April 6, 2009

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Coe College track athlete Ashley Schnell (Lincoln, Neb./North Star) and Buena Vista University baseball player Kevin Kloewer (Omaha, Neb./Millard South) have been named the IIAC Female and Male Athletes of the Week for the period ending Sunday, April 5. The Conference also announced the Performers of the Week for the six sports in competition during the week.

Women’s Outdoor Track & Field – Ashley Schnell, Coe College, Lincoln, Neb./North Star
Schnell, a sophomore, automatically qualified for the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a 4:31.62 clocking in the 1,500-meter run at the Central Invitational. Her time is the second fastest in the nation. (IIAC Female Athlete of the Week)

Baseball – Kevin Kloewer, Buena Vista University, Omaha, Neb./Millard South
Kloewer, a sophomore catcher, turned in nine hits and a .600 average for the week, which included three doubles and three home runs. He also drove in 11 and scored seven times. Kloewer now leads both the team and IIAC in home runs with eight and is tied for second in doubles with nine. His 32 RBI for the year are now just three behind teammate Brandon Pietrzyk for both the team and conference lead. (IIAC Male Athlete of the Week)

Softball – Angela Davis, Central College, West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley
Davis, a freshman second baseman, had a pair of walk-off hits against nationally-ranked opponents over a four-day span last week. She hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning to cap a three-run inning and allow Central to come from two runs down to defeat No. 17 Luther 4-3 April 1. Davis added a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Dutch posted a 4-3, come-from-behind win over No. 4 Washington University April 3.

Men’s Outdoor Track & Field – Kurtis Brondyke, Central College, Clinton, Iowa/Clinton
Brondyke, a sophomore, provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the decathlon by winning the event at the Central Invitational. He scored 6,088 points in his first career decathlon.

Men’s Tennis – Greg Janssen, Coe College, Oshkosh, Wis./West
Janssen, a junior, went undefeated (3-0) in singles play against regionally-ranked Wis.-Whitewater and Carleton, as well as regionally-ranked NCAA Division II school St. Cloud State. Each win came in straight sets. Janssen also paired with Joey Lankelma for a 1-2 record at No. 3 doubles.

Men’s Golf – Andy Petersen, Central College, Davenport, Iowa/West
Petersen, a senior, finished tied for fourth in a 119-golfer field at the Illinois Wesleyan Invitational. He fired rounds of 71 and 75 for a 146 total to finish five shots behind the medalist in a field that included eight of the top 50 golfers in NCAA Division III.

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

• Baseball – Wartburg College senior outfielder/pitcher Jerrold Martijn (Oranjestad, Aruba/Kirkwood CC) struck out 10 in a complete-game, 3-1 win over league rival Luther April 3 that started a three-game series sweep of the Norse. He also had six hit in 10 at-bats with a 1.000 slugging percentage, two doubles, a triple and five RBIs.

• Softball – Coe College freshman pitcher Ashlee Simon (Riverside, Iowa/Highland) went 2-1 in the circle during the week with her only loss coming in a 1-0 defeat to No. 4 Washington University in St. Louis. She struck out 29 batters in 18 innings of work, giving up six hits (five against Wash. U.) and two walks. She also made one putout and six assists defensively.

• Softball – Buena Vista junior third baseman Ty Zimmerman (Storm Lake, Iowa/Storm Lake) led the Beavers with seven hits in 13 at-bats last week. She blasted a 3-run home run and drove in six while scoring five times. Zimmerman went 6-for-8 with three RBI and four runs scored in a midweek doubleheader sweep of Grinnell.

• Softball – Cornell College sophomore centerfielder Nicole Duncan (Wilton, Iowa/Wilton) hit .516 with seven extra-base hits and seven RBIs in eight games last week. She has already set the single-season school record for doubles with 13.

• Men’s Tennis – University of Dubuque sophomore Claudio Giraldi (Rome, Italy/Shape American) went 5-3 during the week, including 3-1 at No. 1 singles. He moved his record to 4-0 at No. 1 singles in IIAC matches with 3-set wins over Central and Luther.

• Men’s Tennis – Luther College junior Scott Martin (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) was 6-0 over the weekend as Luther increased its record to 24-4 overall and 7-0 in the Iowa Conference. He posted three straight-set wins in singles play and teamed with Max Piepkorn for wins over Dubuque, Ripon, and Loras at No. 1 doubles.

• Women’s Outdoor Track & Field – Loras College sophomore Danielle McNally (Monona, Iowa/MFL-Mar-Mac) won the hammer throw at the Wartburg Select Meet with a heave of 158 feet, 7 inches. The distance, the fifth-best all-time at Loras, is an NCAA provisional mark. McNally also finished fourth in the shot put (40-8 ¾) and seventh in the discus throw (118-6).

• Women’s Outdoor Track & Field – Wartburg College sophomore Sarah Hoffman (Farley, Iowa/Western Dubuque) won the shot put at the Wartburg Select Meet with an NCAA-provisional throw of 43 feet, one-half inch. She beat indoor All-American Christy Bohl of Wis.-La Crosse for the top spot in the 19-athlete field. She also took sixth in the discus (120-8) and the hammer throw (130-1).

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