March 10, 2007

TERRE HAUTE, IND. . . . Half of the 26 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) national track and field qualifiers earned All-American honors highlighted by three individuals that came home from the National Championship hosted by Rose Hulman Institute of Technology with multiple All-American plaques (top-8 finish).

Loras College’s Dana Klemm, the Iowa Conference Most Valuable Performer, earned two individual All-American honors, placing second in the shot put for the second time in three years and fourth in the weight throw. It was her third indoor All-American honor in the shot put and second in the weight throw.

Wartburg College’s Hannah Baker and Bridget Burns earned All-American honors with seventh and eighth-place finishes, respectively, in the 400-meter dash and were also members of the sixth-place finishing 4x400 relay team. Burns earned her second career indoor 400-meter All-American honor and fourth 4x400 All-American honor.

In the team race, the Loras College men and women, and the Wartburg College women all finished in the top-15. The Duhawk men finished in a three school tie for 10th-place with 15.0 points. Central College finished in a six school tie for 28th-place on the men’s side with five points. Wartburg tied six other schools for 28th with 3.0 points. Luther College and five others scored 1.0 point, tying for 52nd-place. Lincoln University won the men’s Championship with 59.0 points.

The Loras women placed 12th with 14.0 points. The Wartburg women finished tied with Tufts University for 14th-place with 12.0 points. Williams College won the women’s Championship with 42.0 points.

Central women, Coe men, Dubuque men and Luther women also sent representatives to the National Championship Meet but failed to score in the team standings.

IOWA CONFERENCE ALL-AMERICANS (top-8 finishers)

WOMEN
• Loras’ Dana Klemm – 2nd in shot put (14.12 meters), 4th in weight throw (16.98 meters), third straight All-American honor in shot put (including second runner-up finish in three years), second straight All-American honor in weight throw
• Wartburg’s Heidi Porter – 3rd in 800-meters (2:12.76)
• Wartburg’s 4x400 relay (Hannah Baker, Bridget Burns, Chelsey Jacobs, Kelsey Stevens) – 6th (3:53.03), sixth straight Wartburg 4x400 All-American honor (Burns a member of each of the last four)
• Wartburg’s Hannah Baker – 7th in 400-meters (58.08)
• Loras’ Lizz McAtee – 8th in weight throw (16.02 meters)
• Wartburg’s Bridget Burns – 8th in 400-meters (58.15), second All-American honor in three years in the 400-meters

MEN
• Loras’ Kyle Calvert – 3rd in pole vault (5.02 meters), second straight All-American honor in pole vault
• Central’s Guy Dierikx – 4th in 400-meters (48.95)
• Loras’ distance medley relay (Jason Dayton, Ben Grant, Ken Oberfoell, Ray Orris) – 4th (10:05.89)
• Loras’ Geoff Kaiser – 5th in long jump (7.11 meters), third straight All-American honor in long jump
• Wartburg’s distance medley relay (Andy Hodge, Patrick Johnson, Derek Peth, Scott Tjeerdsma) – 6th (10:06.66), second straight Wartburg DMR All-American honor (Johnson a member of 2006 relay team)
• Luther’s 4x400 relay (Ryan Potter, Lucas Reidenbach, Tyler Sherden, Mike Tangen) – 8th (3:20.26)

OTHER IOWA CONFERENCE QUALIFIERS’ PERFORMANCES

WOMEN
• Luther’s Jess Jewell – 9th in shot put (12.78 meters)
• Wartburg’s distance medley relay (Rachel Brinks, Amanda Kuiken, Jennifer Kuiken, Heidi Porter) – 10th (12:24.64)
• Loras’ Whitney Calvert – 15th in pole vault (3.40 meters)
• Wartburg’s Lucy Joseph – 5th in heat of 55-hurdles (8.48)
• Wartburg’s Jessica Bates – 6th in flight of shot put (12.18 meters), 7th in flight of weight throw (15.19 meters)
• Loras’ Ellen Thys – 7th in flight of shot put (11.98 meters)
• Central’s Chelsey Keller – 8th in flight of shot put (12.58 meters)

MEN
• Loras’ Chris Buresh – 10th in high jump (1.97 meters)
• Loras’ 4x400 relay (Jason Dayton, Geoff Kaiser, Ray Orris, Mike Rahe) – 10th (3:21.34)
• Central’s Brian Respeliers – 5th in heat of 800-meters (1:56.46)
• Coe’s Kyle Brockmeyer – 5th in heat of 55-hurdles (7.83)
• Dubuque’s Jean Metezier – 7th in heat of 55-meters (6.48)

Complete NCAA Championship results can be found here.

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