April 28, 2008

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Wartburg College softball player Courtney Bain (Ottumwa, Iowa/Ottumwa) and Coe College men’s tennis player Tom Jennings (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) have been named the IIAC Female and Male Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, April 21. The Conference also announced the Performers of the Week for each of the Conference’s six sports in competition during the week.

Men's Tennis – Tom Jennings, Coe College, West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley
Jennings, a senior, captured individual titles at A Singles and A Doubles (w/ Scott Stegemann) at the 2008 Iowa Conference Individual Championships. Seeded eighth in the A Singles draw, he outlasted Luther’s Tim Eisele 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (5) in the final to capture the title. Jennings then added the gold medal in A Doubles as he and Stegemann posted an 8-6 win over Luther’s Jono Martin and Scott Martin in the final. Jennings and Stegemann were not seeded. He is the sixth different Coe men’s tennis player to win the A Singles title since the Kohawks joined the IIAC at the start of the 1997-98 academic year. Jennings is also the first player since Coe’s Nick Frank (2003) to capture titles in the top flight of both singles and doubles in the same year. He helped Coe to a runner-up team finish with a win at No. 4 singles against Central and wins over both Central and Luther at No. 2 doubles (w/ Stegemann). (IIAC Male Athlete of the Week)

Softball – Courtney Bain, Wartburg College, Ottumwa, Iowa/Ottumwa
Bain, a junior outfielder, hit three home runs during the week, one of them a grand slam, as No. 8-ranked Wartburg clinched its third Iowa Conference softball championship. She recorded a 1.200 slugging percentage during the week. Her two home runs in the Cornell sweep provided the margins of victory. (IIAC Female Athlete of the Week)

Baseball – Brock Schneden, Loras College, Burlington, Iowa/Burlington
Schneden, a senior outfielder, led Loras to a 4-1 record on the week, including a three-game weekend sweep of Cornell. He hit .467 (7-of-15) on the week with 10 RBI, two doubles, two home runs, and six runs scored. All 10 of his RBIs came against Cornell, including nine in a Friday doubleheader. The sweep of the Rams helped to vault Loras into fifth place in the league standings as the IIAC regular season enters its final week.

Men’s Golf – Tom Lantzy, Luther College, St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North
Lantzy, a junior, is the clubhouse leader following the opening weekend of the 2008 Iowa Conference Men’s Golf Championships. He leads the field of 45 golfers by four strokes with a 3-over-par 111 (37-74), while the Norse sit in second place as a team (163-307—470) after 27 holes four shots off the pace. Lantzy was also Luther’s top finisher at the Gustavus Adolphus Bobby Krig Invitational, placing 11th of 80 golfers with a 13-over-par 225 (72-75-78). The Norse took third at Gustavus (300-301-310—911).

Men’s Outdoor Track & Field – Guy Dierikx, Central College, Port Byron, Ill./Riverdale
Dierikx, a senior, ran on two top-6 placing relays in the College Division at the Drake Relays. He ran on the sprint medley relay, which placed third with a time of 3:25.15, and the 4x400 relay, which took sixth in an NCAA provisional time of 3:16.54.

Women’s Outdoor Track & Field – Ellen Thys, Loras College, Victor, Iowa/HLV
Thys, a senior, won the discus throw and improved her NCAA provisional effort in the hammer throw at the Loras Open. Her winning throw of 151 feet, 10 inches in the discus is an NCAA provisional effort. She took second in the hammer with her NCAA provisional toss of 169-4 and placed 12th in the shot put (37-3).

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

Baseball – Buena Vista University junior pitcher/outfielder Brandon Pietrzyk (Portland, Ore./Marshall) went 7-for-13 at the plate (.538), including a double, triple, and two home runs, while driving in seven and scoring six. He hit one home run in each game of an April 23 doubleheader against Martin Luther. Pietrzyk also picked up the win in game one against the Knights, going five innings, allowing just one run on five hits, to go along with five strikeouts. He is now three home runs shy of tying the school’s single-season school record of 13.

Softball – Coe College junior pitcher Ellie Schultz (Clayton, Iowa/Clayton Ridge) went 4-0 in the circle on the week for the Kohawks. In 20 1/3 innings, gave up just two runs (both unearned) on six hits while striking out 27. Her opponents hit .091 on the week.

Softball – Central College senior catcher Kelly Harris (LeClaire, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) hit .538 (7-of-13) on the week with a double, a triple, three RBI, and six runs scored as the Dutch posted a 3-1 record to secure the fifth seed in the IIAC Tournament. She also stole two bases and was errorless in 18 chances in the field.

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