Sports sponsorship: Montclair Sate University is reclassifying five teams from varsity to club status, including its wrestling program, a two-time Division III team champion that also has produced the second-highest number of individual titlists at the Division III Wrestling Championships. The school announced that it also will reclassify men's and women's cross country, men's lacrosse, and women's tennis, effective in 2005-06. University officials cited limited resources and a desire to strengthen the overall athletics program as reasons for the action, which will reduce the number of varsity teams from the current 21 to 16. "We studied this situation as thoroughly as possible, and considered factors such as part-time status of head coaches, available local competition, conference affiliation, facility demands, travel considerations and equipment costs" said Holly Gera, Montclair State director of athletics. Added Karen L. Pennington, vice-president for student development and campus life, "In order to ensure that we could maintain the integrity of our varsity sports program, we felt the most prudent way to proceed was to reclassify these five programs. This will allow us to better use our limited resources to support our varsity teams at the conference level." Gera said reclassifying the teams to club status still offers participation opportunities in those sports, and some teams will have an opportunity to compete in invitational events. All five sports currently are coached by part-time university employees. The wrestling team won Division III titles in 1976 and 1986, and its 28 individual championships were the most in Division III competition until Augsburg College surpassed that mark at last year's championships. Three-time titlist Ken Mallory also claimed a Division I title in the 134-pound weight class in 1978. Montclair State's best recent finish was in 2003, when the team finished fourth and also claimed its most recent individual victory. The Red Hawks finished 11th at last year's championships ... State University of New York Maritime College plans to reinstate the school's football program, which was disbanded more than a decade ago. The school announced it will establish a club team in the sport and eventually give the program varsity status, making it the 22nd varsity sport at the institution. "By bringing back football, we will significantly add to our recruitment base, attract higher quality applicants and ultimately strengthen our enrollment," said Maritime President John Ryan. "We know that football will make Maritime a more attractive college, and do much to increase school spirit." The team will play on a new AstroPlay surface on campus that currently is used by soccer and lacrosse teams.

Milestones: Mike Bokosky gathered his 200th victory as men's basketball coach at Chapman University when the Panthers defeated Colorado College January 3 and advanced to the championship game of the Poet Classic at Whittier College. Bokosky, who has posted 11 consecutive winning seasons at the school, became the third coach in the program's history to reach the 200-victory milestone ... Transylvania University's Mark Turner collected his 300th victory in women's basketball with the Pioneers' January 3 victory over Centre College. Turner is in his 17th season at the school, which is in its first year of active Division III membership, and led the Pioneers to a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season championship in 2003.

--Compiled by Jack Copeland