The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 27

i. i i 2C 2C 2-3C TVradlo Golf (The Journal Ncius Friday, November 5, 2004 College Local sports Scoreboard 9C A 7 I Briefing ets make history in hiring Randolph NBA if Howe's successor brings New York state of mind NEW YORK Willie Randolph has six World Series rings, two as a Yankees player, four as a coach. Want to know which one he wears, which one is his favorite? The one from 2000. The one in which the Yankees beat the Mets, the historic Subway Series. Randolph doesn't prize that ring because it was won against the rival Mets, and he doesn't wear it to taunt the Mets.

He wears it because "it's all about New York," he said. That's what Randolph is all about, too. He has twice been a Yankee, as a player for 13 seasons, as an assistant GM for one, and as a coach for 11. He was their captain, one of their Former Yankee becomes first black manager in city Brian Heyman The Journal News NEW YORK The new Mets manager slipped into a different kind of pinstriped jersey while the rain pounded the field below at Shea Stadium. The rapid-fire sound Of cameras clicking filled the Diamond Club, recording the historic moment Willie Randolph is a student of historic moments, black history and black baseball history in particular.

The office in his New Jersey home is filled with cherished memorabilia and books. So he has an appreciation for the players who sacrificed and opened the door for a kid Inside Don Mattlngly, Bucky Dent and Joe Girardi are being mentioned as possible replacements for Willie Randolph as Yankees bench coach, 3C from the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, players like Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell and, of course, Jackie Robinson and his daring Brooklyn Dodgers dash across the color barrier. "If it wasn't for those warriors, those forefathers, guys who really played the game with passion and had a love for the game, I wouldn't be here," Randolph said. "So I just want to glorify them by going out and doing a good job." Because 57 years after Robinson crossed his line, Please see RANDOLPH, 3C i Vincent DiSahioJoumal News file photo Stephen SchmittThe Journal News Willie Randolph was all smiles as he took the helm of the team he rooted for while growing up in Brooklyn. If V- A young hope Teen-age rookie forward Trevor Ariza played 15 minutes in the Knicks' opener and continues to show promise, 4C AT A GLANCE Spurrier takes name out of Florida search If Steve Spurrier decides to coach again, it won't be at his alma mater.

Spurrier yesterday withdrew his name from consideration to replace Ron Zook, saying his time at Florida has passed. The announcement relieves any reservations boosters and school officials had regarding Spurrier's potential return. It also opens up a coach- -ing search that was widely considered Spurrier's to lose. "He said he's done his thing here and he just thinks it's better for us to go find a coach who will be here for the next 10 or 15 years," athletic director Jeremy Foley said. The Gators won six Southeastern Conference championships and the 1996 national tide under Spurrier.

He posted 122 victories over 12 seasons, tormented opponents with his offensive flair and witty one-liners, and left town with the best winning percentage in league history. Zook, hired in 2002 after Spurrier left to coach the Washington Redskins, was fired last week after the latest in a series of embarrassing losses a 38-31 defeat by lowly Mississippi State. Spurrier quit die Redskins after two losing seasons, and indicated last week he would consider a return to Gainesville. The Associated Press Meminger resigns as men's coach at Manhattanville Citing personal reasons, Dean Meminger has stepped down as Manhat-tanville's men's basketball coach. It is believed he left to tend to an ill family member.

He will be replaced by 23-year- Rick Carpiniello anchors, one of their spark plugs. He is a Yankee. Now Randolph will twice be a Met He finished his playing career with the Mets in 1992, and now he is their manager. Oh, yeah, he also happened to be a huge Mets fan growing up in New York City. New York, New York.

To some, that notion is absurd. A zebra can't change its pinstripes, can it? How can a Yankee be a Met? How is a Mets fan supposed to open his or her arms to embrace one of the enemy as the team's new leader? Please see CARPINIELLO, 3C nals, the top-seeded Hornets have an excellent chance to do what at one time was unthinkable in the title game against No. 3 Our Lady of Lourdes tomorrow at John Jay High School at 3:30 p.m. If Jensen should have any pregame musings about this game, they should be upbeat: The Hornets blanked the Warriors 1-0 earlier in the season thanks to team captain Brendan McGovern's first-half winner. "I'm telling you man, everything after this point is just icing on the cake," an emotional Mc-Govern said after yesterday's game.

"No one ever expected us to be here. And just to have another opportunity to play one more game with these teammates is more than I could ever ask for." Lakeland (17-1) got off to a very lucky start in yesterday's Class boys soccer: Westlake, right, upsets Nanuet 2-1. The Wildcats will face Albertus Magnus, a 2-0 winner over Dover, in Sunday's final, 7C Class boys soccer. North Salem edges Bronxville, setting up a rematch with Keio, which routed Dobbs Ferry, 6C Section 1 diving: In her second season on the team, Clarkstown's Lindsey Adao wins the title by a 20-poiqt margin, 7C mm high Lakeland's Mike Malan gets out of the way as Tappan Zee goalie semifinal yesterday. Lakeland won 3-1 to advance to tomorrow's Stuart BayerThe Journal News Sylwester Majkut makes a save during their Section 1 Class A final against Our Lady of Lourdes.

old assistant Pat Scanlon, a Fordham Prep and Manhattanville graduate. I "I want to give everything I I can to the kids and this program, but at this time it wouldn't be fair to everybody involved if I didn't give my best," Meminger said in a statement. A first-round pick Radcliffe willtry again World-record holder wants to erase thoughts of Athens Janet Paskin The Journal News NEW YORK Paula Radcliffe holds the world record for both the marathon and the 10K. She won the world championships half-marathon three times in the last five years. She has won the London Marathon twice, Chicago once.

The only thing she has not yet been able to outrun is the one she'd most like to: those dismal non-performances at the Athens Olympics, when she dropped out of the marathon at the 23-mile mark and then, five days later, quit in the middle of the race. But she has come to New York to try. "I want to go out and race well," she said. "I want to feel like me again." The 30-year-old Radcliffe made a last-minute decision to run the ING New York City Marathon this Sunday, an addi Paula Radcliffe tion that makes the women's field one of the best in recent memory. There was nothing in her training program that said she couldn't do it, and the passel of injuries and side effects that plagued her at the Olympics are gone.

She had been taking antiinflammatory medication to treat a hematoma in her leg. The pills made her sick to her stomach, and by the time race day arrived, hot and humid, she was too depleted to finish the race. She crashed to the curb, head in hands. "I've never experienced anything like what I felt in Athens," the 30-year-old from Loughborough, England, said. "I'd never been that depleted.

I just couldn't pick my legs up. I felt like I was running uphill when I was running downhill." Less than a week later, amid a chorus of criticism disguised as concern, she ran and failed again. She went home, devastated. She rested. Once she and her husband, Gary Lough, figured out what had happened and she felt better, she started to run again.

Regular marathon training: twice a day, long runs in the morning, averaging 19 to 20 miles a day. When she felt ready, she called New York Road Runners and asked for an entry number. She was late to the party, but for the fastest female marathon-er in history, exceptions can be made. That irked Lornah Kipla-gat, who finished third in last year's New York City Marathon. "It isn't fair because you should know who you're running against," Kiplagat said.

"When I'm putting in my 130, 120 miles (a week) I want to Please see MARATHON, 2C New York City Marathon When: Sunday Where: The race starts on the Staten Island side of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and ends in Central Park. TV: NBC, 9 a.m.-l p.m. 1- v-N 4 -r'. mi nrf r' ogs Dean Meminger of the Knicks in 1971, Meminger led the Valiants to an 18-10 record last year in his first season. He announced his intentions to the team before Wednesday's practice.

"Everybody was shocked and disappointed," Scanlon said. "There was personal stuff he had to take care of, and that obviously comes first We just wish the best for him." Meminger will stay on the school payroll and lead the Valiants' recruiting efforts in New York City. Scanlon, a Bronxville native, will be the team's third coach in 13 months nine-year coach Brian Curtin resigned last September to become an assistant at Dartmouth. Manhattanville opens the season on Nov. 20 with a home game against William Paterson.

game, going ahead 1-0 on an own goal in the 19th minute that looked as though it would be easily cleared from the box by the Dutchmen's defense. "That hurt us. It knocked the wind right out of us," Tappan Zee coach Nick Megdanis said. "Without that, it might have been a whole different game. But that's how the game breaks and how the ball bounces." The Hornets didn't need any luck with their second.

With 12 minutes to go in the first half, Mc-Govern made a run down the right touch line and made a ankle-breaking cut inside, leaving one defender in the mud and making space for a cross in the process. McGovern picked out teammate Andrew Pietris crashing toward the far post and planted a perfect pass on his right foot that the junior forward easily buried. "Finally putting one into the Harold Gutmann INSIDE Jets' Vilma to face former college teammate McGahee Miami alums Jonathan Vilma and Willis McGahee of the Bills look forward to facing each other Sunday in Buffalo, 9C net a second time really gave us a lot of confidence," McGovern said. "We built on that in the second half, and that's why we had such a great game." But a 2-0 scoreline is never as comfortable as it looks, and when Tappan Zee defender Stephen Donahue curled in the Dutchmen's goal with more than 20 minutes left in the game, the momentum seemingly shifted in favor of Tappan Zee (11-5-3). "There was a refuse-to-lose attitude on this team all year," Megdanis said.

"There was nobody we couldn't play with and this was a hard-fought game." But Lakeland ended any hopes of a comeback when senior Frank Roda scored with four minutes to go in the game. "It's supposed to be unlucky," Roda said of a 2-0 lead. "But we got pumped up at halftime and knew we had to do it." Four Bears suspended: Four Brewster football players miss last night's game because of a preseason bullying incident against a junior varsity player, 5C Class A bowl games: Spring Valley tops Brewster for its first bowl win in 15 years; Fox Lane shuts out Lakeland for third straight bowl win, 5C Class AA bowl games: North Rockland crrc? ormol at JtV)JO VSUM1llt UL the 8-yard line, 13-6; John Jay routs Mahopac, Lakeland continues unexpected season, tops Tappan Zee 3-1 Evan Kesten The Journal News SHRUB OAK Lakeland coach Larry Jensen didn't know what kind of team he was going to have coming into this season. He had his suspicions they weren't good, and they definitely didn't include a trip to the Class A championship game. "At the beginning of the season, I did not think we could do much better than .500," Jensen said.

"But somewhere about midseason, I began to believe that these guys could go all the way." After a 3-1 home victory over No. 5 Tappan Zee in the semifi Section 1 football championships Today at Mahopac High Ctosi No. 2 Blind Brook (44) vs. No. 1 Tuckahoe (5-2), 5 p.m.

Class No. lAWestlake(SO) vs. No. IB Dobbs Ferry (90), 8 p.m. Tomorrow at Mahopac High dastOA No.

2 New Rochelle (90) vs. No. 5 Mount Vernon (7-2), 2 p.m. Class No. 1 Rye (90) vs.

No. 2 Sleepy Hollow (7-2), 5 p.m. Pass No. 2B Harrison (8-1) vs. No.

IB Nyack (90), 8 p.m. school playoffs WORTH A LOOK What: Nets at Chicago When: 8:30 p.m. TV: YES Radio: WFAN 660 Outlook: Mount Vernon native Ben Gordon will open his first NBA season tonight in Chicago. Coverage, scouting report, 4C I 31 CS 'V' Ben Gordon 'iy i TRIVIA Question: Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter were the only non-golfers among the last 17 presidents. Who was the first president to play golf regularly? (Answer, 2C) (fiflOH THE WEB www.mDouRHALNms.coMsrorrrs For columnists Ian O'Connor and Rick Carpiniello, Varsity Central and Suburban Golf www.theJournalnews.com.