May 14, 2007

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Wartburg College captured its fifth consecutive Iowa Conference All-Sports Championship Trophy and 10th straight Elmer Hertel Men’s Sports Championship Trophy while Simpson College won the Marjorie Giles Women’s Sports Championship Trophy.

The IIAC All-Sports Championship Trophy is determined by each school’s finish in the Giles and Hertel Trophy standings. Schools earn points in the Giles and Hertel Trophy standings based on its finish in each of the Conference’s nine women’s sports and 10 men’s sports, receiving nine points for a first-place finish, eight points for a second-place finish, etc.

Wartburg has captured the Iowa Conference All-Sports Championship Trophy each year since its inception in 2002-03. In addition to finishing first in the Hertel Trophy, Wartburg finished second in the Giles Trophy standings for a total of 17 points. Central, Loras and Luther all finished tied for second in the IIAC All-Sports Championship Trophy standings with 13 points, one point ahead of Simpson.

Behind two outright Conference titles (wrestling and outdoor track), two shared titles (soccer and baseball), and three second-place finishes (cross country, football and indoor track), Wartburg totaled 65.2 points. The Knights also finished fourth in tennis, fifth in golf and tied for sixth in basketball. It has now won 13 Elmer Hertel Men’s Sports Championship trophies, two shy of the Conference record of 15 held by Central.

Central (58 points), Loras (57.3) and Luther (54.2) finished closely bunched for second, third, and fourth-place in the Hertel Trophy standings as the five combined to win all ten of the Conference’s men’s Championships.

Simpson won the Giles Women’s Sports Championship Trophy for the fourth time since the inception of the award in 1982-83 and the first time since it shared the award with Luther in 1999-2000. Behind three Iowa Conference titles (golf, soccer and a tie in volleyball) and a runner-up finish in basketball, the Storm totaled with 54 points. Simpson also finished fourth in softball, fifth in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, and sixth in tennis.

Wartburg (52 points), Luther (51.7) and Loras (50.5) finished closely behind Simpson for the Giles Trophy as the five schools combined to capture eight of the Conference’s nine women’s Championships.

Final standings for the IIAC All-Sports, Elmer Hertel Men’s Sports and Marjorie Giles Women’s Sports Championship Trophies are here.

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