February 23, 2009

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Simpson College basketball player Whitney Franker (Urbandale, Iowa/Urbandale) and Wartburg College wrestler Aaron Wernimont (Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area) have been named the IIAC Female and Male Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, February 22. The Conference also announced the Performers of the Week for the Conference’s six sports in competition during the week.

Wrestlling – Aaron Wernimont, Wartburg College, Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area
Wernimont, a senior 157-pounder, increased his personal winning streak to 76 matches and his season record 40-0 with three bonus-point wins at the 2009 Iowa Conference Wrestling Championships. He was named the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler after pinning Dubuque’s Nathan Harm and Cornell’s Aron Kindelsperger in preliminary rounds and posting a 16-5 major decision over Loras’ Erik Hanson in the 157-pound championship match. (IIAC Male Athlete of the Week)

Women’s Basketball – Whitney Franker, Simpson College, Urbandale, Iowa/Urbandale
Franker, a senior forward, averaged 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 3.5 steals in two wins last week as the Storm closed out the regular season. Franker hit seven of 10 shots from the field during the week, including both 3-pointers she attempted. She was also 10-of-16 from the charity stripe. (IIAC Female Athlete of the Week)

Men’s Basketball – Kevin Dux, Coe College, Boulder, Colo./Fairview
Dux, a senior guard, scored a career-high 23 points in the final game of his collegiate career, a win at Simpson Feb. 21. It was the first 20-point game of his career. With his 6-of-9 3-point shooting against the Storm, he became just the 11th player in school history to hit six or more in a game. With 10 3-pointers during the week, Dux moved into 10th on Coe’s career list with 94. He also added 14 points in a Feb. 18 road win at Wartburg, after being held scoreless at Levick Arena last season.

Men’s Indoor Track & Field – Chris Buresh, Loras College, Naperville, Ill./St. Francis
Buresh, a senior, won the high jump and was the top collegiate finisher in the pole vault with a runner-up finish at the UD Spartan Open Feb. 21. He cleared 6-5 ½ in the high jump and 15-3 in the pole vault.

Women’s Indoor Track & Field – 4x400-meter relay team, Wartburg College
The team consisting of junior Jenny Kordick (Truro, Iowa/Interstate 35), freshman Nevada Morrison (Chicago, Ill./Proviso East), senior Kelsey Steffens (DeWitt, Iowa/Central Clinton), and junior Hannah Baker (Keota, Iowa/Keota) set a new school record and recorded the fasted time in Division III this season with a 3:50.84 clocking at the Wartburg Invitational Feb. 21. The quartet defeated the field by nearly nine seconds.

Men’s Tennis – Harrison Whiteley, Luther College, Wayzata, Minn./Orono
Whiteley, a sophomore, helped lead Luther to wins over Augustana, Ill. (6-3) and NCAA Division II Quincy University (9-0) with a pair of straight-set wins at No. 1 singles. He teamed with Thomas Orser to post a 1-1 record at No. 1 doubles, falling to Augustana, Ill., before rebounding with a win over Quincy.

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

• Men’s Basketball – Central College junior guard Miguel Ley (San Antonio, Texas/Judson) became the 25th player in Central men’s basketball history to score 1,000 career points. He also moved into ninth place in career steals and is 10th in career 3-pointers.

• Men’s Basketball – Cornell College senior guard Michael Tierney (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Jefferson) helped Cornell set the single-season record for wins (19) and earn the No. 2 seed in the Iowa Conference Tournament with a 73-56 victory over Central Feb. 18. The Rams topped the 1960-61 squad, which finished 18-6, for most wins in a season.

• Men’s Basketball – Loras College senior guard Ricky Kolze (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) made the game-winning shot at the buzzer in a 65-64 win over Dubuque Feb. 21. Kolze averaged 13.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game last week.

• Women’s Basketball – Buena Vista University senior guard Courtney Stoelk (Westside, Iowa/Ar-We-Va) hit a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds to play against Luther Feb. 21 to give the Beavers a regular-season sweep of the Norse. With three 3-pointers against Luther, she sits third on the team in made 3-pointers (17) despite playing in just 12 games due to injury.

• Women’s Basketball – Cornell College senior forward Tiffany Cowan (Independence, Mo./Truman) recorded her 15th career double-double in her final collegiate game, scoring 18 points and pulling down 10 rebounds in an 82-80 win over Central Feb. 18. She finished her career in second place on Cornell’s all-time scoring list with 1,122 points.

• Women’s Basketball – Loras College junior guard Lindsay Bava (Downers Grove, Ill./Montini Catholic) averaged 21.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in two games last week. She hit nine of 20 3-pointers during the week, including six of eight as part of a 27-point performance in a loss to league champion Simpson.

• Women’s Basketball – Wartburg College senior center Sharese Van Sloten (Decorah, Iowa/Decorah) became the 12th member of Wartburg’s 1,000-point club last week. She now stands 11th all-time with 1,013 points. Van Sloten also guided the Knights to a runner-up finish in the league standings and the second seed in the Iowa Conference tournament.

• Wrestling – Cornell College senior 174-pounder Kyle Kehrli (Winthrop, Iowa/East Buchanan) set a school record for wins in a season (43) with a 4-1 victory over Dubuque’s Evan Brown in the 174-pound championship match at the Iowa Conference Wrestling Championships. He raised his record to 43-4 overall, and with wins over Brown and Wartburg’s Grant Jenkins in the semifinals, avenged three of his four season losses (2 vs. Jenkins, 1 vs. Brown) at the Conference meet.

• Wrestling – University of Dubuque sophomore 165-pounder Josh Terrell (Round Lake, Ill./Senior) became the Spartans’ first conference champion since 1990 when he won the 165-pound championship at the Iowa Conference Wrestling Championships. He became UD’s first champions since Troy Armstrong won the 134-pound title in 1990. He also led the Spartans to a fifth-place team finish, the school’s best showing at the IIAC meet since placing fourth in 1987.

• Wrestling – Luther College senior 197-pounder Alec Bonander (Larchwood, Iowa/West Lyon) won his first Iowa Conference Wrestling title with a 5-0 win over Dubuque’s Matt Wonderlin. Bonander had finished second to T.J. Miller of Wartburg each of the past two seasons. Bonander’s win also allowed Luther clinch the runner-up spot in the team standings.

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