Enquirer news services

SALT LAKE CITY - Utah State and New Mexico State University will join the Western Athletic Conference in 2005.

In a release Thursday, WAC officials said the two schools had decided to leave the Sun Belt Conference. Last week, WAC lost Rice, Tulsa and SMU to Conference USA.

Utah State has been with the Sun Belt only a year. The Aggies had been an independent since the Big West dropped football after the 2000 season.

With the addition of Utah State and New Mexico State, the new WAC lineup will include Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, UTEP and San Jose State.

Golf

FUNAI CLASSIC: Tiger Woods took the suspense out of his bid to tie the PGA Tour record for consecutive cuts.

Woods made it look simple Thursday with a 6-under 66 on the Palm course. The bogey-free round left him three strokes behind Brenden Pappas in the Funai Classic at Disney, and poised to match Byron Nelson's 55-year-old record of consistency.

Vijay Singh is tied for second with Pat Perez and two-time Disney winner John Huston.

Rocco Mediate, Dan Forsman and David Peoples were another stroke back.

Auto Racing

RENNA: The investigation into the crash that killed Indy Racing League driver Tony Renna at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be hindered by a lack of visual evidence, an IRL spokesman said Thursday.

Because Wednesday's crash happened during a test session for Firestone Tires, there was no video or still photography to document the event, John Griffin said.

Renna, 26, was on his fourth lap when his G Force-Toyota crashed as he came out of the third turn on the 2 1/2-mile oval. Team owner Ganassi said the car did not hit anything before Renna lost control, went airborne, cleared the wall and crashed into the catch fence.

Renna was taken to Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

There is no timetable for the investigation, which has already begun, Griffin said.

UNSER JR.: Al Unser Jr. plans at least six weeks of rehabilitation on his broken pelvis before getting back into a race car.

The two-time Indianapolis 500 champion was injured Sunday when his all-terrain vehicle went over an embankment in woods near his home in Chama, N.M. His pelvis was broken in three places.

NASCAR: Scott Riggs signed a multiyear agreement with MBV Motorsports to replace Johnny Benson in the No. 10 Pontiac beginning next season.

Riggs, who's never run a Winston Cup event, is fifth in Busch Series standings, just 44 points behind Brian Vickers. Benson will stay in the car for the final four races of 2003, beginning with Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

He was last year's Busch Series' Rookie of the Year.

Soccer

UC: Senior Tim Brown was named to the Soccer America Magazine National Team of the Week for his Oct. 18 game-winning goal in overtime against No. 5 Saint Louis. Cincinnati, ranked No. 21 at the time, moved up to No. 19 following the win.

Hockey

COLUMBUS: The Columbus Blue Jackets assigned center Mark Hartigan to Syracuse of the AHL on Thursday.

Basketball

CHARLOTTE: Dell Curry was hired as the director of basketball relations for the expansion Charlotte Bobcats Thursday.