CABOT — The Cabot Knights of Columbus announced the winners of their recent free throw shooting championship.

Champions include 10-year-old Spencer Voltz of Cabot and Abbey Gore of Butler, 11-year-old Joe Hutchinson of Saxonburg and Madison Bricker of Cabot, 12-year-old Justin Rudish of Cabot and Amber Henzel of Saxonburg, 13-year-old Zach Slater of Butler and Heather Cooper of Saxonburg, 14-year-old Tyler Singer of Sarver and Hannah Novotny of Cabot.

Each will participate in the District 82 competition set Feb. 10 at St. Luke's Hannahstown.

SARVER — Eight FCAGems All-Star Cheerleaders teams competed at the Jamfest Cheerleading Championships in Indianapolis, the second largest championship in the United States, and finished in first or second place.More than 10,000 cheerleaders made up more than 460 squads.Pink Ice took first place and won the MostEntertaining Award for Level, while the Emeralds took first out of 32 teams, the largest division ever at Jamfest, and the Cintrines won and captured Most Entertaining for Level 4.Sapphires also placed first while Turquoise and Tanzanites finished runners-up.The Diamonds finished second and earned a berth to the All-Star Worlds, which will be held in Orlando, Fla. in April.There were six bids out of 59 teams. The Diamonds also earned a berth last year, placing 13th.The GEMS will compete at the Cheersport Nationals in Atlanta Feb. 17 to 18, the largest in the country.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR placed more emphasis on winning, widened the Chase for the championship field to 12 drivers and created a postseason seeding system under a series of adjustmentsStarting this season, victories during the 26-race "regular season" now will be worth 185 points — an increase of five points. Assuming the winning driver also picks up other bonuses during the race, a victory now can be worth as much as 25 points more than second place.In addition, those wins will be worth a 10-point bonus that will be used to "seed" the drivers when the 10-race Chase begins.

IRVING, Texas — Bill Parcells retired from coaching Monday, leaving the Dallas Cowboys after four seasons.Parcells' 19-years in the NFL included three Super Bowls and two championships.Known for a gruff demeanor and colorful quotes, Parcells leaves with the ninth-most wins in NFL history and a career record of 183-138-1. He was 34-32 in Dallas, counting two playoff losses. He had one year left at more than $5 million on a contract extension signed last January.

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland Raiders hired Lane Kiffin Monday, making the 31-year-old Southern California offensive coordinator the youngest NFL head coach in decades.