April 21, 2008

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Coe College softball player Ellie Schultz (Clayton, Iowa/Clayton Ridge) and Simpson College baseball player Cory Dawson (Altoona, Iowa/Southeast Polk) have been named the IIAC Female and Male Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, April 20. The Conference also announced the Performers of the Week for each of the Conference’s six sports in competition during the week.

Softball – Ellie Schultz, Coe College, Clayton, Iowa/Clayton Ridge
Schultz, a junior pitcher, was 3-2 in the circle last week, including a sweep of Central and a 2-0 shutout over sixth-ranked Wartburg. Schultz no-hit the Knights through five innings. Her win over Wartburg gave her 66 for her career, a new school record. She gave up only three earned runs in 28 innings of work during the week. (IIAC Female Athlete of the Week)

Baseball – Cory Dawson, Simpson College, Altoona, Iowa/Southeast Polk
Dawson, a junior first baseman/pitcher, hit .722 on the week with two doubles, six RBI, and five runs scored as the Storm posted a 5-0 record last week. In a three-game weekend series against Coe alone, Dawson hit 10-for-12 with five RBI, and five runs scored. He also made only one error in 36 chances in the field and recorded a strikeout in one inning of work in Simpson’s 7-5 non-conference win over Grinnell April 15. (IIAC Male Athlete of the Week)

Men’s Golf – Joel Winters, Central College, Hampton, Iowa/Hampton-Dumont
Winters, a sophomore, led Central to a first-place finish in the 17-team Buena Vista Spring Invitational, defeating No. 10-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan. He took medalist honors with a score of 73-72—145, finishing one shot ahead of the runner-up.

Men's Tennis – Jared Feddersen, Central College, Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge
Feddersen, a senior, moved into fifth place on Central’s career singles victories list with 55 in his career home-season finale and is just three wins shy of taking over sole possession of second place after playing at No. 1 singles the past two seasons. He picked up straight-set singles victories over No. 1 singles players from Morningside, Loras, and Luther during the week and doubles wins at No. 2 over Morningside and No. 1 over Loras.

Men’s Outdoor Track & Field – Shawn Olorundami, Buena Vista University, Sioux City, Iowa/West
Olorundami, a senior, placed second and tied a school record in the 110 hurdles with his 14.58 clocking at the Sioux City Relays. He also ran the first leg on the winning 4x200 relay which set a new school record with a time of 1:27.30 and ran the second leg on the runner-up 4x400 relay (3:20.60).

Women’s Outdoor Track & Field – Hannah Baker, Wartburg College, Keota, Iowa/Keota
Baker, a sophomore, helped lead Wartburg’s 4x400 team to an automatic NCAA Division III qualifying time of 3:48.7 with a fourth-place finish at the Kansas Relays. She also turned in a provisional qualifying effort in the open 400, placing 10th in a multi-divisional field with a time of 57.36. She missed qualifying for the finals in the 400 by .46 of a second. The 4x400 squad, which currently has the second-fastest time in Division III, was the only Division III team in the final.

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

Baseball – Wartburg College senior utility player Aaron Saeugling (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert) hit .545 with seven RBI, two doubles, a home run and two runs scored in a three-game sweep of Buena Vista. He went 3-for-4 with two RBI in Friday night’s series opener. In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Saeugling fired six innings of four-hit shutout ball en route to his fourth win of the season. He capped off the weekend with five RBI in the second game of the doubleheader, including the eventual game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Softball – Cornell College freshman centerfielder Nicole Duncan (Wilton, Iowa/Wilton) batted .500 (9-for-18) and extended her hitting streak to 13 games during a big week for the Rams, who tied the single-season school record for wins (18) and clinched a berth in the IIAC Tournament. Duncan had three hits, including a key single in the bottom of the ninth inning, to lead Cornell to a 6-5 win over Simpson that snapped an 0-for-20 slide against the Storm dating back to 1998. Duncan also had the game-winning hit in a 2-1 eight-inning victory over Knox.

Softball – Simpson College senior pitcher Calie Hohneke (Indianola, Iowa/Indianola) posted a 3-0 record with one save in five appearances during the week. She posted two complete-game shutouts over Coe April 14 then struck out 10 in eight innings in a April 16 loss to Cornell where she didn’t figure into the decision. Hohneke capped the week by posting a one-hit shutout in the first game of a doubleheader against Buena Vista and pitching one inning in game two to record a save.

Women’s Outdoor Track and Field – Central College senior Kari Hutchinson (Charles City, Iowa/Charles City) provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III meet with a score of 4,122 in the heptathlon at the Augustana Women’s Invitational. It was her first heptathlon of the season.

Women’s Outdoor Track and Field – Simpson College sophomore Lauren Bucklin (Bondurant, Iowa/Bondurant-Farrar) set a school record in the 100 hurdles at the Central Triangular with a converted time of 14.64. She also placed second in the 400 hurdles (1:06.70 hand) and ran on the runner-up 4x100 relay (50.40 hand). Her winning time of 14.70 in the 100 hurdles at the April 19 Grinnell Dick Young Classic was used to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships and is the seventh-quickest in Division III this season. She also won the 400 hurdles (1:05.83) and ran on the runner-up 4x100 relay (50.63) at Grinnell.

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