February 26, 2007

CEDAR RAPIDS , IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Loras College track and field performers Geoff Kaiser (Horicon, Wis./Horicon) and Dana Klemm (Gurnee, Ill./Warren) have been named the IIAC Male and Female Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, February 25. The Conference also announced the Performers of the Week for each of the Conference’s five sports in competition during the week.

Men’s Indoor Track & Field – Geoff Kaiser, Loras College, Horicon, Wis./Horicon
Kaiser, a senior, was named Iowa Conference Most Valuable Performer after scoring 37 points for the Conference Champion Duhawks. He won the long jump (7.10 meters) and triple jump (14.16 meters) with NCAA provisional qualifying marks in both events. He also placed third in the 600-meter run (1:23.90) and seventh in the 55-meter hurdles (7.97 seconds), and was a member of the fourth-place finishing 4x200 relay team (1:31.78) and the fifth-place finishing 4x400 relay team (3:26.8).

Women’s Indoor Track & Field – Dana Klemm, Loras College, Gurnee, Ill./Warren
Klemm, a senior, repeated as Conference Indoor Track Most Valuable Performer after repeating as Conference Champion in both the weight throw and shot put. She broke her own Conference record and automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in the weight throw with a mark of 17.28 meters. She won the shot put with a mark of 13.81 meters.

Men’s Basketball – Ricky Kolze, Loras College, Palantine, Ill./Fremd
Kolze, a sophomore guard, averaged 16.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, and shot 40.9 percent (9-of-22) from the floor and 76.9 percent (10-of-13) from the free throw line two Conference Tournament games. In a semifinal win over Simpson (69-52), he scored 10 points, had four rebounds and three assists. He scored 23 points (on 6-of-11 shooting), had four rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot in the Championship game against Buena Vista (77-62), leading Loras to its first Iowa Conference Tournament title.

Women’s Basketball – Ashley TeKippe, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa/Decorah
TeKippe, a junior forward, averaged 7.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.0 blocks and 3.0 assists per game, and shot 41.7 percent (5-of-12) from the floor in two Conference Tournament games. In a semifinal win over Buena Vista (56-44), she scored five points, had nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal. She scored nine point, had 14 rebounds, a school record eight blocks, two assists and a steal in the Championship game against Loras (60-47), leading Luther to its first Iowa Conference Tournament title.

Men’s Tennis – Ryan Yao, Coe College, Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley
Yao, a senior, went 2-2 during the week splitting both singles and doubles matches. Both victories came over UW-Oshkosh, a win at #1 singles over Todd Miller (6-2, 6-4) and at #3 doubles, with Aaron Neiderhiser, over Mike Herroux/Matt Predick (8-6). He lost at #1 singles to the #9-ranked player in the region, Miguel Yunes of #7 Carthage (7-6, 4-6, 6-2), and at #3 doubles to Carthage’s Phil Hammond/J.T. Delk (9-7).

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

• Coe College senior center Mike Kilburg (Bellevue, Iowa/Marquette) averaged 23.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game during the Iowa Conference Tournament. He shot 65.6 percent (21-of-32) from the floor in a win over Wartburg (83-69) and an overtime loss to Buena Vista (88-81).

• Loras College junior guard Natalie Pucci (West Dundee, Ill./Jacobs) averaged 18.5 points, 4.0 steals, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game during the Iowa Conference Tournament. She shot 55.0 percent (11-of-20) from the floor, including 75.0 percent on 3-pointers (6-of-8), and 90.0 percent from the free throw line (9-of-10) in a win over Simpson (72-64) and loss to Luther (60-47).

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