Cowboys Trade for Drew Henson

Quarterback Drew Henson will get his chance to play in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys.

Dallas acquired Henson from the Houston Texans on Friday for a third-round pick in the 2005 draft. Henson then agreed to an eight-year deal with the Cowboys, his agent, Tom Condon said.

Henson was selected in the sixth round by the Texans in last year’s draft. Houston, which already has David Carr at quarterback, planned all along to deal the former Michigan star, who spent three seasons playing baseball in the New York Yankees’ organization.

Three other teams expressed serious interest in Henson: Cleveland, St. Louis and Buffalo. Henson, 24, worked out for 20 teams in Houston earlier this off-season.

On Thursday, Cowboy owner Jerry Jones said he was intrigued by Henson, who worked out for Dallas on March 1. And on Friday, Jones worked out the deal, whose final four years are voidable.

Henson will get a guaranteed $3.5 million, the most ever for a sixth-round pick. He’ll earn the minimum rookie salary of $228,000 this season, but with attainable incentives he can easily increase his earnings over the length of the deal.

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Terrell Owens’ hearing to determine whether he can become a free agent has been rescheduled for Monday in Philadelphia. A decision is expected as early as Tuesday.

The case, filed on Owens’ behalf by the NFL Players Assn., will be heard by Stephen Burbank of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The attorneys will appear in person.

The hearing was originally scheduled for this weekend as a conference call.

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Motor Racing

Ryan Newman won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Nextel Cup Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his fifth qualifying win in the past eight races dating to last season.

In only his third full season, Newman has moved into 20th on the all-time list of top qualifiers. He had a series-high 11 in 2003 and has two in four races this season.

Newman’s top speed was 193.575 mph in a Dodge. Rookie Ryan Vickers ran a lap of 192.634 in a Chevrolet, about 0.14 seconds slower than Newman.

Rookies David Reutimann and Robert Huffman gave Toyota a sweep of the front row in qualifying for the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Reutimann had a fast lap of 179.452 mph. Huffman’s top speed was 179.145. In all, four of the top five and six of the first nine qualifiers for today’s EasyCare 200 were in Toyotas.

Bobby Rahal is considering following the lead of fellow team owner Adrian Fernandez and abandoning the Champ Car World Series for the rival Indy Racing League.

Fernandez, an owner-driver, made his announcement Thursday, saying Fernandez Racing will compete in the IRL IndyCar Series

Rahal, who campaigns a car for Buddy Rice in the IRL, has run one for Michel Jourdain Jr. in Champ Car, formerly known as CART.

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Winter Sports

Roar Ljokelsoy of Norway won a World Cup ski jumping event in Lillehammer, Norway, his sixth victory this season. He had jumps of 136.5 and 134.5 meters for 291.8 points.

His first jump broke Lillehammer’s Olympic hill record, set by Germany’s Martin Schmitt in 1997, by a half meter.

Bjorn Einar Romoren, winner of the last two World Cup events, shared second with Olympic champion Simon Ammann of Switzerland. They were 8.4 points behind the winner on the K120 hill.

Janne Ahonen of Finland was seventh but kept the overall lead with 1,284 points. Ljokelsoy is second with 1,206.

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Miscellany

The NBA approved the $250 million sale of the Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers, but the NHL must still sign off on the deal before the new ownership group can take over.

The NBA announced that its board of directors agreed to the sale to a nine-person group headed by Boston businessman Steve Belkin.

Dan Taylor of Ohio State beat two-time defending champion Carl Myerscough of Nebraska to win the shotput at the NCAA Division I indoor track and field championships at Fayetteville, Ark.

Taylor won with a throw of 66-7 1/4 on his next-to-last attempt. Myerscough was second at 66-3. Dan Ames of UCLA was third at 65-6 3/4.