Milestones: Two softball coaches joined the elite 700-victory club a day apart when Muskingum's Donna Newberry reached the milestone March 10 and George Wares of Central College matched her March 11. They join the late June Walker of The College of New Jersey as the only 700-win coaches in Division III softball. Newberry is in her 31st season at Muskingum, where her teams have appeared 14 times in the Division III Softball Championship and won the title in 2001. Wares is in his 21st season at Central and has led the Dutch to four Division III titles in 19 tournament appearances ... Brian Van Haaften recorded his 200th career coaching victory in men's basketball when Buena Vista defeated Edgewood College in the first round of the Division III Men's Basketball Championship March 3. Van Haaften, who has a .794 winning percentage after nine seasons, led the Beavers to their fourth straight Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason tournament title.

Miscellaneous: Bates College has established an honor society for senior student-athletes, and the first honorees will be inducted at ceremonies during the school's commencement weekend in May. The Bates Scholar-Athlete Society will annually honor about 25 seniors nominated by their coaches who have compiled a 3.50 grade-point average or been cited by faculty and staff for distinguished academic achievement in their junior and senior years. "The Bates Scholar-Athlete Society honors dedication to scholarship and sportsmanship," said President Elaine Tuttle Hansen. "It celebrates the ways in which athletics fits into the overall collegiate experience." To be eligible, student-athletes must participate in a varsity sport for at least three years. Suzanne Coffey, athletics director at Bates and former chair of the Division III Management Council, said student-athletes will be encouraged from their arrival on campus to aspire to induction into the society. "In creating the Scholar-Athlete Society, Bates is presenting to our students (and to the academy) a clear statement about expectation for excellence in the classroom and achievement on the playing field," she said. "Athletics certainly should not dominate, but it absolutely is part of the mission of our academic institutions. It should be considered in the same context as classroom learning, service learning and study abroad." The school also plans to induct alumni who distinguished themselves academically and athletically and have achieved career success, as well as faculty members and former Bates coaches who have fostered the student-athlete ideal. The first induction ceremony May 28 will feature a keynote address by Donald "Dee" Rowe, men's basketball coach at the University of Connecticut from 1969 to 1977.

-- Compiled by Jack Copeland