Briefly 1/27/03

Football

North Dakota State head football coach Bob Babich says he is a candidate for an assistant coaching job with the St. Louis Rams.

Babich, 41, is scheduled to interview with Rams head coach Mike Martz today for the job as defensive assistant in charge of linebackers.

Babich said he did not know the particulars of the job. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch listed Babich as the only candidate for the linebackers job.

Babich has close ties with Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, the newspaper said.

It is the second time in a month that Babich has been a candidate for another job. He also interviewed for the head coaching job at Tulsa, his alma mater. That job went to Buffalo Bills assistant Steve Kragthorpe.

Babich has a 46-22 record in six years as NDSU head coach.

Soccer

Tiffeny Milbrett and Heather O'Reilly were unable to spark a second-half rally and the United States lost to China 2-0 Sunday in the Four Nations Tournament in Shanghai, China.

Germany tied Olympic champion Norway 2-2 in the day's other game. The tournament features the world's top four women's soccer teams.

Swimming

Lindsay Benko of the United States set a world record Sunday in the 400-meter freestyle at the short course World Cup in Berlin.

Benko was timed in 3 minutes, 59.53 seconds, easily breaking the mark of 4:00.03 set by Costa Rica's Claudia Poll in 1997.

-- From wire reports