Sport sponsorship: The Northeast-10 Conference has added men's ice hockey as a championship sport, making it the only Division II ice hockey conference in the nation. Commissioner David Brunk announced the addition, which will take place during the 2003-04 season, at the Northeast-10 Conference meeting June 9. The conference also announced recently that it will add men's and women's swimming and diving as championship sports for 2003-04, which brings the conference's total of championships to 23, the most among Division II conferences. "We have now added six championship sports over the last three years, and we look to continue to make the Northeast-10 a model conference in Division II." The Northeast-10 ice hockey championship will include six of the seven institutions that continue to sponsor the sport in Division II -- Assumption College, Franklin Pierce College, Saint Anselm College, Saint Michael's College, Southern New Hampshire University and Stonehill College. The new championship is an extension of the ECAC Division II Championship, which began in 1999-00 ... Pace University has added swimming and diving as a varsity sport, beginning with the 2003-04 academic year. The new program will bring the number of Pace athletics offerings to 19. The teams will compete in the new Goldstein Health, Fitness and Recreation Center, which boasts a 25-yard, eight-lane natatorium.

Milestone: Sandy Jerstad, softball coach at Augustana College (South Dakota), recently became the second NCAA softball coach to reach the 1,000-win total (Margie Wright of California State University, Fresno, is the other). In 27 seasons as coach of the Vikings, Jerstad compiled a 1,011-359-2 record. Her teams won eight North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and qualified for 16 NCAA tournaments. The Vikings won the Division II title in 1991 and finished second in 1993. Her 2003 team finished 44-21, her 25th consecutive winning season. Jerstad, a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame, recently announced her retirement.

-- Compiled by David Pickle