Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • Page 24

2D SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2005 FLORIDATODAY LEADING OFF Today's schedule Inside racing The lineup Monday: Great escapes Tuesday: Outdoors Wednesday: Prep sports Thursday: Getting out Friday: Outdoors Today: Golf Sunday: Trivia Football 7 p.m. Lake. Christian at Merritt With FLORIDA TODAY motorsports writer Mark DeCotis Volleyball 11 a.m. Sebastian River at Preseason Classic Today on All-out mtensily. Johnson says nothing like pressure in playoff 6 a.m.

Formula One Turkish Grand Prix qualifying Speed 10 a.m. Busch Series Domino's Pizza 250 qualif. Speed 1 p.m. Nextel Cup GFS Marketplace 400 qualif. TNT 3 p.m.

Busch Series Domino's Pizza 250 TNT 8 p.m. NHRA Mid-South Nationals qualifying ESPN2 4:30 p.m. Manhattan Beach Open Midnight Dew Actions Sports Tour 1:30 p.m. Nationwide Tour Xerox Classic Golf channel 2 p.m. PGA TourWGC, NEC Invitational CBS 4 p.m.

LPGA Safeway Classic Golf channel 6 p.m. Champions Tour Greater Seattle Classic Golf channel 9 p.m. PGA Tour Reno-Tahoe Open Golf channel Nextel'sbest FLORIDA TODAY'S Mark DeCotis ranks his top 15 Nextel Cup drivers. 1. Tony Stewart.

No one else even close, but a long way to go. 2. Jimmie Johnson. The man for 16 weeks, but his stumble to second in points shows no one is invulnerable. 3.

Greg Biffle. Appears to have lost the momentum generated by five early-season victories. 4. Rusty Wallace. No lame-duck status here in the face of his retirement.

5. Mark Martin. Moved up a spot in points as he makes one final run at championship, unless he returns next season. 6. Kurt Busch.

The distraction-driven descent has begun. 7. Jeremy Mayfleld. The Evernham driver few figured would be in the top 10 again continues to hang tough. 1 8.

Ryan Newman. Scuffling inconsistently but still in the hunt. 9. Jamie McMurray. Roller coaster of a season is on the upswing.

Can he sustain it? 10. Carl Edwards. Hanging onto top-10 position. 11. Elliott Sadler.

Needs more than a minor rally. 12. Dale Jarrett. Lost three positions at Watkins Glen. Can he rebound? 13.

Jeff Gordon. See Elliott Sadler. 14. Kevin Harvlck. Fading away.

15. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Time running out. 5 p.m. NTRA Alabama Stakes ESPN 11 a.m.

Westbrook, Maine, vs. Lafayette, La. ESPN 1 p.m. Saudi Arabia, vs. Chiba City, Japan ESPN 3 p.m.

Great Lakes vs. West, Owensboro, Ky. ESPN 6 p.m. Canada vs. Mexico ESPN 8 p.m.

Southeast vs. Mid-Atlantic ESPN 1 p.m. N.Y. Yankees at Chicago White Sox FOX 8 p.m. Chicago Cubs at Colorado WGN i mmm i 7:30 p.m.

Jacksonville at Tampa 4 p.m. MLS Dallas at Columbus 2 p.m. Western South. Financial Group Masters ESPN2 10 p.m. Western South.

Financial Group Masters ESPN2 Midnight Rogers Cup semifinal ESPN2 4 p.m. 6 p.m. Seattle at Sacramento New York at Connecticut Take 5 Island Christian Preseason Classic television Women's champ. NBC Vans Invite USA Bay ABC, UPN ESPN2 ABC ESPN2 AP Early test. Mack Brown and his Texas Longhorns play a big game right off the bat at Ohio State on Sept.

10. Clemson might be the game that officially reaffirms Miami as a BCS candidate. But it's dangerous. Michigan at Wisconsin, Sept. 24.

Wolverines, picked high coming in, open at home against Notre Dame and then take this trip to Madison, where the Badgers want to send retiring coach Barry Alvarez out with a bang. planner You can purchase tickets at the Space Coast Stadium box office at 5800 Stadium Parkway, Melbourne, 32940, or by calling 633-9200. For more information, go to manateesbaseball.com. (pv Scott Brown Golf BCC has high hopes for the fall Ranked as high as third in the country last spring, the Brevard Community College men's golf team seemed to be peaking at just the right time. The team qualified for the NJCAA Division I championship and arrived at the May tournament brimming with confidence.

The Titans finished seventh, good for most schools, but disappointing for a team that expects to compete for the national championship every year. "We were just flat," BCC coach Jamie Howell said. "That still baffles me." Earlier this week, the Titans began the long journey they hope leads back to the national tournament as practice commenced for the fall season. BCC will play in five events this semester, starting with the Wallace (Ala.) State Fall Invitational the second weekend in September. Fall results from the fall don't have any bearing on which teams qualify for regionals arid the national tournament.

Nonetheless, it's an important time. It gives Howell a chance to see which players are able to handle the dual demands of playing golf at a high level and malting the grade in the classroom. The fall season also helps him determine which players will comprise BCC's starting five in the spring and which ones will provide depth behind them. "Basically in the fall, you establish which guys are going to be able to handle the load," Howell said. BCC does return a promising nucleus that includes Robert Taylor, who recently won the Brevard County Men's Amateur, Mads Nielsen and Steven Taylor.

Help could also come from a group of players who redshirted last season, including Cocoa Beach High graduate Lance Gillett. The freshman class is talented and loaded with local players. Those include David Johnson (Mel High graduate), Anthony Gomez (Palm Bay), Jacob Richard (Eau Gallie) and Kyle West-horpe CTitusville). Hall for Horgen. Legendary BCC coach Floyd Horgen, along with longtime Titans golf supporter Fred Gay, will be inducted into the school's athletic Hall of Fame as part of a team fundraiser on Nov.

20. The team Horgen led to the 1985 national championship will also be honored following the four-person scramble at Rockledge Country Club. The starters from that team John Byrd, Scott Gump, Steve La-Montagne, Louis Mitrovich and Joe Regner all are expected to attend the ceremony. For more information on that or playing in the golf outing, call 504-2073. Together again.

They were teammates at Titusville High. They were teammates at BCC. Sean Connelly and Marc France will soon be teammates again at Florida Southern College. Not only that, the two will be living together in Lakeland. Aren't they, like, sick of each other? "Not yet," Connelly said, laughing.

"Hopefully not for two more years." Connelly, who recently tied for fourth at the Brevard County Men's Amateur, said he and France were told Florida Southern does not generally sign players from junior colleges. Moccasins coach Doug Gor-din made an exception in their case, a major reason Connelly is excited for the upcoming season. "Hopefully, we'll make a big impact, me and Marc," Connelly said. "They've got a young team and bringing us over there should add some depth." Contact Brown at 242-3698 orsbrown6flatoday.net Who am Answer: Jimmie Johnson has been racing since he was 4. Yet even now, after nearly four full seasons at NASCAR's elite level, the 29-year-old Californian says the pressure of the sport's championship playoff is like nothing he's ever experienced.

"Nothing can prepare you for it," Johnson told a Team Lowe's teleconference this week. "There are different things I've experienced through racing and life that have taught be about patience and given me my work ethic to push on. But there is nothing like being in the pressure-cooker. "With my four years in Cup so far, each year had a different set of pressures. I'm looking forward to it this year.

I don't anticipate it to be the same. It just continues to change and intensify each year. I just hope that all the lessons I've learned so far have taught me enough that I can get it done." Johnson has come as close to winning a championship as anyone in NASCAR history, finishing second to 2004 kingpin Kurt Busch by a mere eight points. Johnson also was a 90-point runner-up in 2003 to Matt Kenseth and fifth in 2002. For a time this season it appeared Johnson was en route to his first Nextel Cup title.

He led the points for 16 weeks, 12 of them consecutively, before falling to second behind the red-hot Tony Stewart. Though he lost the points lead, Johnson finished fifth on the road course at Watkins Glen and hopes the momentum carries over to Sunday's 400-miler at Michigan. Because, after all, momentum is what it's all about heading into the 10-race championship playoff that begins Sept. 1 8 at New Hampshire. "Momentum and leading the points would be the same Johnson said.

"Last year, we were near the top and lost the momentum. We didn't lead the points going into (the playoff), and the reason was that we weren't where we needed to be. We were doing everything we could, but we really hit our stride four or five races in." That's an understatement. Johnson won four of the final 10 FSL Cardinals top Manatees, in Palm Beach, Joe Mather hit an RBI double in the bottom of the second for the game's only run, leading the Cardinals past the Manatees 1-0 on Friday night. Steve Hammond took the loss, allowing three hits and striking out seven in six innings.

TENNIS Subpar Safin ousted. In Mason, Ohio, wild-card entry Robby Ginepri needed only 56 minutes to knock Marat Safin out of the Cincinnati Masters. Ginepri advanced to the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over the hobbled Russian. Top-ranked Roger Federer beat Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-3, setting up a semifinal match against Ginepri. Fifth-seeded Andy Roddick also reached the semifinals, overcoming a sluggish start to beat Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Top players move on. In Toronto, defending champion Ame-lie Mauresmo of France made the semifinals of the Rogers Cup when Russian Nadia Petrova withdrew due to an injured right chest muscle in their rain-delayed quarterfinal match. Anastasia Myskina defeated Argentina's Gisela Dulko 64, 7-5" despite a splint on her sprained left ankle and advanced to the semifinals. Myskina, seeded ninth, will meet Kim Clijsters, the seventh-seeded Belgian who routed Flavia Pennetta of Italy GOLF Jones hanging in there. In Portland, Rookie Sung Ah Yim and Soo-Yun Kang each shot 8-under 64s for a one-stroke lead over veteran Rosie Jones and defending champion Hee-Won Han after the first round of the Safeway Classic.

Yim had six birdies on the front nine, leading to the best round of her first LPGA season. The The much-anticipated Associated Press preseason college football poll will be released for Sunday publication. Southern Cal is the all-but-certain consensus No. 1, but FLORIDA TODAY assistant sports editor Ralph Rou-ton lists five September games that could shape the national picture: Texas at Ohio State, Sept. 10.

Longhorns and Buckeyes are both considered national contenders, so this unusual matchup at Columbus will elevate the winner and damage the loser's chances. It also could have an influence on the early Heisman race. Tennessee at Florida, Sept. 17. If the Volunteers can escape Gainesville and then LSU at Baton Rouge the next week, they could make a legitimate run at the top of the rankings.

Of course, if the Gators win. Oklahoma at UCLA, Sept. 17. Sooners are considered by many as a top-five team to start the season, and they face Texas on Oct. 1.

But playing UCLA at the Rose Bowl is no gimme, either. This could be a springboard for either side. Miami at Clemson, Sept. 17. If you assume the Hurricanes will win at Rorida State on Sept.

5, because they have owned FSU and Rorida lately, this trip to races for an overall season-leading total of eight. But he still wasn't able to close the deal because in the end, it all comes down to consistency. "We know that you've got to collect points," Johnson said. "Kurt (Busch) last year was very consistent and collected the most points. That's everyone's baseline.

You go into the final 10, if somebody is on a tear and wins a bunch, everybody is goingto have to adjust their game. But going into any series, you want to cover your bases and be solid. We'll go to Loudon and get our feet wet. We can spend our first two or three races just feeling things out to see where we need to be." One team is in the groove and on a roll now: Stewart's. By winning five of the past seven races, Stewart has' vaulted from 10th to first in points in the space of seven weeks and secured the attention of his peers who are trying to decipher his magic formula.

"There are so many pieces to the puzzle," Johnson said. "Once the momentum gets going, it doesn't matter if it's a stick-and-ball team or a NASCAR team. When you're doing well, communication flows freer and everyone QUICK HITS 21 -year-old from South Korea, who has two top-10 finishes this year, made a 35-foot chip shot to birdie the par-4 fourth hole. Australian Wendy Doolan, Laura Diaz and Aree Song were two shots back at 66 after the first round. Crowded at the top.

In Sno-qualmie, Tom Kite, Jim Thorpe, Brad Bryant and Morris Hatalsky each shot 6-under par rounds of 66 to share the first-round lead at the Boeing Greater Seattle Classic. Andy Bean, John Harris, Hale Irwin, Bruce Lietzke, James Mason, Peter Jacobsen and Craig Stadler all were one stroke behind at 5-under 67 on the par-72 Tournament Players Course at Snoqualmie Ridge. Glasson sets course record. In Reno, Bill Glasson had two eagles and six birdies in an 11 -hole stretch to shoot a course-record 10-under-par 62 and take the early lead in the second round of the Reno-Tahoe Open. The 22-year veteran of the PGA Tour started the day with three pars.

Then Glasson chipped in from 45 feet for eagle on the 518-yard, par-5 fourth hole to ignite the best round of his career. Glasson finished with a two-round total of 10-under 134. He's a stroke ahead of Jesper Parnevik and Jonathan Kaye. NBA Christie makes it official. In Dallas, swingman Doug Christie signed with Dallas, as the Mavericks try to replace the recently released Michael Finley.

"We feel adding Doug Christie to our team is giving us the best chance to win a championship," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. That's a lot of pressure for the 35-year-old, 6-foot-6 Christie, who struggled with injuries and averaged just 6.6 points per game last year with Sacramento and Orlando. "I just kind of look at Orlando is in the groove. You feed on that and continue to make things better. "It's a hard spot to find, but when you do it great things happen.

It's typically short-lived. You've got to enjoy it while it's there. You can never plan on when it's going to come or go. You just try to enjoy the days while it's there." Crew chief Chad Knaus, who shared the teleconference with Johnson, said when any team finds an edge, it doesn't last very long. "Obviously, we're parked right next to each other in the garage," Knaus said.

"It's not very difficult for somebody just to look over at your race car and to see and identify with what you've got going on. Everybody is worried about (Stewart's team) instead of what they're doing (themselves). That's when they start dropping the ball on their stuff and have mechanical failures, or drivers get wound up or crew chiefs and drivers start to bicker and so on. (Stewart and his team) are in a good spot right now, very similar towherewe'vebeenallyear." Contact DeCotis at 242-3786 or mdecotlsflatoday.net as a blip," Christie said. He said he is healthy again and picked Dallas over other suitors because he believes he can help the team win right away.

HOCKEY Panthers sign Pelletier. In Sunrise, the Florida Panthers signed unrestricted free agent goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier as the team prepares to enter arbitration hearings with starting netminder Roberto Luongo. Pelletier spent the past few seasons in the Phoenix Coyotes organization and will add depth behind Luongo and backup Jamie McLennan. Pelletier has seven games of NHL experience and played in 36 AHL games last season with the Utah Grizzlies and the Springfield Falcons. Luongo set NHL records in the 2003-04 season for most saves (2,303) and most shots faced No goalie with more than 50 starts had a better save percentage than Luongo's .931 that season, the last played before the lockout, and he was fifth in the league with seven shutouts.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL Gridiron classic canceled, in Orlando, this year's Gridiron Classic all-star game was canceled after the game's sponsor failed to find a new host venue. Florida Citrus Sports said it will continue looking for a new host for future contests, but time ran out for this year's game, scheduled for January 2006. The Villages, a massive retirement community 60 miles northwest of Orlando, had hosted the game the past two seasons, but decided not to renew following last year's game. The seven-year-old Gridiron Classic was staged in Orlando for its first five years. Florida Citrus Sports which also sponsors Orlando's Champs Sports Bowl and Capital One Bowl will seek a similar venue to the facility at The Villages.

Who am You could say I put Cincinnati men's basketball on the map, I was the Bearcats first All-American basketball player in 1958, the same year I became the first sophomore to be named national player of the year. I had a prolific 14-year NBA career as a point guard with the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks. Nicknamed the "Big 0," I averaged the only triple-double in league history (30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 11.4 apg) in 1962. 3-game Today Sunday Monday 6 p.m. 2 p.m.

7 p.m. at at vs. Palm Beach Palm Beach Vera Beach How to get tickets Manatees: Tickets are $10 for batters box, $6 for box seating and $5 for reserved seats. If you have a military ID, tick ets'are $2 for reserved seats. 1.