Boise State University men's golfer Troy Merritt captured the individual title at the 2008 Western Athletic Conference Championships on Wednesday in San Jose, Calif., with a 7-under-par 209.

This is the fifth consecutive tournament victory for Merritt, who is from Fridley and attended Spring Lake Park High School. He won the conference championship by 10 strokes. He was the only golfer in the 45-man field to finish under par. Merritt was named the WAC Player of the Year.

"To win five in a row is great," Merritt said. "You don't think about it while you're playing. You look at it after you're done -- one shot at a time, one tournament at a time and add them all up at the end of the year. If you have the low man continuously, you're going to win it. That's what happened."

Gophers assistant Osiecki leaves program to coach U.S. women's national team Tom Osiecki, a Gophers women's assistant hockey coach, has resigned after one season.

USA Hockey will officially announce today that Osiecki will coach the national women's hockey team while it trains for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. The team's training center will be the Super Rink in Blaine, the news release also will say, although that detail is already widely known.

"We were hoping Tom would be back," Gophers coach Brad Frost said, "but this is a great opportunity for him."

Gophers softball team wins 1,000th game The Gophers softball team won its 1,000th game on its way to a doubleheader sweep of Wisconsin-Green Bay at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.

The Gophers won the first game 4-0 behind the one-hit pitching of Briana Hassett. In Game 2, Lauren Pockl hit a grand slam as the Gophers rolled to an 8-0 victory.

Since 1974, Minnesota's all-time record is 1,001-741-4.

Etc. • The Gophers baseball team lost 6-4 to South Dakota State at Siebert Field. Minnesota (16-27) has now lost seven consecutive games.

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS