January 29, 2007

CEDAR RAPIDS , IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Buena Vista University wrestler Kyle Forness (Waterloo, Iowa/Columbus) and Buena Vista basketball player Tracy Hartwig (Rockwell City, Iowa/Rockwell City-Lytton) have been named the IIAC Male and Female Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, January 28. The Conference also announced the Performers of the Week in six Conference’s sports in competition during the week.

Wrestling – Kyle Forness, Buena Vista University, Waterloo, Iowa/Columbus
Forness, a sophomore, went 5-0 during the week at 157-pounds with a pair of major decisions and a pair of victories over ranked opponents. He won by decision over the fourth and seventh-ranked wrestlers in the nation, Cornell’s Pat McAuley (12-10) and Coe’s Tyler Burkle (5-2), respectively. Forness also registered major decisions over Central’s Ryan DeVriendt (16-5) and Luther’s Yonny Quist (8-0) to go along with a decision over Loras’ Billy Smith (10-3).

Women’s Basketball – Tracy Hartwig, Buena Vista Univ., Rockwell City, Iowa/Rockwell City-Lytton
Hartwig, a senior guard/forward, averaged 16.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks per game, and shot 48.0 percent (12-of-25) from the floor and 94.4 percent (17-of-18) from the free throw line in victories over Dubuque (88-71), Cornell (69-51) and Wartburg (62-58). She connected on 8-of-16 3-point field goal attempts during the week and moved into third on the school’s all-time list of 3-point field goals made. Hartwig scored 12 point (on 4-of-6 shooting), had three rebounds, three assists and a steal against Dubuque. Against Cornell she scored 17 points (on 5-of-11 shooting), had seven rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block. She finished the week with 20 points (on 3-of-8 shooting, and 12-of-12 from the free throw line), six rebounds, three steals, three blocks and an assist against Wartburg.

Men’s Basketball – Mike Kilburg, Coe College, Bellevue, Iowa/Marquette
Kilburg, a senior forward, averaged 16.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game and shot 78.6 percent (22-of-28) from the floor in victories over Cornell (69-54), Luther (64-40) and Dubuque (71-56). He scored 15 points (on 6-of-8 shooting) and had six rebounds against Cornell, then netted 12 points (on 6-of-9 shooting), six rebounds and two blocks against Luther. He rounded out the week with 22 points (on 10-of-11 shooting), eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal against Dubuque.

Women’s Swimming & Diving – Kelcie McKain, Coe College, Indianola, Iowa/Indianola
McKain, a freshman, won both events she entered in Coe’s 97-92 dual win at Monmouth (Ill.). She swam a time of 59.55 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle and a time of 12:11.25 in the 1000-yard freestyle.

Men’s Indoor Track – Jeanriles Metezier, Univ. of Dubuque, Pompano Beach, Fla./Coconut Creek
Metezier, a sophomore, won two events at the UW-Whitewater Invitational, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships with a 6.48-second finish in the 55-meter dash and winning the 200-meter dash with a time 23.05 seconds.

Women’s Indoor Track – KeAnna Martin, Buena Vista Univ. St. Louis, Mo./Gateway Inst. of Tech.
Martin, a junior, had four top-three finishes at the Buena Vista Open, including three first-place finishes. She won the 55-meter dash (7.52 seconds), the 300-meter dash (42.01 seconds) and ran the lead leg of the winning 4x200 relay team (1:49.96). She broke a 16-year-old school record with her finish in the 300-meters. Martin was also a member of the third-place finishing 4x400 relay team (4:16.90).

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

• University of Dubuque junior guard Tyler Daugherty (Bellevue, Iowa/Bellevue) averaged 22.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, and shot 43.5 percent (20-of-46) from the field and 88.9 percent (16-of-18) from the free throw line in games against Buena Vista (91-82 loss), Wartburg (74-65 win) and Coe (71-56 loss).

• Central College junior Jason Fisher (Montezuma, Iowa/Montezuma) finished second in the weight throw and shot put at Monmouth (Ill.)’s Midwest Invitational. He provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship with a school record mark of 55-2 in the weight throw and had a personal-best 48-4 in the shot put.

• Loras College sophomore Kyle Calvert (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with a third-place finish in the pole vault (16-0 ¾) at Monmouth (Ill.)’s Midwest Invitational.

• Loras College senior Dana Klemm (Gurnee, Ill./Warren) bettered her national qualifying marks from a week ago in the shot put and weight throw, winning both events at Monmouth (Ill.)’s Midwest Invitational with marks of 45-9 ¾ and 54-4 ¼, respectively.

• Wartburg College senior Lucy Joseph (Lake Worth, Fla./Lake Worth) won the 55-meter hurdles at Monmouth (Ill.)’s Midwest Invitational with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8.48 seconds.

• Loras College junior 184-pounder Jay Figgins (Clinton, Iowa/Clinton) went 4-0 with two falls at the Iowa Conference Duals during the week.

• Luther College senior 125-pounder Nate Hansen (Gregory, S.D./Gregory) went 4-0 with two falls and a major decision at the Iowa Conference Duals. The top-ranked wrestler in the nation pinned #4-ranked Chris Heilman of Cornell at 1:30.

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