CORAL GABLES - After a two-day visit to Miami that included an hour-long meeting with school president Donna Shalala, Atlantic Coast Conference officials seemed ready to offer the Hurricanes an official invitation to join the conference.
By Compiled from Times wires
Published June 1, 2003
It could happen next week, but probably not until the Big East gets a chance to convince Miami to stay.
Shalala has agreed to meet with school presidents from Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Connecticut and Rutgers on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported, giving them an opportunity to confront her before she makes a decision.
The presidents from the five Big East schools left out of the ACC's expansion plans have sought a meeting with Shalala since Miami said it would consider leaving the conference. Shalala reportedly guaranteed Big East presidents 18 months ago that the Hurricanes would stay in the league.
The meeting will take place in Washington, D.C., on the same day the ACC concludes its site visit to Syracuse.
ACC commissioner John Swofford headed a nine-person delegation to Miami on Thursday and Friday. He also will lead two-day visits to Boston College beginning today and to Syracuse beginning Tuesday.
ROWING: Harvard beat Washington by nearly four seconds to win its first Intercollegiate Association Championship in the varsity heavyweight division. Harvard won with a time of 5 minutes, 43.4 seconds.
TRACK: Florida won the men's and women's team titles at the NCAA East Region Championships in Fairfax, Va. The teams won seven events and had 19 athletes finish in the top five of their events to automatically qualify for the national championships June 11-17 in Sacramento, Calif. Kyle Farmer and Dwight Ruff each qualified in three events to lead the Gators men's team. Andrea Bliss led the women, qualifying in three events. South Florida's Dayana Octavien, Chandra Brewer, Alexis McGaffagan of Largo and Jimmy Baxter of St. Petersburg and Jacksonville junior Monique Tubbs also qualified.
PRO FOOTBALL: Bengals sign Matthews
The Bengals signed veteran Shane Matthews to a one-year contract, his third team since last season.
The former Florida quarterback started seven games for the Redskins last season. He was signed by the Buccaneers in March, but was released April 28 after Tampa Bay took Chris Simms in the draft.
SOCCER: U.S. shows coach money
The United States to its best World Cup finish since 1930 meant big money for coach Bruce Arena.
Arena made $961,802 in the 12 months ending Aug.31, according to a government filing by the U.S. Federation.
That was up from $605,630 the previous fiscal year, when Arena was coaching the team through the final round of World Cup qualifying, where the Americans went on to earn their fourth straight World Cup berth.
Members of the 23-man roster also benefited, with bonuses totaling $188,043 for each member of the team plus $2,500 per game played, meaning the top amount was $200,543. The United States advanced to the quarterfinals.
WORLD CUP: Tunisia submitted a bid to host the 2010 event, which has been promised to an African country. Tunisia, whose bid was announced by its federation, joins five other African candidates - South Africa, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Nigeria.
MLS: DaMarcus Beasley scored twice as visiting Chicago beat San Jose 4-1.
WUSA: Dagny Mellgren scored in the 83rd minute and Karina LeBlanc made six saves for her first shutout of the season as Boston beat San Jose 1-0.
ET CETERA
CYCLING: Four-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will return for the third T-Mobile International on Sept.14 in San Francisco. ... Gilberto Simoni retained his big lead and was one stage from winning the Giro d'Italia in Cantu, Italy, for the second time in three years. Giovanni Lombardi won the 20th stage.
HORSES: Triple Crown threat Funny Cide went for a simple gallop and was so "high on himself" that he left exercise rider Robin Smullen with an aching back. ... Apprentice jockey Luis Chavez has been suspended for 10 days by NYRA stewards for "careless riding" during the third race at Aqueduct in December. The suspension starts June 2.
