Two Maryland Players Are Suspended

Maryland offensive linemen Jared Gaither and Jaimie Thomas have been suspended for two weeks of preseason camp for a violation of team rules, the school announced yesterday. They will rejoin the team on Aug. 21.

Gaither, a true sophomore, started eight games at left tackle last season and will compete at right tackle this year, when he and left tackle Stephon Heyer are expected to anchor a formidable blocking unit. Thomas, a redshirt sophomore, played in all 11 games last year and is competing at left guard this season.

"It will not help us to go through camp short a pair of linemen, but we have established a culture for our student-athletes here and there are no exceptions," Coach Ralph Friedgen said in a statement. "We expect both players to do their best to stay in shape and be able to compete when they return." . . .

Virginia safety Tony Franklin has rejoined the team after being dismissed last spring for unspecified reasons, Coach Al Groh said as the Cavaliers began practice.

Franklin was suspended for a game late last season for violating team rules and did not make the trip to the Music City Bowl in December. Groh announced Franklin's dismissal from the team on the eve of spring practice in March.

· COURTS: The chemist who created "the clear," a previously undetectable steroid, was sentenced in San Francisco to three months in prison and three months' home confinement for his role in the Balco drug scandal.

Patrick Arnold was the last of five defendants convicted of steroid-distribution charges connected to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, a nutritional supplement company federal authorities exposed as a steroid distribution ring for top athletes.

· KAYAKING: Molly Stock of Potomac failed to advance to the final of the women's event after two 50-second penalties for missing a gate, finishing 55th at the world championships in Prague.

In the men's team event, the American trio of Scott Parsons (Bethesda), Brett Heyl (Bethesda) and Jim Wade wound up 21st. In men's canoe, Americans Jeff Larimer and Austin Crane qualified 31st and 34th, respectively, for tomorrow's semifinals.

· TRACK AND FIELD: A promising British sprinter has severed association with Justin Gatlin 's coach, Trevor Graham , following the American runner's positive doping test.

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey , a 17-year-old world youth champion at 100 and 200 meters, and his coach spent 10 days with Gatlin and Graham earlier this year in Raleigh, N.C.

On Thursday, the U.S. Olympic Committee barred Graham from its training centers and training sites because a number of athletes he has coached have been convicted of doping offenses.

· AUTO RACING: Champ Car driver Cristiano da Matta remained in intensive care with a serious head injury, a day after his racecar collided with a deer that had wandered onto the track during a test session at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Champ Car series spokesman Eric Mauk said the driver was in the intensive care unit at Theda Clark Memorial Hospital in Neenah, where he was airlifted to and had surgery to remove a ruptured blood vessel in his head. Media director Julie Sebranek said she had never heard of a similar incident at the track.

· PRO BASKETBALL: Sheryl Swoopes scored 10 of her 22 points in overtime to help the Houston Comets beat the host Minnesota Lynx, 77-73. . . .

Cheryl Ford scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help visiting Detroit Shock rout the Chicago Sky, 76-49. . . .

Detroit Pistons center Dale Davis was shocked with a stun gun and charged with assault and disorderly conduct in an altercation with Miami Beach police.

Davis was arrested Tuesday at a Miami Beach hotel and accused of threatening police, security guards and shouting profanities, police said.

Chubby Wells , Davis's agent, said he plans to file a lawsuit against police for their treatment of the player.

-- From News Services and Staff Reports