The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has reached a one-of-a-kind agreement with a production company to broadcast multiple league events during the 2006-07 academic year.

The WIAC announced last month that it has reached an agreement with When We Were Young Productions to produce and distribute for television every WIAC championship and postseason tournament and as many as 50 regular-season contests. The deal, believed to be the first of its kind in the history of Division III, also includes video-streaming opportunities and the establishment of an online store through which WIAC merchandise may be purchased.

Fall events are scheduled to appear on Fox Sports Net North.

"We are excited about the prospect of bringing the competitive spirit of the WIAC directly to a statewide audience," said WIAC Commissioner Gary Karner. "A comprehensive agreement of this nature would not be possible were it not for the fact that both When We Were Young Productions and Fox Sports Net have recognized the programming value of our league. That allowed us to craft an agreement that encompasses every league sport and provides for an equitable distribution of telecasts among all nine institutions."

Karner said events and scheduled broadcast times will be posted on the WIAC Web site at www.uwsa.edu/wiac as information is available.

Every student-athlete wants the chance to play for a national championship, and Hope College basketball student-athlete Becky Bosserd is no different. But Bosserd gave up her chance to do that last spring when NCAA regulations permitted only 15 athletes to suit up for postseason competition. Hope’s squad, which went on to capture the 2006 NCAA Division III national title, had 16.

The junior guard didn’t think twice. She spared head coach Brian Morehouse from having to make a difficult decision when she volunteered to spend the rest of last season in street clothes.

"I wanted to do it for my team because I had so much trust in them and knew, no matter what, I would still be along for the ride. I’ve never had any regrets about it," she said.

The selfless gesture caught the attention and admiration of more than her coach and teammates. It also caught the attention of Rob Zaagman, one of the fans who traveled to Springfield, Massachusetts, to cheer the Flying Dutch on to victory at the Division III championship tournament.

In response to Bosserd’s gesture, Zaagman helped the school establish an endowed scholarship in her name. The scholarship is intended to assist any student with financial need who has demonstrated a commitment to leadership or volunteerism.

Interestingly, beyond briefly meeting Bosserd along with her teammates during the college’s championship celebration, Zaagman had never met the then-junior point guard before establishing the scholarship. Bosserd’s act, however, helped Zaagman, who moved to Holland in 1992, focus a long-held interest in supporting Hope students in some way.

"It hasn’t hit me yet exactly how meaningful this is because I thought what I did was just something I needed to do — it didn’t seem like a huge deal," said Bosserd. "I feel extremely honored to be remembered for this."

The Rebecca Bosserd Scholarship Fund will be available for the first time this academic year. Bosserd is a senior biology major at Hope.

It took four former University of Puget Sound rowers over two months to complete a trans-Atlantic rowing contest and become the first Americans to row the North Atlantic Ocean.

The 2006 Shepherd Ocean Fours Rowing Race began June 10 in New York Harbor. Jordan Hanssen, Dylan LeValley, Greg Spooner and Brad Bickers covered the 2,863 nautical mile-course in 69 days, 23 hours and 18 minutes. The former Loggers crossed the finish line at Bishop Rock Lighthouse, about 65 nautical miles off the shore of Falmouth in Cornwall, England, well ahead of the second place team.

With the win, Hanssen, LeValley, Spooner and Bickers became the first Americans to row across the North Atlantic unaided, a record that has been noted by the Guiness Book of World Records. After securing the Ocean Fours victory, the crew of the James Robert Hanssen rowed the remaining distance to Falmouth to establish a second record as the first ocean rowing crew in history to row unaided from the mainland United States to the mainland of Britain.

The team partnered with the American Lung Association throughout their training and the race to raise money for asthma and emphysema research.