NAA Spotlight: Sam Jewell

Sam Jewell is the co-captain of the Women's Basketball program. She is a physical inside player which causes her to be a big contributor to the team. Last season Jewell received honorable mention all-conference honors and was named Most Inspirational Player by her teammates. She also started every game en route to her second collegiate letter. In her sophomore season she led the team in rebounds (150) and assists (53), averaged 10.3 points per game shooting 50 percent from the field. Here is a little bit more about Sam Jewell
Hometown: Decorah, IA
Year: Junior
Major: Biology, Minor: Psychology
Highlight of being on the basketball team: Being able to play a sport I love, with people I love!
Goals for the Season: IIAC CHAMPS
What one or two things do you currently do in your training that are key to your success: I try to have a positive attitude and push myself as hard as I can.
What is the best advice you ever received: Try your best and have fun!

Swimming and Diving Undefeated in Conference Meets

The Luther College women's swimming and diving team increased its overall dual meet record to 4-1 after posting a 147-67 victory over College College.

Rachel Bruns and Stephanie Drewes paced the Norse posting two first place finishes each. Bruns won the 50 and 100 freestyle events, while Drewes touched the wall first in the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke.

Also posting first place finishes was Chella Bhagyam in the 200 freestyle, Amelia Ladd in the 100 butterfly and Erin Voelschow in the 100 backstroke.

The Norse also won both the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.Lisbet Finseth , Drewes, Ladd and Jordan Skaar swam in the 200 medley relay, while Bruns, Ladd, Kari Kolsrud and Addison Choi led the Norse to victory in the 200 freestyle relay.

The Luther College men's swimming and diving team remained perfect in the Iowa Conference and increased its overall dual meet record to 4-1, following a 127.5-52.5 victory over Coe College. Eric Hildpaced the Norse with two individual first place finishes. Hild won the 200 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.

Also posting first place finishes was Jim Penning in the 50 freestyle, Tanner O'Brien in the 200 IM, Michael Sinnwell in the 100 butterfly, John Schissel in the 100 freestyle, and Tim Cutler in the 100 breaststroke.

The Norse also won both the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay. Aaron Zander,Michael Pettengill,Dan Coffield and Brad Foresman won the 200 medley relay. In the final race of the afternoon, Taylor Nelson ,Josiah Collins, Spencer Robbins and Zander posted a three second victory in the 200 freestyle relay.

Luther will wrap up its dual meet schedule with two meets next week. The Norse will travel to Loras College on Friday, Jan. 29, for a meet that will begin at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday, Jan. 30, Luther completes its home schedule with a dual meet against Grinnell College that will begin at 1:00 p.m.

Swim Team Travels To Grinnell Invite

The Swim team made the trip to Grinnell, IA last Thursday for the 2-day meet, and the Norse were ready to dominate. The women's team did just that all weekend, winning 4 out of the 5 relays (200,400, and 800 Free Relays and the 400 Medley). In addition to the wins in the realys the team also posted multiple first place finishes by Rachel Bruns, Addison Choi, Kari Kolsrud, and Kristin Trudell. The depth of the team helped these women clinch the victory by over a 100 point margin. Overall the women earned 575.5 points!
The Men's team also had a successful weekend at the meet. They swept all five relays over the weekend which helped them earn second place overall. Having a outstanding meet was Spencer Robbins who earned first place finishes in all his indidivual events, as well as the relays. Also earning first place finishes were Taylor Nelson, Michael Pettengill, Dan Coffield, and Josiah Collins. First place for the men's team came down to the final two races, ultimately ending in the Norse's second place finish. The men earned a total of 619 points over the weekend, just 30 points behind the winning Grinnell men.
It was a great meet for the entire team, they really showed what they were able to do when swimming tired and broken down. From their performances at the meet both Spencer Robbins and Addison Choi were awarded the IIAC Swimmer of the Week award, this is the second time Robbins has earned this recognition this year. We are looking forward to another week of great practices and into the weekend where we will dual conference team Coe College in Cedar Rapids on Saturday.

Men's Basketball

We lost a tough game vs. Cornell on Saturday. We had two 3 point leads in the second half and couldn't get some defensive stops to extend the lead. Jacy Dillahunty (JR) stepped up and shot the ball well for us and led us in scoring with 17 points. In a tough road game like that, you need to step up on both ends and make plays in the second half. We did a great job doing that in December and vs. Coe on Jan. 4th. This week we have Dubuque at home and then we travel to Pella for a game with Central. We are looking forward to the challenge!!

Norse Swimming and Diving

Greetings to all from Luther Swimming & Diving! What a fantastic year we have been having! Thus far we have achieved above and beyond our expectations in the pool and in the classroom. Our training this year has also taken a new twist. Now that we do not have the "fast suits" that cost $400, we have had to adjust how we swim on a daily basis. Basically that means we have had to swim faster in practice and lift heavier in the weight room than ever before. What sets our team apart from those we compete against is definitely our hard work. It has certainly paid off.

Currently we have one diver and three swimmers that have achieved the Nationals Qualifying standards in their respective events. Elise DesRoches ('11), has qualified on One Meter numerous times. Currently she is on J-Term studying abroad and we are excited to get her back and diving.
Stephanie Drewes ('12), has qualified in the 100 Breaststroke and also is ranked fairly high in the 200 Breaststroke as well. Rachel Bruns ('11) has qualified in the 100 Freestyle, ans is also ranked high in the 50 and 200 Freestyle events as well. Michael Pettengill ('10) has had an outstanding season thus far. Qualifying in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke, ranking him 11th and 9th respectively.

Those are a few of the standouts we currently have, but we have seen many swimmers crush their season goals in season. We are now starting our speed phase of the season and preparing for the taper phase (rest phase) for the Liberal Arts Championships. The LAC will be hosted by Principia College, in Elsah, IL. We are more than ready to "Attack" our competitions and supersede our goals. Our goal is to have eight to ten more qualifiers for NCAA Nationals once we compete at LAC!

A big thank you to all of you who have given financially to Luther Swimming & Diving. We give the athletes the greatest collegiate swimming & diving experience they have ever had, and this is solely due to your financial gift to our program. We will always continue to represent Luther College with the greatest integrity and dedication. Thank you and we do hope to see you at some meets the remainder of the season.

Best Regards,
Coach Lance Huber

Wrestling

We are a much stronger team now than we were in the Fall Semester. We still have lots of work to do, but we have some guys coming along. Jayson Swanson wrestled 133 pounds in the fall and is now at 125 and is wrestling well. He beat a nationally ranked wrestler at the National Duals last weekend. At 141, Kevin Bokoski has turned a corner. He went 2-2 at the prestigious Midlands Wrestling Championships, and then beat a returning Division III All-American at the National Duals last weekend. At 149, Jason Pyle continues to wrestle pretty well. He is ranked #2 in the country. His best performance so far was at the UNO Open where he placed 2nd and beat some quality Division I opponents. Lance Serbousek is down at 157 pounds for the first time this season. It is a good weight class for him and he is wrestling well. We think he is closing in on being one of the Top wrestlers in the country at his weightclass. Two-time National Qualifier Nic Barclay is back for second semester at 184 pounds, as well as National Qualifier Allyn Plattner. They joined our team in Florida for the Gator Duals and looked good. Allyn Plattner is wrestling extremely well and looks better now than he did at any point last season. That is good news considering he was one match away from being an All-American last year. As a team overall, we have improved a great deal and when we are healthy and have our Top guys in the lineup, we are a solid team. We are currently ranked #16 in the country and expect to move up from there. We upset UW -Stevens Point first round of the National Duals...they were ranked #7 in the country at the time. We lost a close dual 20-18 to Cornell College in the placing round at the National Duals. Cornell went on to place 7th and we are looking forward to a rematch with them in late January at the IIAC Duals. This week we wrestle Wartburg and then wrestle Simpson, Loras, Cornell, BV & Central all next week, so we will have a good feel for where we are at that time! Looking forward to it! GO NORSE!

Women's Basketball

We are excited about the upcoming week. The gals continue to work hard in practice and in games. Our defense has been doing an excellent job of controlling our opponent's offense. We are proud that our defensive field goal percentage is one of the best in the IIAC. The offense took an upward turn in the game vs. Cornell on Saturday. We are hoping it is a sign of things to come! It was great to get scoring from so many of our players. The bench players really stepped it up. We will need that to continue in order for us to be successful in the league.

Athlete Spotlight: Michael Pettengill

Michael Pettengill is a member of the Luther Swim Team. He has been a major contributor to the success of the team in his four years on the team. He has been a National Qualifier every year in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke. In 2007 and 2008 he earned 10th place at the Division III National Swim Meet. He was also a member of the 200 and 400 Medley Relays that earned 15th place at the same meet in 2008. Michael is currently ranked 11th in the 100 breaststroke and 9th in the 200 breaststroke. Here is a little bit more information from Michael:
Hometown: Vinton, IA
Major: Chemistry
Highlight of Being on the Swim Team: It is great to have more than just one person to go to when I am having a hard time with classes, swimming or personal issues. I know the team is there for me. I also really enjoy feeling like I am a part of something bigger than myself. I also like the traditions that this team partakes in which makes the season more fun and helps the team to bond.
Goals for the Season: I would like to be a four time LAC Champion in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke. Help Luther Men's Swimming with another Liberal Arts Championship. Lastly, to be an All-American at the 2010 Division III National Championships.
What one or two things do you currently do in your training that are key to your success: I stay positive and push myself by pushing others to their full potential in the pool, weightroom, and classroom. I also try to surround myself with positive people, it really helps on rough days to have positive attitudes to get through a hard set.
What is the best advice you have ever recieved: Don't live on the "what if's" because they will always bring you down.

Men's Basketball

Luther recorded its first win in Iowa Conference play defeating Coe College 61-48 here in the Regents Center. The victory was Luther's sixth in a row and matches the longest winning streak since the 1995-96 season.

The Norse never trailed in the ball game and led by as many as 16 points early in the second half. Defensively, the Norse held the Kohawks to just 24 percent shooting (11-45). Coe kept the game as close as it was thanks to a 23-for-30 effort from the free throw line.

Ryan Kuhn led all scorers with 12 points,Tyler Wedemeier andNnamdi Okolue also tallied double digits with 11 and 10 points respectively. Dane Larson was one shy of double figures with nine.

Alex Tatman was the only Kohawk to reach double figures with 10 points. He was followed by Fred Rose with seven.

The win improved Luther's Iowa Conference record to to 1-1, 7-3 overall.

The Norse will return to action on Wednesday night when they will host Loras College at 8:00 p.m. This game will be video streamed.

Women's Basketball

Coe College defeated Luther College 43-40 in an Iowa Conference game here in the Regents Center. This was a rescheduled game that had been postponed on Dec. 8, due to poor weather conditions.

In a game that saw only four ties, a two-point bucket by Coe's Sarah Anciaux gave the Kohawks the lead for good (41-39) with 1:04 left in the game.

Sam Jewell led the Norse with 13 points and was the only player to reach double digits. Michelle Voigts chipped in with eight points, while Camille Stenhaug tallied seven points and grabbed a game high 11 rebounds.

Luther will return to action on Wednesday night when it will host Loras College at 6:00 p.m. This game will be video streamed.