Sports in Brief: Fla. court rules against NCAA

The Florida Supreme Court refused Monday to hear the NCAA's appeal of lower court rulings that forced the athletics organization to publicly release records on academic cheating at Florida State.

NCAA vice president David Berst had testified such a decision would set a precedent that would "rip the heart out" of the association's efforts to ensure competition is fair and equal.

The Associated Press and other news media had sought the release of the records, and the high court in October denied an emergency motion to block their release.

The justices did not explain their unanimous decision, but a trial judge and lower appellate court earlier ruled the files were covered by Florida's public records, or "sunshine," law because the university is a public institution.

The records were part of a disciplinary case against Florida State that resulted in knocking 12 victories off the record of former football coach Bobby Bowden as part of the school's penalty. The NCAA stripped Florida State of wins in 10 sports because their athletes cheated on an online music test or received other unauthorized help with their studies.

The University of Michigan has delivered to the NCAA its report responding to the association's allegations that the football program committed as many as five major violations in the first days of the tenure of head coach Rich Rodriguez.

Athletic director David Brandon said last week there would be "total transparency" when the school releases its report Tuesday. The report likely will include self-imposed sanctions, which could include a loss of scholarships and less practice time.

Michigan will need to hope that its corrective actions will be accepted by the NCAA, whose infractions committee has scheduled an August hearing for the school.

The NCAA three months ago outlined five potentially major rules violations related to practices and workouts. Rodriguez is two years into a six-year deal worth $2.5 million per season.

Five area players - Casey Grugan and Rich Romanelli of Cabrini, Grant Firestone of Haverford, Eric Farris of Ursinus, and Kevin Rider of Widener - have been invited to play in the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Division III Senior All-Star Game on Friday in Towson, Md.

La Salle (21-30 overall, 14-13 conference) will begin play Wednesday against Rhode Island (29-24, 17-10) in the opening round of the Atlantic Ten baseball tournament at Campbell's Field in Camden. The double-elimination tournament runs through Saturday.

WNBA: Rookie Gabriela Marginean, who established a scoring record for Philadelphia-area colleges during her career at Drexel with 2,581 points, was waived by the Minnesota Lynx.

Marginean, a third-round draft pick, saw limited action in four games for the Lynx.

AUTO RACING: Although he had one of the fastest cars during practice for the Indianapolis 500 only a few days ago, Paul Tracy failed to qualify for the race.

Tracy, who finished second in 2002 and ninth last year, withdrew a qualifying time that would have put him into the race in an attempt to post an even faster time. His strategy backfired, and he knocked himself out.

JURISPRUDENCE: A federal judge has denied a request to move the trial of a woman charged with trying to extort $10 million from University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III ruled that Karen Cunagin Sypher couldn't show that pretrial publicity warrants relocating the case. The trial begins July 26.

-Staff and wire reports