Sports sponsorship: Bradley University has announced that it will discontinue men's and women's swimming and diving as intercollegiate sports after the 2001-02 academic year. Ken Kavanagh, Bradley's director of athletics, said the athletics department will assist any team members who decide to transfer to other institutions and that the university will honor all athletics-related scholarship commitments for those team members who elect to continue their academic careers at Bradley. "Informing our swimmers and coaches certainly rates as one of the darkest moments in my career. I am disappointed, but I felt it was necessary and in the best interests of our department as a whole," said Kavanagh. "Although we hope that all will remain at Bradley, we will certainly do everything we can to assist those individuals who want to transfer so they may continue to compete at the intercollegiate level." Kavanagh added the elimination of the two programs was based on budgetary issues and the desire to raise the competitive level of the athletics department as a whole. "Unfortunately, as a private institution with finite resources, we are placed at a competitive disadvantage in certain sports," Kavanagh said. "Our men's and women's swimming and diving teams currently face the greatest disparity with their Missouri Valley Conference rivals given there is only one other private school (University of Evansville) that sponsors the sport in our league. Combining an aging facility with part-time coaching and a limited budget makes it difficult to remain competitive within the conference without a massive infusion of new dollars." The loss of the Bradley programs will drop the number of men's swimming and diving programs in the league to four. The cuts also mean that Bradley will drop to 14 sports at the end of the 2001-02 academic year. The men's swimming program dates back to 1946 when the Braves resumed intercollegiate athletics activity after World War II. The women's swimming program was elevated from club to NCAA status for the 1992-93 season.

Milestones: Furman University men's soccer coach Doug Allison earned his 100th career victory September 25 with a 4-0 win over College of Charleston. Allison reached the 100-victory mark in only 134 matches. He began his collegiate coaching career at Furman in 1995 and has produced a 100-25-9 record. His .780 winning percentage ranks second among all active coaches, trailing only Jerry Yeagley of Indiana University, Bloomington ... Samford University's Whitney Miller and Birmingham-Southern College's Miljana Lazarevic both eclipsed the 1,000-kill mark for their respective careers in a September 25 match between the two women's volleyball teams. Samford downed the Panthers, three games to two. Miller needed two kills coming in and scored 18, while Lazarevic, who needed just one, tallied 16. Miller becomes the fourth Samford player to reach the plateau. Lazarevic is the first Birmingham-Southern player to reach the mark. The Panthers began intercollegiate volleyball in the 1998 season, and Lazarevic is one of three seniors who began with the program that year ... Hartwick College men's soccer coach Jim Lennox won his 300th game when his Hawks defeated Mercer, 4-0, September 7.

-- Compiled by Gary T. Brown