RIMINI, Italy -- Prosecutors investigating the sudden death of 1998 Tour de France champion Marco Pantani are looking into whether medicine found in his hotel room had a role, officials said Sunday.\nNews reports said an initial examination pointed to cardiac arrest as the cause.\nProsecutor Paolo Gengarelli said Sunday he ruled out suicide, noting Pantani was prescribed tranquilizers. "No one has spoken of suicide," the ANSA news agency quoted Gengarelli as saying. "And I exclude it."\nPantani, 34, was found dead on the floor of his room at an apartment-hotel in this Adriatic resort city late Saturday. Hotel employees opened his room after growing concerned when they hadn't seen him all day.\nCiting investigative sources, ANSA said the coroner who examined Pantani on Saturday concluded the cyclist died of a "cardio-circulatory arrest" but the cause wasn't known.\nRimini Police Investigator Sabato Riccio told a press conference Sunday at least 10 bottles of tranquilizers were found in Pantani's room. Some of the bottles were empty, ANSA quoted Riccio as saying.\nAn autopsy was tentatively scheduled for Monday.
sh: Northwestern player hospitalized with concussion
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern guard Evan Seacat was under observation at a hospital Sunday, a day after sustaining a concussion when he collided with a Penn State player.\nThe 6-foot-3, 180-pound Seacat fell to the ground near midcourt after running into a screen set by 7-foot center Jan Jagla in the second half of Northwestern's 65-52 victory. He left the court on a stretcher.\nSeacat did not have any neck injuries as initially feared, Northwestern spokesman Mike Mahoney said Sunday.\n"The concern is making sure he's recovered from his concussion," he said.\nSeacat, who was visited by coaches at Evanston Hospital on Sunday, could be released Monday but will miss Northwestern's next game Saturday at Michigan State, Mahoney said.\n"After that it will be pending, depending on how he recovers," Mahoney said.
