January 8, 2007

CEDAR RAPIDS , IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that University of Dubuque basketball player Nick Thomas (Blackville, S.C./Hilda) and Coe College basketball player Shanon Nelson (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) have been named the IIAC Male and Female Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, January 7. The Conference also announced the Performers of the Week for each of the Conference’s five sports in competition during the week.

Men’s Basketball – Nick Thomas, University of Dubuque, Blackville, S.C./Hilda
Thomas, a senior forward, averaged 24.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 49.0 percent (24-of-49) from the floor and 69.6 percent (16-of-23) from the free throw line in three contests during the week. He scored 21 points, had five steals, four rebounds and an assist in Dubuque’s 80-61 loss to Coe. Thomas followed that performance with a 29-point, three-rebound, three-assist outing in a 101-74 victory over Faith Baptist, shooting 71.4 percent from the floor (10-of-14). He finished his week with 24 points (on 8-of-18 shooting), six rebounds, three steals and two assists in an 81-68 win over Simpson.

Women’s Basketball – Shanon Nelson, Coe College, Clinton, Iowa/Clinton
Nelson, a junior forward, averaged 19 points and eight rebounds while shooting 53.8 percent (14-of-26) from the floor in two games during the week. She scored a season-high 19 points (on 7-of-13 shooting), had five rebounds, two steals and an assist in Coe’s 56-55 loss to Dubuque. In the Kohawks’ first Conference win of the season, 74-56 over Buena Vista, Nelson recorded her second double-double of the year with 19 points and 11 rebounds. She was 7-of-13 from the floor, had two block shots and an assist.

Wrestling – Nick Nothern, Cornell College, Salina, Kan./Salina South
Nothern, a freshman, won the 133-pound weight class at the Cornell Matman Invitational. He opened the Tournament with a pin of Central’s Nick Johnson (3:59) then posted three straight decisions – 6-0 over Wartburg’s Sean White, 9-4 over St. John’s (Minn.) Tim Thompson and 8-5 over William Penn’s Nick Cucciniello – to get into the Championship match. In the final, unranked Nothern defeated the fourth-ranked Jestin Hulegaard of Buena Vista on riding time criteria following a 5-5 double-overtime tie.

Men’s Swimming & Diving – Bryan Perrott, Luther College, Northfield, Minn./Northfield
Perrott, a junior, was a two-time winner in Luther’s 150-30 win over Loras, its school-record 15th consecutive dual meet victory. Perrott set the pool record in the 200 backstroke with his winning time of 1:57.96 and was a member of the pool record-setting 400 medley relay team that won in a time of 3:37.68.

Women’s Swimming & Diving – Valerie Hoops, Luther College, Freeport, Ill./Freeport
Hoops, a junior, was a two-time winner in Luther’s 173-54 dual victory over Loras. She won the 1,000 freestyle by five seconds with a pool record time of 10:56.62 and was a member of the winning 400 freestyle relay team that set a pool record with a finish of 3:47.29, winning the event by nine seconds.

Other Outstanding Weekly Performers
The IIAC also recognized the following outstanding athletic performances from the past week.

• Central College senior center Clint Driftmier (Clarinda, Iowa/South Page) averaged 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game, and shot 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from the floor in a win over Wartburg (83-69) and loss to Loras (82-60). He became the 23rd Central player to surpass the 1,000 career point plateau, reaching the mark with his final score of the game against Loras.

• Coe College senior forward/center Mike Kilburg (Bellevue, Iowa/Marquette) averaged 27.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, and shot 61.1 percent (22-of-36) from the floor in a win over Dubuque (80-61) and an overtime loss to Buena Vista (84-79). He equaled his career-high with 32 points in the win over Dubuque.

• Loras College senior guard Blair Bennett (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) averaged 13.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in victories over Luther (63-54) and Central (63-52) as the Duhawks moved into a first-place tie in the Conference standings. She recorded a double-double against Central with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

• Wartburg College junior Jake Helvey (Mitchellville, Iowa/Southeast Polk) went 3-0 at 133-pounds at the North-South Duals. Ranked sixth at 133-pounds, Helvey pinned Wilkes’ Felipe Queiroz (4:17), the sixth-ranked wrestler at 125-pounds, won by major decision over Oneonta State’s Walter Moore (11-1), and won by decision over The College of New Jersey’s Ray Sarinelli, the fifth-ranked wrestler at 133-pounds.

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