Sport sponsorship: Chatham University will sponsor women’s cross country and women’s water polo beginning during the 2008-09 academic year, boosting to nine the number of sports sponsored by the institution for women. The cross country team will compete in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, and the water polo squad will compete in the Collegiate Water Polo Association. “The addition of a cross country team will allow Chatham to take advantage of Pittsburgh’s many nearby parks and trails as well as allowing us to provide a well-rounded program to our students,” said Amy Buxbaum, the school’s athletics director. “And by adding water polo, we are building on the strength of our swimming and diving program and allowing us to use our athletics facility in a new way.” Chatham opened its new Athletic and Fitness Center, including its Sigo Falk Natatorium, in 2005.

Milestones: Susan M. Murray captured her 200th victory in field hockey November 3 when New England College defeated Nichols College to win its sixth straight Commonwealth Coast Conference championship. Murray, who began her career as a head coach with a four-year stint at Southern New Hampshire University, moved to New England College in 1981 and has collected 177 of those 200 wins there while leading the Pilgrims to nine league titles and nine Division III Field Hockey Championship appearances.

Miscellaneous: The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference will be featured in a new cable channel, and competition involving league members in a variety of sports also will be viewable through a “video on demand” service established by Charter Communications, Inc. The company has created a WIAC Channel and also a Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Channel focusing on high school sports, and is offering the channels as well as the video-on-demand option for cable television customers around the state. About nine WIAC and high school athletics events will be available every week through those viewing options. “More than 80 percent of the athletes that compete in the WIAC are from Wisconsin high schools,” said Gary Karner, WIAC commissioner. “Charter’s decision to provide its digital customers with free access to WIAC and WIAA channels speaks volumes about Charter’s commitment to Wisconsin sports at all levels.” Karner said the agreement provides students and fans, and the more than 300,000 WIAC alumni currently residing in Wisconsin, the ability to view WIAC athletics events at no additional cost to the customer. “The WIAC couldn’t be more pleased to be pioneering with Charter on this groundbreaking development — a first of its kind in the history of Division III athletics,” he said ... Bridgewater State College’s 12-year reign as women’s volleyball champion in the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference come to an end October 28 when Westfield State College snapped the Bears’ 114-match league winning streak and clinched the regular-season league title with a 3-0 sweep in Bridgewater. However, the Bears rebounded November 3 at Westfield to defeat the Owls in the final of the league’s postseason tournament and automatically qualify for their fourth straight Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship ... A Centre College senior whose mother recently died of breast cancer scored the game-winning goal in overtime of an October 27 match against Austin College, just a couple of hours after the teams presented a check for $5,300 from fund-raising efforts for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Robbie Crump, whose mother Sue Hauck was remembered during the pregame presentation involving both teams, added his own personal contribution with his first goal of the season five minutes into the overtime period. “The story of the night is Robbie Crump,” said Centre coach Jeb Burch. “He hit the game-winner early in OT to finish the match, and I have to believe that his mother was looking down with a smile. This is a truly amazing story, one I will never forget in my lifetime.” The game-winner also came on Centre’s senior night.

Soccer teams from Centre College and Austin College presented $5,300 October 27 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to support breast cancer research. The pre-game ceremony also remembered the late Sue Hauck, whose son, Robbie Crump, later scored the game’s winning goal.