From The Associated Press

After being the West Coast Conference’s lone representative in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll for the past decade, Gonzaga has another league member in the rankings as Saint Mary’s of Moraga moved in at No. 24 on Monday.

The Gaels (7-0) were last in the Top 25 for the final three weeks in the 1988-89 season. With Gonzaga at No. 19, the WCC has two ranked teams for the first time since the beginning of the 1973-74 season.

“That’s the last time two of them were ranked? That’s unbelievable. That’s surprising. That’s great for our league,” seventh-year Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said. “It’s nice. It’s good for our program, good for our league. It’s a positive reward for a month in the season. It doesn’t matter for the long-term, but at this point in the season it shows our guys are playing well.”

North Carolina was No. 1 as it has been since the preseason poll, and the top six teams held their places from last week. The only newcomer was Saint Mary’s, which enters the rankings off a 69-64 victory over San Diego State on Saturday in the Wooden Classic in Anaheim.

The Gaels’ big win this season was a 99-87 victory over Oregon on Nov. 20 and they beat Seton Hall 85-70 in a matchup of unbeaten teams on Dec. 1.

The last time there were two WCC teams in the poll was the preseason poll and first regular-season poll in 1973-74 when San Francisco and former member UNLV were 11th and 19th.

“That was way before I was born,” junior Ian O’Leary said before getting back to current matters like Tuesday night’s game at Southern Illinois. “We’re not content. If we lose this next game we’re right back out. We can’t settle on this.”

The group is being led by freshman Patty Mills, who had 37 points in the win over Oregon.

“Patty sets the table for everyone,” Bennett said of the point guard who helped Australia qualify for the 2008 Olympics. “I thought from day one our depth was pretty good.”

NFL

• Fan who fell to his death during 49ers game identified

SAN FRANCISCO — A fan who fell to his death from a high wall during this week’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings was identified Monday as a 31-year-old Northern California man.

Paramedics worked on Torrey Kretschman of Roseville for about a half-hour after he fell at least 20 feet from the upper concourse to the concrete mezzanine level, police and 49ers officials said. Kretschman likely jumped up to sit on a 4-foot wall in the concession area, misjudged it and toppled over the edge, police said. The fall happened during halftime around 2:20 p.m. Sunday.

Baseball

• Oakland minor league catcher Padron suspended

NEW YORK — Oakland Athletics minor league catcher Raul Padron was suspended Monday for the first 50 games of next season after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance under baseball’s minor league drug program.

The 23-year-old hit .223 with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs this season for Class-A Stockton of the California League. Padron received the 29th suspension this year under the minor league program. There have been eight under the major league plan.

• Conte to discuss ‘rampant drug use at elite level of sport’

SAN FRANCISCO — BALCO founder Victor Conte is ready to meet with the World Anti-Doping Agency chairman to “provide detailed information involving a history of rampant drug use at the elite level of sport.”

Conte, who pleaded guilty to operating a steroids distribution ring at the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, said Monday in an e-mail that he plans to meet with Dick Pound in New York on Wednesday.

“Ironically, I feel it’s some of the poor decisions and past mistakes I’ve made that uniquely qualifies me to make a contribution,” Conte said. “I plan to share specific knowledge of past and present Olympic caliber athletes, coaches and suppliers involved with doping around the world and how they’ve been able to easily circumvent the anti-doping procedures in place.”

Conte was released from prison last year after serving four months for his role. BALCO supplied a wide assortment of performance-enhancing drugs — including previously undetectable “designer” steroids — to track and field athletes, as well as professional football and baseball players.

He continues to sell legal nutritional supplements from the same building that once housed BALCO in Burlingame, a San Francisco suburb.

Conte’s planned meeting comes as the findings of former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell’s 20-month investigation into steroid use in baseball are expected to be announced this week, possibly Thursday.

Home run king Barry Bonds on Friday pleaded not guilty to perjury and obstruction of justice charges after a grand jury indicted him for allegedly lying under oath about his steroid use. Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson also served three months in prison after admitting distributing steroids obtained from BALCO.

College Football

• Source: Washington St. picks Wulff as new football coach

PULLMAN, Wash. — A Washington State University source confirmed that the Pac-10 Conference school has selected Eastern Washington head coach Paul Wulff as WSU’s new head football coach.

The source close to the hiring process spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make the announcement.

The Pullman school has scheduled a news conference today to announce its new coach. Washington State athletic department spokesmen did not immediately return phone calls for comment and Wulff was not immediately reachable by phone.

The Cougars have been looking for a replacement for Bill Doba, who stepped down last month.