Holy Family women’s basketball coach Mike McLaughlin recently reached the 400-win plateau faster than any other NCAA women’s basketball coach. McLaughlin earned his 400th career victory in a 64-47 conquest of Philadelphia Sciences in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game February 3.

McLaughlin needed just 459 games (400-59) to take the top spot from former Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Barmore, who took 463 games. The fastest to 400 wins in Division III is Nancy Fahey of the Washington in St. Louis, with 464 games coached. McLaughlin also topped legendary University of Kentucky men’s coach Adolph Rupp to the milestone. Rupp, the fastest to 400 wins in Division I men's basketball, needed 477 games.

“To do it this fast is something I’m proud of in my 14 years at Holy Family,” said McLaughlin. “It’s taken a lot of consistency to get here. (The current players) happened to be here, but there were a lot of players before them and I wanted the team to understand that everyone is a part of this.”

It took McLaughlin 118 games to reach the century mark and 235 to post 200. His 300th career win came in 349 games (300-49).

Holy Family has won three games since, moving to 22-4 on the season and 15-0 in the CACC. The Tigers in fact have won 62 consecutive league games.

Record free-throw streak

Speaking of streaks, Jamey Gelhar of St. Martin's recently set an all-time NCAA record for consecutive free throws made, canning six straight in a  February 14 game against Northwest Nazarene. She extended her string to 72 straight, topping the previous all-divisions record held by Jamie Visness of Division III Concordia-Moorhead (she made 69 straight in 2002 and 2003).

Gelhar, who added four more against Central Washington, hasn't missed since December 18 at Hawaii Hilo when she made six of seven, missing her first attempt. She has now made 91 of 93 this season and is perfect (43 of 43) in conference games.

Other milestones

St. Cloud State men’s tennis coach Jerry Anderson won his 200th career match as a college coach with a 7-2 victory over Wisconsin-Eau Claire February 1. Anderson, who is in his 12th season as head coach at St. Cloud State, has led teams to eight consecutive NCAA Division II tournaments … A pair of West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference spring-sport coaches recorded milestone victories last weekend. West Virginia Wesleyan softball coach Steve Warner reached the 600-win mark, while Concord baseball coach Kevin Garrett recorded his 300th victory. Warner is just Wesleyan’s third head coach of the program founded in 1987. In 16 seasons, he has compiled a 603-238-1 record. His teams have won 13 conference championships, appeared in nine regional tournaments, and he has been named the WVIAC Coach of the Year on 11 different occasions. Garrett reached the 300-win milestone after his Mountain Lions took three of four games from regional foe Mansfield in a season-opening series. The three-time WVIAC Coach of the Year led Concord to a school-record 35 victories in 2007.