March 9, 2009

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Wartburg College track athlete Hannah Baker (Keota, Iowa/Keota) and Wartburg College baseball player Patrick Grau (Elkader, Iowa/Central) have been named the IIAC Female and Male Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, March 8. The Conference also announced the Performers of the Week for the five sports in competition during the week.

Women’s Indoor Track & Field – Hannah Baker, Wartburg College, Keota, Iowa/Keota
Baker, a junior, recorded automatic national qualifying times and set school records in both the 400 and as part of Wartburg’s 4x400 relay at Saturday’s Iowa State Last Chance Qualifier. She finished fourth in the 400 with a time of 55.88, while the 4x400 relay finished ninth with a time of 3:46.43. Both times are Division III season best times. (IIAC Female Athlete of the Week)

Baseball – Patrick Grau, Wartburg College, Elkader, Iowa/Central
Grau, a sophomore outfielder/pitcher, led the Knights with a .628 slugging percentage, two home runs, and four multiple-RBI games as Wartburg split its first 12 games of the 2009 season. He also picked up the pitching victory in Wartburg’s 25-5 rout of RIT, allowing two unearned runs on one hit while striking out four in four innings of work. (IIAC Male Athlete of the Week)

Men’s Indoor Track & Field – Kurtis Brondyke, Central College, Clinton, Iowa/Clinton
Brondyke, a sophomore, recorded a career-high point total in the pentathlon at Friday’s Central Last Chance Pentathlon. He won the event with 3,590 points, an NCAA provisional total and the second-highest total in school history. The total is the fourth-best total in Division III this season, qualifying him for the NCAA Championships.

Men’s Tennis – Tom Koenen, Wartburg College, Aplington, Iowa/Aplington-Parkersburg
Koenen, a junior, finished unbeaten at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles play during Wartburg’s spring trip last week. He won all four singles matches in straight sets and teamed with Chris Buckingham for four wins at No. 1 doubles.

Softball – Whitney Oviatt, Simpson College, Carnation, Wash./Cedarcrest
Oviatt, a junior pitcher, went 8-0 with 62 strikeouts and four shutouts as the Storm went 9-1 to open the season.

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

• Softball – Luther College senior pitcher BreAnn VanDeer (Webster City, Iowa/Webster City) went 2-0 with 14 strikeouts and two shutouts in a pair of starts last week. She allowed 10 hits, but only one for extra bases, in 12 innings of work.

• Baseball – Buena Vista University sophomore infielder Brad Blum (Earling, Iowa/Harlan) hit. 462 with two multiple-hit and three multiple run-scoring games as the Beavers started 3-1. His big hit was a three-run triple in the second game against Doane which helped BVU jump out to an early 9-0 lead.

• Women’s Indoor Track & Field – Cornell College senior Rachelle Hawkins (Boise, Idaho/Bishop Kelly) qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships in the mile run after posting a school-record time of 4 minute, 58.08 seconds at the Iowa State NCAA Qualifier. She broke her own school record by more than eight seconds. Hawkins is Cornell’s first female indoor national qualifier since 2005.

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