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2B – Daily News – Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Musher John Baker wins Iditarod in record time NOME, Alaska (AP) — John Baker’s win in the Idi- tarod Trail Sled Dog Race was more than just one man finally achieving his lifelong dream. It was also a victory for Alaska Natives. Hundreds of fans and tra- ditional Eskimo drummers greeted the 48-year-old Eskimo musher as he crossed the finish line Tues- day morning in the world’s longest sled dog race. ‘‘We are lucky when we are able to do something good and share it with other people,’’ said Baker — a soft-spoken Inupiat Eskimo who already had celebrity status in western Alaska before winning the Iditarod on his 16th try. The Kotzebue musher is the first Alaska Native musher to win the Iditarod since Jerry Riley did it in 1976, and he is the first Eskimo to win since the 1,150-mile Anchorage to Nome race began in 1973. Baker shattered the race record, coming in three hours earlier than four-time champion Martin Buser did when he set the previous record in 2002. Baker com- pleted this year’s race in eight days, 19 hours and 46 minutes. ‘‘Running a team like this, there is nothing better,’’ Baker said. ‘‘I am really proud of this.’’ Baker then began shak- ing hands with some of the people who lined up to watch the finish shortly after sunrise on a crisp and clear day in this old Gold Rush town. Bertha Koweluk, 43, who watched the finish with her 8-year-old daughter, said she knows Baker’s win will help re-instill pride in Alas- ka Natives across the state. She said so many times Alaska Natives are depicted as weak and crippled by addiction. But Baker’s win, she said, illustrates an untold story of her people. ‘‘He represents a resilient people and it just shows we’re strong and we can overcome,’’ she said. In a show of Native pride, many in the crowd wore traditional Eskimo parkas, including 46-year- old Angela Buffas, whose crimson parka adorned with gold ribbon was made by her grandmother. Buffas is a skin-sewer and attached the wolf, beaver and wolverine trim. ‘‘It just feels good that an Alaska Native, locally from around here, is finally the winner,’’ she said. Buffas said it’s been a long time since Native peo- ple relied on sled dogs for hunting and gathering sub- sistence foods, but her grandmother and her grand- mother’s sisters and brothers did. Each family had its own team of dogs to take on hunts for moose, caribou, beaver and seals and to gath- er food from the land, she said. That way of life is most- ly gone from rural Alaska, and was one of the reasons why Joe Redington, consid- ered the father of the Iditar- od, began the race in 1973. ‘‘It is now proven that the Eskimo culture of dog mushing has finally moved up to the top of the Iditarod, and it is a good feeling,’’ said Wayne Walluk, an Eskimo and retired sprint musher. He said people in Kotze- bue still have dog teams and hold races, but it has disap- peared from many villages and with it an important piece of Native culture. Having just come off the trail, Baker appeared happy but exhausted, and uncertain about whether he would race in the Iditarod again. ‘‘All along I’ve said if I won this race one time I would question whether I would do this again,’’ Baker said. However, he quickly followed that up by saying he hoped to work with a young group of dogs that he has waiting for him in Bailey has strained forearm PHOENIX (AP) — Tests revealed Tuesday that Oakland closer Andrew Bai- ley has a strained forearm, news that came as a relief to the Athletics after they feared he had a serious elbow injury. There is no timetable for his return, but Bailey will resume throwing once the discomfort subsides. ‘‘It’s good news for us, definitely. We’ll go from there,’’ manager Bob Geren said in Surprise, where an Athletics split squad played the Kansas City Royals. The A’s were concerned when Bailey left Monday’s game against Cleveland in the seventh inning, grabbing his right elbow after throw- ing a pitch to Ezequiel Car- rera. Bailey flew to Birm- MLS Tuesday’s result Los Angeles 1, Seattle FC 0 Today’s games MEN’S NCAA First Round At UD Arena Dayton, Ohio Tuesday’s results For Southeast No. 16 seed UNC Asheville 81, Ark-Little Rock 77, OT For East No. 12 seed Clemson 70, UAB 52 Today’s games For East No. 16 seed Texas-San Antonio (19-13) vs. Alabama State (17-17), TRUTV For Southwest No. 11 Seed Southern Cal (19-14) vs. Vir.Commonwealth (23-11), 6 p.m., TRUTV Tennessee Tech at Western Michigan, 4 p.m. Iona at Valparaiso, 5 p.m. Oral Roberts at SMU, 5 p.m. Idaho at San Francisco, 7 p.m. ingham, Ala., and was examined by Dr. James Andrews. MCT photo John Baker speaks with reporters Tuesday morning after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Kotzebue. Defending champion Lance Mackey was trying for his fifth consecutive win but was in 16th place Tues- day. Several of his veteran Iditarod dogs did not per- form well early on in the race and were dropped from his team. That left Mackey NIT First Round Tuesday’s results Alabama 68, Coastal Carolina 44 Boston College 82, McNeese State 64 Cleveland State 63, Vermont 60 College of Charleston 94, Dayton 84 Fairfield 62, Colorado State 60 Missouri State 89, Murray State 76 New Mexico 69, UTEP 57 Oklahoma State 71, Harvard 54 Kent State at St. Mary’s, late Today’s games Texas Southern at Colorado, 4 p.m. Nebraska at Wichita State, 4 p.m., ESPN2 Florida Atlantic at Miami, 4:30 p.m. Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Northwestern, 5 p.m. Bethune-Cookman at Virginia Tech, 5 p.m. Mississippi at California, 6 p.m., ESPN2 Long Beach State at Washington State, 7 p.m. with a small team relatively early in the race — a deficit that he could not overcome. The race’s top 30 finish- ers will share in a $528,000 purse. Baker received $50,400 and a new truck for winning. Baker took the lead in this year’s race on Saturday as he approached NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA SHARKS 40 23 8 88 203 186 Kings 40 25 5 85 196 170 Phoenix 37 23 11 85 206 203 Dallas 37 25 8 82 196 199 Ducks 37 27 5 79 195 202 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA Detroit 41 20 8 90 227 199 Chicago 38 24 8 84 232 196 Nashville 35 25 10 80 179 165 Columbus 32 27 10 74 190 209 St. Louis 31 29 9 71 193 207 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA Vancouver 46 16 9 101 233 167 Calgary 36 27 9 81 217 207 Minnesota 35 28 7 77 178 188 Colorado 26 34 8 60 191 239 Edmonton 23 38 9 55 172 231 EASTERN CONFERENCE CIT First Round Monday’s result Buffalo 75, Quinnipiac 68 Tuesday’s results Ohio 65, Marshall 64 East Tennessee State 76, Furman 63 Jacksonville 71, East Carolina 66, OT Northern Iowa 84, Rider 50 North Dakota at Air Force, late Northern Arizona at Santa Clara, late Portland at Hawaii, late Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA Philadelphia 43 19 7 93 222 184 Pittsburgh 41 22 8 90 206 172 N.Y.Rangers 37 30 4 78 204 174 New Jersey 33 32 4 70 150 176 N.Y.Islanders 27 33 11 65 197 227 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Boston 39 21 9 87 208 166 Montreal 38 25 7 83 186 176 Buffalo 34 28 8 76 203 202 Toronto 30 30 10 70 184 218 Ottawa 25 36 9 59 158 220 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Washington 41 20 10 92 193 173 Tampa Bay 39 22 9 87 210 211 Carolina 32 28 10 74 197 209 Atlanta 29 29 12 70 196 227 Florida 28 33 9 65 175 194 ————————————————— Tuesday’s results CBI First Round Tuesday’s results Boise State 81, Austin Peay 80 Creighton 85, San Jose State 74 Davidson 85, James Madison 65 Evansville 77, Hofstra 70 Today’s games Miami (Ohio) at Rhode Island, 4 p.m. St. Bonaventure at UCF, 5 p.m. Duquesne at Montana, 6:05 p.m. Weber St. at Oregon, 7 p.m. San Jose 6, Dallas 3 Boston 3, Columbus 2, SO Carolina 1, Buffalo 0 Los Angeles 4, Nashville 2 New Jersey 4, Atlanta 2 N.Y. Rangers 6, N.Y. Islanders 3 Philadelphia 3, Florida 2 Phoenix 4, Calgary 3 Pittsburgh 5, Ottawa 1 Washington 4, Montreal 2 Today’s games Toronto at Carolina, 4 p.m. Washington at Detroit, 4:30 p.m., VS Colorado at Vancouver, 7 p.m. St. Louis at Anaheim, 7 p.m. Monday’s late result Vancouver 4, Minnesota 2 the western coast of Alaska and training terrain familiar to him and his dogs. Ramey Smyth challenged Baker toward the end of the race, but the 35-year-old musher from Willow came in a little over an hour after the leader. Hans Gatt, who finished MLB Spring Training AMERICAN LEAGUE WL Pct Seattle 10 4 .714 Kansas City11 6 .647 Detroit 13 8 .619 Boston 11 8 .579 Minnesota 9 8 .529 Texas 9 8 .529 Baltimore 8 8 .500 Angels 9 10 .474 Toronto 8 9 .471 Cleveland 7 9 .438 Tampa Bay 7 9 .438 Chicago 6 10 .375 A’s 712 .368 New York 6 11 .353 NATIONAL LEAGUE WL Pct GIANTS 14 5 .737 Colorado 13 6 .684 Philadelphia13 7 .650 Atlanta 11 6 .647 Milwaukee 11 7 .611 Cincinnati 10 7 .588 Washington 10 7 .588 St. Louis 9 7 .563 New York 9 9 .500 Padres 8 9 .471 Chicago 9 12 .429 Pittsburgh 8 11 .421 Houston 7 14 .333 Florida 5 12 .294 Dodgers 6 15 .286 Arizona 5 15 .250 NOTE: Split-squad games count in the standings; games against non-major league teams do not. ————————————————— Tuesday’s results Chicago Cubs (ss) 8, Oakland (ss) 1 Kansas City 4, Oakland (ss) 3 San Francisco vs. late Boston 2, Detroit 1, 10 innings Cleveland 9, Milwaukee 7 Colorado 4, Chicago Cubs (ss) 2 Houston 14, Baltimore 8 L.A. Angels 9, San Diego 6 L.A. Dodgers 7, Texas 6 N.Y. Mets 5, Washington 2 Philadelphia 13, Toronto 7 St. Louis 4, Atlanta 0 Tampa Bay 11, Florida 2 Today’s games San Francisco vs.Chi.White Sox,1:05 p.m. Boston vs. Atlanta, 10:05 a.m., ESPN N.Y. Mets vs. Minnesota, 10:05 a.m. St. Louis vs. Detroit, 10:05 a.m. Tampa Bay vs. Florida, 10:05 a.m. Toronto vs. Pittsburgh, 10:05 a.m. Washington vs. Houston, 10:05 a.m. L.A. Angels vs. Arizona, 1:10 p.m. Baltimore vs. N.Y.Yankees, 4:05 p.m. Colorado vs. Texas, 6:05 p.m., MLBN Kansas City vs. Cincinnati, 7:05 p.m. Milwaukee vs. Seattle, 7:05 p.m. second in 2010, was third this year. He said this would be his last Iditarod. ‘‘We really were in to win it this year, but that did- n’t happen,’’ Gatt said. Sixty-two teams began the Iditarod on March 6. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL Pct GB Lakers 48 20 .706 — Phoenix 33 32 .508 13.5 WARRIORS 30 37 .448 17.5 Clippers 26 42 .382 22 KINGS Southwest Division WL Pct GB x-S. Antonio54 13 .806 — Dallas 47 19 .712 6.5 N. Orleans 39 30 .565 16 Memphis 37 31 .544 17.5 Houston 34 34 .500 20.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB Okla. City 43 23 .652 — Denver 40 27 .597 3.5 Portland 37 29 .561 6 Utah 35 33 .515 9 Minnesota 17 51 .250 27 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL Pct GB x-Boston 47 18 .723 — New York 34 32 .515 13.5 Philadelphia34 33 .507 14 New Jersey 22 43 .338 25 Toronto 18 48 .273 29.5 Southeast Division WL Pct GB x-Miami 46 21 .687 — Orlando 42 26 .618 4.5 Atlanta 39 28 .582 7 Charlotte 28 38 .424 17.5 Washington 16 50 .242 29.5 Central Division WL Pct GB y-Chicago 48 18 .727 — Indiana 29 38 .433 19.5 Milwaukee 26 40 .394 22 Detroit 23 44 .343 25.5 Cleveland 12 53 .185 35.5 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division ————————————————— Tuesday’s results Atlanta 110, Milwaukee 85 Chicago 98, Washington 79 Indiana 119, New York 117 Dallas at Portland, late Today’s games Cleveland at Sacramento, 7 p.m.,CSNC Dallas at Golden State, 7:30 p.m.,CSNB Denver at Atlanta, 4 p.m. Indiana at Boston, 4:30 p.m. Toronto at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Oklahoma City at Miami, 5 p.m., ESPN Orlando at Milwaukee, 5 p.m. Phoenix at New Orleans, 5 p.m. Charlotte at Houston, 5:30 p.m. Minnesota at Utah, 6 p.m. Philadelphia at L.A. Clippers, 7:30 p.m. Monday’s late results Sacramento 129, Golden State 119 L.A. 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