BRIEFLY: AGOURA GRAD WINS U.S. TITLE IN HALF-MARATHON.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Deena Kastor won the U.S. women's half-marathon championship Saturday in Duluth, Minn.

Kastor, who will compete in the upcoming Athens Olympics in the marathon, easily took the race in 1 hour, 10 minutes, 30 seconds. Last weekend, Kastor also won a 10-kilometer road race in New York City.

Susannah Beck, of Yarmouth, Maine, was second in 1:15:03, and Cori Mooney of Boise, Idaho, was third in 1:15:17.

``I wanted to run a fast time of under 1:10, but with a slight head wind I went to Plan B, which was to just run a strong race,'' said Kastor, the former Agoura High standout who holds the American records at 5K, 10K, 15K and the marathon.

Vladzimir Tsiamchyk of Belarus won the 28th annual Grandma's Marathon in 2:17.59. Luke Metto, a Kenya native living in Peoria, Ill., pulled away from the start and led for nearly the entire race, but faded to finish second at 2:18:38.

Fira Sultanova-Zhdanova, from Russia, won the women's title for the second consecutive year, in 2:35:08. She was nearly two minutes ahead of runner-up Elzbieta Jarosz, who finished in 2:37:02.

SOCCER: Two-time World Cup quarterfinalist Mexico all but guaranteed itself a spot in the semifinal round of CONCACAF's qualifying tournament, and Mali struggled again in the African competition.

Mexico crushed Dominica 10-0 with two goals each from Adolfo Bautista, Jared Borgetti and Daniel Osorno.

Mali, which reached the African Cup of Nations semifinals at the past two tournaments, needed an 80th-minute equalizer from Freddie Kanoute to hold Zambia to a 1-1 draw.

In the CONCACAF competition, both St. Kitts and Nevis and Honduras advanced to the semifinals. St. Kitts edged Barbados 3-2 and 5-2 on aggregate, while Honduras topped the Netherlands Antilles 4-0 and 6-1 on aggregate.

Three CONCACAF teams will qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals, with a fourth team playing an Asian team in a playoff for another spot.

SAILING: Russell Coutts, the most dominant skipper in America's Cup history, raised doubts Saturday night that he would return to the Swiss syndicate that will defend the trophy in 2007.

He said he and the syndicate's head, Ernesto Bertarelli, were in mediation over America's Cup rule 13.12, which restricts sailors from moving from one team to another. The result of that mediation could free Coutts to join another syndicate.

OLYMPICS: A 34-year-old wildlife refuge manager, who didn't compete in his first Olympic-style archery tournament until last year, secured a spot on the U.S. team.

John Magera earned the third and final spot as six days of U.S. Olympic trials finished in Mason, Ohio.

Vic Wunderle and Richard ``Buster'' Johnson got the two other spots on the team.

Jennifer Nichols finished first in the women's trials, followed by Stephanie Arnold and two-time Olympian Janet Dykman.

--Cheering crowds gathered from Brooklyn to the Bronx as the Olympic torch made a 34-mile journey through New York City, which recently was named as one of five finalists to host the 2012 Summer Games.

Following a ceremony at a park in Queens, gold-medal-winning long jumper Bob Beamon began the torch's five-borough tour, holding the Olympic flame aloft as hundreds of spectators in the nation's most heavily Greek-American neighborhood cheered wildly, waving Greek flags.

``It's fitting that the New York City leg of the torch relay kicks off from Queens - our most diverse borough in the most diverse city in the world,'' Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Beamon was followed by more than 100 other torch bearers, including community activist Bryan Pu-Folkes of Brooklyn, who held onto the flame as it cruised through New York Harbor past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

--Yolanda Griffith was added to the U.S. women's basketball team.

Griffith, a center-forward for the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs, was a member of the gold medal-winning 2000 Olympics team. Her addition completes the 12-member team that will compete at the Summer Games in Athens beginning Aug. 13.

HORSE RACING: Boomzeeboom set the pace early and then held on to win the Affirmed Handicap by a half-length at Hollywood Park.

--Offlee Wild held off Funny Cide at the wire and won the $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap by a neck in Boston.

ETC.: Paolo Bettini of Italy pulled away in heavy rain to win the eighth stage of the Tour de Suisse in Bellinzona, Switzerland, while Switzerland's Fabian Jeker extended his overall lead to 41 seconds entering the final leg. ... Former Vanderbilt athletic director Todd Turner was hired to head Washington's troubled athletic department. Turner will replace interim athletic director Dick Thompson, who took over when Barbara Hedges announced her early retirement in January.

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Photo:

Deena Kastor waves after winning the U.S. women's half-marathon championship in 1 hour, 10 minutes, 30 seconds.

Derek Neas/Associated Press