bronze in the 400 IM last weekend.U.S. teammates Hali Flickinger and Cammile Adams tied for the second-fastest time of 2:06.67 while swimming in different heats. Basketbalové Boty Adidas . It just didnt show when he hit the ice. Berra made 42 saves and Kris Russell scored at 1:32 of overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night. Adidas Nmd Dámské Cerne . Note: The Calgary Flames announced Tuesday that Sean Monahan would not be made available to Canadas World Junior team. http://www.botynmdlevne.com/adidas-nmd-panska-levne.html . Louis Blues. Shane Hnidy joins Brian Munz for the broadcast on TSN 1290 Radio at 7pm ct. Boty Adidas Nmd Levně . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. Adidas Nmd r2 Damske . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to increase her lead to five strokes after the second round of the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. Memphis, once considered a viable Big 12 expansion candidate in part because of its backing by FedEx, is not among the schools being considered by the conference, sources told ESPN.Memphis was among several schools that expressed interest in joining the league and had conducted a video conference with Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby in the past two weeks, sources said.However, the Tigers did not make the latest cut when the league trimmed its group of potential candidates by one-third, leaving 11 schools still alive in the Big 12s expansion sweepstakes.Those 11 schools are Air Force, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Colorado State, Houston, Rice, South Florida, SMU and Tulane. The list does not include Temple, which had been previously reported by ESPN as still being in the mix.Next week in Dallas, representatives from each of those 11 schools will make in-person presentations to Big 12 officials, sources said. The league has said it hopes to make a decision on expansion by the Big 12s regularly scheduled board of directors meeting on Oct. 17.ESPNs initial report indicated it could not confirm whether Memphis had made the cut. Multiple sources in the past two days verified that the Big 12s expansion candidates had been reduced to 11 schools -- and Memphis was not among them.ESPN contacted Memphis officials on Friday to verify the school was no longer in the running. However, Memphis athletic officials referred all questions about the Big 12 to the universitys marketing and communications office. That department, curiously, referred all questions back to the athletic department.Later Friday, Memphis president David Rudd issued a statement but would neither confirm or deny ESPNs report.I have not and will not respond to questions about BigXII expansion, Rudd said.FedEx chairman Fred Smith, who was a huge proponent of the Tigers bid, declined to comment on Memphis being out of the running.All matters concerning the Big 12 are handled by the University of Memphis, so you should ccontact them directly, Smith responded in an email to ESPN on Friday.ddddddddddddBack in February, Rudd wrote a letter to West Virginia president Gordon Gee and copied Oklahoma president David Boren and then-Baylor president Ken Starr, the other two members of the composition committee, as well as former Big 12 board chairman and Kansas State president Kirk Schulz.In the letter, Rudd pledged Memphis would make a $500 million investment in academic and athletic infrastructure over the next five years. Rudd also enclosed a letter from Smith, who indicated the delivery services giant headquartered in Memphis would be behind the schools Big 12 campaign.We strongly support the universitys efforts to become a member of an expanded Big 12 athletic conference, Smith wrote to Rudd in a letter dated Feb. 23. In support of [Memphis] Big 12 aspirations, we have researched college conference sponsorships and are prepared to become a major Big 12 sponsor of football and basketball.Smith also wrote that FedEx would be prepared to sponsor a Big 12 championship game.In Rudds letter, he reiterated that FedEx would be willing to sponsor a Big 12 championship game but that FedEx also would uniquely position the University of Memphis to request only a portion of new revenue for several years until renegotiation of the conference media right agreement occurs.Sources told ESPN that offering to accept less revenue might have actually hurt Memphis chances. The league, sources said, is more interested in teams that can strengthen and add value to the league as opposed to schools that need to be propped up by the league.The Big 12 still must decide whether to expand its 10-team league to 12 or 14 schools or to remain at 10. Sources said that while 14 schools is the least likely option, all scenarios are still in play.ESPN.coms Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report. ' ' '